Let's get to the Hookin!!!

For far too long I've been using a bench hook that, well, I'm a bit ashamed of. It was simply a scrap piece of Red Alder MDF core ply that I had lying around that I screwed some stops on and have been using ever since. I can't remember what I was doing when I made it, but I do remember that I needed a bench hook fast and this was the bastard child of that thought. It's ugly...it's out of square and it's tiny. But for all those short comings it did last for far longer than I had ever intended or imagined that it would.

So, last Friday as I was procrastinating the start of several dovetailed boxes I decided that the time had come to get a nicer version pulled together. I also knew that the more I procrastinated...the sooner I could get to the margaritas...cause it was, after all, National Margarita day and if anything, I do loves tha margaritas!

One of the bonuses of building my split-top Roubo is that I still have some sweet Hard Maple cut offs lying around. So I pulled one of the cleaner pieces out of the pile...true it has several checks at the end, but it was the perfect length and the checks in my mind won't come into play until well into the hooks lifespan, at which time it will probably need to be retired anyway.

Anyway, after I milled it nice and square I gave it a dado on opposing ends and fit a couple of cut offs from the square up process, eased all the edges with a block plane and voila...I had a new hooker in my shop...and boy oh boy is she sweet on me!!!

[caption id="attachment_1076" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My new bench hooker[/caption]

It came in at just over 10" wide, 1" thick and about 12" long...and now that I've cut a few Dovetail Daily joints on it, I can't believe I waited so long to do this....yeah...sometimes I'm an idiot in the shop!