Bench Hook

As part of my reconnecting with hand tools I made myself a bench hook. It's almost too simple to be worth talking about, but that's where the beauty of this gizmo shines: it's so simple, but really handy. If I had to think about it, I'd say that you could probably boil down the worth of a homemade tool as a ratio of how useful it is, over the value of its manufacture in time and resources. The equation looks like this:

V = U/{T + r + wt}

Nah, I'm just kidding. I made that equation up, but I'm serious about value. There are guys out there building table saws and joiner from scratch out of wood and swimming pool parts. Honestly, these projects are fascinating but I'm not sure their usefulness balances with the time and effort that's put into them. I'm sure there are better examples, and I also understand that there are other, less quantifiable, benefits to these efforts (such as enjoyment and learning potential) but for me, some things are just more efficient to purchase.

The bench hook, by comparison, is NOT something that anyone should buy. It is easily made with scrap wood in about 5 minutes and makes all kinds of things easier. Especially when you don't have a vise! With a little more effort you can square it up nice, and even add a 45-miter on one side and you can use it as a quick miter box for things that don't need to be dead on, just run the saw blade along the edge of the base and the end of the fence.

The design is simple: a rectangle of wood or plywood, with a stop or fence attached to either end, on opposite sides. One stop hooks onto the edge of the bench, the other is used to trap your work against. Easy. And when it wears out, you make a new one. You can even reuse the scrap for something else.

Final analysis: make one today.