Bench Puppies

I saw this article on building bench puppies in Fine Woodworking magazine and thought it was a great idea.  I don't have a specific use in mind but I'm sure I'll find them handy now that I have them as a work holding option.

When I built my bench, I decided to place the tail vise and dog holes back from the front of the bench so the leg wouldn't interfere with hole placement.   The hole centers are 5-1/8 inches from the front edge.

 The puppies ended up being 10-3/4 inches from tip to tip to allow for this distance.

Rather than using hard wood, I laminated these from salvaged 3/4 inch plywood.  The large dowels are hard maple and were turned on my lathe to fit the 3/4 inch dog holes.  I used two 7/16 inch dowels to strengthen the business end where the clamping will occur.  These smaller dowels were made from birch using my shop built dowel plate.

I glued cork sheet to the clamping faces to protect my work pieces.  If this turns out to be too soft, I can always replace it with leather.

They seem to hold quite securely.