Dog Hole Strip Advice

[AlexPeel]

Posted this in the comments on guild website on the dog hole strip video page but thought I would repost it here incase it could help anyone out who had not gotten to this part of the project yet.

Couple pieces of advice that came in handy on my build of the dog strip.

First:

Mark mentions being careful about not routing through the lip of the template which holds the two template pieces together. Well when I was routing I found it almost impossible to see exactly where I was and I almost cut through the thing.

I realized if I simply filled in the space between the two templates halves with a small piece of scrap that I could use the router bushing to keep me from going to far. I cut a piece that fit between the two and brad nailed it in place. Worked like a charm.

If you do this yourself cover only the top (outside) 1/2 inch and leave the bottom (inside) 1/4 inch of the template clamp piece exposed. This way you will route slightly into the piece and fully cut the top corners of the dog hole in your bench strip.

Second:

Mark has you routing the last dog hole for the movable dog block in the same way as all the others. Which leads to the issue he refers to in the video of the backing strip being on the opposite side of the block then it is in the main dog strip.

I solved this easily by simply making a second template but building it upside down. I simply switched to the other template when I was routing this last hole.

If you try this make sure that you change the layout to compensate for the reversed dog hole. Instead of measuring in 2 inches from the end you need to measure in 2 inches from the inside edge of the movable dog block.

[cts1085]

Timing is everything - My plan is to route the strip today - I will take your advise and give it a whirl... As well as extending the layout marks to the top/bottom of the strip so I know where to cut when the backing strip is glued on.

Thank you all for your comments - this is a great build!

[Trip]

One more piece of advice:

When performing repetitive tasks, do the boundary cases first. This minimizes mistakes where you get in a rut and perform all operations identically even when they might not be the same. In this case, I did the dog block first (I printed a second template), followed by the two around the leg vice (different spacing) then started at the beginning of the strip and worked my way down. I also routed a second dog block (just in case). Same goes for the lap joints in the shelf boards – do the ends first to prevent the unnecessary extra groove at the ends.