Using a workbench has become a basis of operating every carpentry shop. It is the foundation of every manufacturing and molding work. If you are starting a work like mending watches, jewelry, and machinery or initiating as an artist, metalworker or stoneworker; a workbench is the first thing you would require in your workplace. There are a lot of ways you can use a workbench. The market has a variety of workbenches which fits the need of the different type of work that can be done on the workbench top. Here are a few tips cataloged which you should know when you are using a workbench for completing your specific task:
- Bench dog:
It is an accessory provided along with the workbench top that allows you to clamp the object you are working on. It is named after a dog as it is an animal that holds on with you! It is actually a simple peg and a number of holes in a line perpendicular to the dog vise. These holes are separated by three to four inches each. In many benches, there also exist two rows parallel to each other with a pair of holes parallel to each other making 2 clamping points. These bench dogs may be square or round in shape. Round holes are more convenient as the square ones do not provide good gripping force.
- The board jack:
Sometimes a person needs long planks of wood to be clamped on the workbench table. Without clamping them, the work becomes difficult, and the clamping of long or wide wood pieces is also not that easy. For this purpose, the board jack is installed for the comfort of the users of the workbenches. It is made by creating a narrow slot in the center of the table top, and a hole is drilled at one side of this where the dowel is inserted. This gives an adjustable clamping to adjust the one end of the workpiece.
- The vise Spacer:
There are a lot of ways to make use of a vise, but when you clamp it, you actually need a spacer. Sometimes you have to handle so many workpieces at the same time that finding the suitable one consumes more time than it must take. So, a vise spacer does this job for you. In this way you can select the appropriate workpiece at the right time. Thus it makes work easy for you. Clipping the workpieces as a vise spacer with a nice brass screw will look pleasurable!
- The rubber mat:
It is an accessory used when the craftsman is sanding the object. It is not always necessary to clamp the object and fix it into the place; rather a suitable rubber mat can be placed under the object on the workbench table top. This gives a good amount of friction between the object and the workbench top. Thus the object does not move while sanding it. Many good rubber mats are available in the online market for your workbench tops.
