BENCH DOG HOLES
A 3/4″ dog-hole grid in the top you already have. Six holes on a printed page make the guide, two bench dogs walk it across the bench, and the plan marks every hole it should skip.
Tell the plan your bench: a Build Plans 2×4 Workbench or another bench, its length and depth, the top’s thickness, the board under its edge and whether a brace crosses the middle. The holes automatically recalculate.
Our bench, or another one? Ours brings its frame and screws with it.
Set its size. Any hole over a board or a screw is skipped for you.
CAN I BUILD THIS?
5 steps. One afternoon, about 2 3/4 hours of assembly.
SHOP
7 MATERIALS TO GET · 9 TOOLS TO GET
The plate is a scrap of ¾″ plywood and the cleat a foot of 2×4. The shelf offcut and a leg offcut from a Build Plans bench are exactly that.
CUT LIST
1 BOARD · 1 PANEL · 2 SIZES TO CUT
LABEL EACH PIECE
ClickTap a piece when it’s cut, clicktap again to undo.
¾″ PLYWOOD OFFCUT
0 OF 1 CUTCuts the guide plate 12″ × 10″. Cut it to that depth exactly: the printed page measures from its back edge. The shelf offcut from a Build Plans bench is plenty; a 2×2 project panel if you have nothing.
10″ deep = the cleat’s 1 1/2″ + your 2″ inset + one 4″ pitch + room past the second row.
2×4 OFFCUT · 1½″ × 3½″
0 OF 1 CUTCuts the guide cleat 12″ long. Screwed under the plate’s front edge, its 1 1/2″ face up, it hooks the bench.
THE PRINTED PAGE · THE TEMPLATE
One page at 100%, never “fit to page”. It carries the six crosshairs for a 12″×10″ plate cut for a 2″ inset, and a 4″ check bar that proves the printer did not scale it.
BUILD STEPS
2 3/4 HRS ASSEMBLY · 5 STEPS
- Print page 1, the template, at 100% on letter paper; its check bar must measure 4″.
- Pick a long edge for the back. Pencil a line 1″ in from it, end to end, and a B.
- NOT TOWARD THE CLEATITS LINE ON YOURS
- Set the 3/4″ Forstner bit’s spur on a crosshair, its rim on the printed circle.
- Drill just through the page. Is the ring it scores on the circle? If not, lift and re-center.
- YOU’LL NEEDPortable drill guide · holds the drill square; a drill press does too$49.98
- OPTIONAL GLUE
ABOUT THIS PLAN
Bench dog holes are almost impossible without a guide. The plan puts six holes on one printed page, and the page puts them on a 12″ plywood plate you cut from an offcut. That plate is the guide. Hook its cleat over the front edge of your bench, drill through its six holes, and the first column is done. From there two bench dogs do the measuring: drop them through two of the guide’s holes into two you just drilled, and the next four land exactly 4″ on, square, every time. Your top comes out with 6 rows and 17 columns: 102 holes, ¾″ each. The only number you measure is one line on the front edge.
A hole goes where the bit can pass clean through the top and nothing else. On a Build Plans 2×4 Workbench the plan knows exactly where that is: the upper side rail under each edge, the four legs, the center stretcher, and every screw that holds the two layers of the top. A crossing over any of them is marked with an × and the guide skips it. On any other bench the plan asks three things instead: how thick the top is, what board runs under its front edge, and whether a brace crosses the middle. It keeps the rows off all three and tells you to look underneath before you drill.
COMMON QUESTIONS
How far apart should bench dog holes be?
4″ on center, in both directions. That is the spacing the 3/4″ bench-clamp and bench-dog market is built around, so a clamp that drops into one hole reaches the work from the next. Closer than that and the top starts to look like Swiss cheese; farther and a small part has no hole near it.
What size are bench dog holes: ¾″ or 20 mm?
This plan drills 3/4″. It is the size the big stores sell dogs and bench clamps for (a bench clamp with a 3/4″ post drops straight in), and it is the size of the Forstner bit most shops already own. 20 mm is the other standard, from the Festool MFT world: its dogs and clamps are a different family, and a 3/4″ dog rattles in a 20 mm hole. Pick one and stay with it; the plan picked 3/4″ because that is what most shops in the United States use.
How do I drill dog holes straight without a drill press?
Through a guide. Nobody stands a hand drill square over a hundred holes; you need to use a portable drill guide of some sort, or a drill press. After that the guide holds the bit for every hole on the top. The 3/4″ walls of the plywood plate help keep the bit from leaning, and two bench dogs through the guide into holes you already drilled keep the guide from drifting.
Can I put dog holes in an MDF or plywood top?
Yes. A Build Plans bench is two layers of 3/4″ MDF, and that is exactly the top this plan was drawn on. A 2″-or-thicker top of solid wood will also take a holdfast. Dogs and 3/4″ bench clamps work in any top that is 3/4″ or thicker. Your top is 1 1/2″: dogs and clamps, not holdfasts. Drill after the wear layer is on, and drill through all the way.
What if there is a board or a screw under a hole?
Then the hole is not drilled, and the plan says so before you start. On a Build Plans bench it knows where everything under the top is: the 1 1/2″ upper side rail under each edge, the legs in the corners, the center stretcher, and every screw in the two layers. Any crossing within 1″ of a screw or 1/8″ of a board is marked × and skipped.
Why is the first row 2″ from the edge and the first column 4″ from the end?
Because of what is under the top. A Build Plans bench has a 2×4 upper side rail on edge under each long edge. It is 1 1/2″ wide, so a row 2″ in leaves the hole’s rim 1/8″ clear of it; a wider board under the edge pushes the row back (a 3 1/2″ board moves it to 4″, and the printed page moves with it). Every bench has a leg in its corner, so the first column sits at least 4″ in from each end, and the columns are centered so the two ends match to within 1/4″. The middle band stays empty for the brace. None of it is measured on the bench: the guide’s 12″ plate carries the inset, and one line starts the first column.