Thread: Fixture for Veritas Bench Blade

The Veritas Bench Blade: In a recent Lee Valley order I purchased one of these things by mistake. It must have been a mistake because when it arrived I couldn't for the life of me think why I would've wanted it. Must've inadvertently fallen into my shopping list.

If you're wondering what it is, see pic 1 below. Groggy posted a good Bench Blade review here a little while ago. It's a sort of bench dog style clamp. I bought the standard (non-wedge lock) one. On the plus side the Bench Blade projects only a quarter inch above your bench surface, which is a very Good Thing. The downside is it's also only got a quarter inch of horizontal travel, which limits its application.

I decided that with its low profile, it'd be best used to clamp small parts which couldn't be secured effectively in the vice. With that in mind, I made this very simple fixture which gets clamped in the vice at a spot which allows the bench blade's short throw to be effective. (See pics 2 and 3.) The height of the top piece is about the same as the bench blade - 1/4". The Bench Blade sits in one of the front row of dog holes.

Don't be too critical of the dovetails - I only used this joint since I've never cut any dovetails before and figured I'd give it a go on something unimportant. I'm sure a few screws would be at least as effective.

The 3/4" hole drilled in the top of this thing is there so I can store it by using the Bench Blade to pin the fixture to one of my bench legs. (I have dog holes in the front legs.) See the last pic. Works well.

Anyway, just thought someone else might benefit from this alternative to using a tack strip. It seems to work well. Probably not that strong, but it doesn't matter since I only intend to use this for working small bits of wood. The Bench Blade makes it very quick to change bits of wood, or flip them around.

If for some reason this makes you want to buy Bench Blades, by mistake or otherwise, you could get them here...