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Building and Using a Simple Plane Stop

Fine Woodworking Editors, 

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The humble plane stop is perhaps one of the most simple woodworking tools out there. Learn how to build and use one in a workshop tip with Fine Woodworking art director Michael Pekovich.

Photo: Ed Pirnik

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Two screws and two pieces of scrap wood—that's all it takes to build one of the most indespensible tools you'll ever use in conjunction with a handplane. 

For the novice woodworker who's just learning how to handplane a piece of wood, figuring out how to secure a piece of stock for planing can be a bit perplexing. Your instinct tells you to clamp the piece down to your bench, but that would put obstructions (clamps) directly in the way of your handplane's path of travel. Bench dogs and an end vise? Yup, you could certainly go that route, but wider workpieces would only have full support directly in-line with the dogs.

 A simple plane stop like the one demonstrated by Fine Woodworking art director Michael Pekovich in this video Quick Cut offers a simple solution that braces the entire width of your workpiece, and will last you for years to come.

Building and Using a Simple Plane Stop

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Comments (8)

Bekker writes: Bright Idea
Posted: 2:21 pm on May 17th

MPekovich writes: Riffler- The square wooden dogs are a tip I picked up form Phil Lowe. I mount a square blank in the lathe and turn sections to fit the dog holes. Then I cut the blank apart into separate dogs. The square head keeps the dogs from falling through the bench and offers wide support for stock. I keep a few around with caps of different thicknesses to match the stock I'm working with, but the 3/8 inch height cap works for most tasks.

-Mike
Posted: 7:26 pm on May 7th

Riffler writes: Michael:
How did you make the bench dog with the square top? Is a square shape better than a round one?
Posted: 5:56 pm on May 7th

Codespro writes:
Posted: 3:37 pm on May 7th

Joseph827 writes: Simple and effective - the best tyle of tip! Thanks,
Posted: 12:00 pm on May 7th

RayRoc writes: Super idea, saves resetting the end vise each time the board is changed.
Posted: 10:11 am on May 7th

allaho writes: Useful and simple, thanks.
Posted: 9:27 am on May 7th

TexasBelliott writes: Great tip, thank you Michael.
Posted: 9:01 am on May 7th

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