Workbench pegs to stop work from moving??

[Veen]

The area that I work on is 3/4 plywood. I am looking for a good way to stop my work from moving around when chiseling or pushing against it. I would like to drill some holes in it and place pegs into those holes in different areas. 1. What are good things to use for pegs ??
2.Anyone else use this method or have a better one??

[Thor]

I use a bench hook that can be moved from one place to another for small carvings, and clamps for my bigger ones...it's because my carving surfaces are only 3/4" thick plywood, and I thought it might need a thicker surface for bench dogs.
Bench dogs are what you're describing though. You can see images of them here:
Buy 3/4" Bench Dogs, Plastic Coated (4), Workbench Accessories For SJÖBERGS
if the link works. they are plastic, but anything you make out of a wooden dowel that won't go all the way through the suface seems like it might work.

[Veen]

Thanks for the reply.
I bet a peg wont work because its such a thin bench top but maybe it will. C clamp that won't really work for me as I am constantly turning my work around to get at other angles clamping and unclamping it will be tiresome and it could dent the wood... anyone have a peg in 3/4" top

[RUssL.]

A combination of 3/4" holes in the top of my bench or bench hook, Lee Valley bench dogs and their bench "pups" provide a remarkably adaptable combination of holding options. I seldom have to go to anything else.
They are a worthwhile investment for holding all sorts of wood and wooden projects.

RussL.

[doris]

i use twosided tape to fix every flat work on a bigger board of wood, and fix that with 2 clamps on my bench. this way, the clamps are far away and dont disturb while carving. the twosided tape is really strong,,,and after finish carving, i put a straight chisel underneath to lift the carving from the tape...

[xsailer]

You might look at the following Link and specifically at the pegs in the holes of the table surface. These I just made from one piece of wood and rounded on my belt sander the round other end to fit a 3/4" hole. Since then I've made them in two separate pieces. One a 3/4" dowel that fits in the 3/4" hole that I've drilled and glued in assorted sized blocks of hardwoods. The nice feature of this design is you can shape the edge of the block to match ir-regular shaped carvings. Just sand the profile on the peg to match your carving. Cheap also!!


Another Carving Relief work surface.

[RUssL.]

Bob-xsailer,

I love that carving bench!
Simple, elegant and highly functional...
plus it's just one big cool shop jig!
;-)

RussL.

[xsailer]

Thank you RussL,
It and the pegs are proving to work well.

[Veen]

Thanks for the replies.
Xsailer that is a great set up you have there. Idont know how you work so upright I dont feel incontrol unless the work is below me.
Well since my first post and now I have modified my bench first by putting another piece of 3/4 ply under the top to thicken it up to work better with pegs. Then I drilled about 6 3/4" holes into it. I then made pegs out of some 3/4" dowel which fit nice and snug into the holes. I sanded some of the pegs to be flat on the side.
I'll see if I can get a photo up in the next few days.

[TreeWizard]

I drilled a bunch of extra 3/4" holes in the top of my B&D Workmate and made a bunch of pegs out of a piece of ash. If they can use ash for baseball bats, it will stand up to the side pressure from carving and mallet work.