I enjoyed some instruction classes in the mid-1980s by the late, great Tage Frid at the old Woodcraft store at 313 Montvale Avenue in Woburn, Massachusetts. 

That store then was still the only Woodcraft, having moved north from Boston in 1968. Woodcraft started as a one-room shop in Boston’s North End in 1928 and later expanded. Around 1990, the company started to expand nationally. Much later, the Woburn store moved to its current location, also in Woburn. Woodcraft is now 67 stores nationwide. 

It was at the original Woburn store more than 40 years ago where I bought my Ulmia workbench that I still use. From then, I no longer had to use my own rigs. I had built my first bench in 1971. Before that, the first bench I used was inherited from my grandfather.

https://www.rpwoodwork.com/blog/2022/08/23/the-first-workbench-i-built/

Now back to the main topic! 

Even more fun and instructive was talking with Frid years later when I randomly saw him shopping at the former woodworking store in Cambridge, MA. (It became a Rockler but closed a couple of years ago.)

As I searched the tools around the store, I saw Frid doing much the same as I was doing: managing ideas. Understand, this was the renowned Tage Frid! The man who, probably more than anyone else, brought and taught the skills of woodworking to America. To see him searching at the store much like I was, and then have the privilege and joy of talking with him, really struck me.

Recognizing him still learning and thinking about woodworking, helped me understand that what I too was doing was healthy and creative. Searching, thinking, trying – woodworking. 

Of course, as a woodworker, I am just a small fraction of a Frid. Yet, I hope you happily read here and it benefits you. It is meaningful and, ultimately, joyous.  

A burnisher to sharpen scrapers is widely available from many manufacturers in several variations. What works very well for me is one that I developed. As far as I know, this is unique.

The rod was made of carbide in sub-micron grain size at my request by Innovative Carbide Inc. in Pennsylvania. The hardness of this material is rated 91-92 in the Rockwell A range! This is significantly harder than a 70 at the top of the C range. C is used for tool steels such as chisels, plane blades, and scraper burnishers, all usually about 59 – 64 C. 

This hardness allows easier pressing on the scraper steel which is typically 48 – 52 C. 

The rod is 3/16” in diameter. This works very well. The narrow rod, especially at 91-92 A, more efficiently presses out an angled metal edge on the scraper. Less effort is required than using a rod that is twice the thickness and not as hard.

After 20 years of use, the rod shows no wear. If I built it again, I might choose 1/4” diameter for a little more control, but certainly not wider than 1/4”. Anyway, the 3/16” works well and is exceptionally useful in small curved scrapers. 

The 3/8” diameter, especially at the typical 60 – 62C found in almost all commercial burnishers, does not give as much effective power in pressing out the cutting edge.

The thin and very hard rod in my burnisher gives great contact and control in sharpening a scraper. 

The rod is actually 12” long, which is more than I needed. I used it with 5” in a wooden handle. I was never totally happy with the 7” of exposed working length. I changed to 4” of length in each of two small wooden handles. This leaves 4” to work with. Perfect.

I can push the tool at an angle and move down the range of the angle. This is very effective in making an excellent edge in the scraper. It also works well to flatten a failing edge over the side of the scraper in intermediate-stage sharpening.  

To make all of this work well, I have long used a vise based on what is shown in the 1979 book “Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking.” I added a platform setup to hold it all in the workbench tail vise. I will review my design features in an upcoming post to add onto an old post about that.

Burnishers I have found online, worth noting: Blue Spruce makes a two-handled burnisher with a 3/8” rod of “textured high carbon tool steel.” O’Skool also makes one with two handles. The 3/8” rod is 61C “chrome molybdenum.” The working length of the O’Skool is listed by photo as 2 11/16”, and the Blue Spruce looks about the same.

My scraper sharpening burnisher tool gives easy, comfortable, and very effective sharpening and flattening.

The previous series of posts showed and explained four ways to secure wood at the workbench to facilitate work. And there are at least a dozen more ways. It should be convenient to set up, work on, and take down.  

This key factor has been important since the first time you ever worked on wood, even at an early age. Yet often it is neglected or done poorly.  

So, why is it so important and deserves so much attention?

We woodwork with our hands. With good hand tools or machines, the hands ultimately choose and control what happens to the wood. While they are guided by sight, sound, mind, and time, and supported by the rest of the body, the hands make the final actions. 

What usually happens in early learning of woodworking, the hands cannot do there job because the wood is not properly set in place and stable. I think that is the most common confusion when developing woodworking skills and   retaining them. 

In practical summary, I suggest taking the time and trouble to set up the wood well. I bet your hands will do the job as they lead the tools to success. 

Continuing from the last two posts, let’s now look at gripping an even longer piece of wood by the front vice and extending it to the right, even fully across the length of the bench. We will use a griper easily installed into the tail vice.

The tail vise will hold a T-track set into a piece of wood. This holds the same toggle clamp mechanism as is used in the T-track on the front of the bench itself. (See the previous post for that.) The photos above and below show the set up for this system.  

The next photo below shows a wider piece of long wood held by this system. The extra width requires an extra clamp on the upper area to prevent the top of the board from bending outward during some work. 

Now lets look at how to easily make the part. The photo below shows it.

I used a 24 1/2” x 1 1/2” x 1 1/2” piece of sturdy hardwood. An aluminum T-track, 3/4” wide x 3/8” deep, is screwed into a router-cut slot. 

Screwed in at the top of the post is a 1 1/2” wide x 1 1/8” thick hardwood that was made 4 11/16” long to neatly fit in the tail vise to make the surface with the T-track even with the front of the bench. 

Then another piece of wood, 3 1/2” x 1 3/4” x 1/2” is screwed on top. This top piece, along with the tail vise tightening, holds the T-track device securely.

So now we have covered four good systems (among the many more) that are used to hold wood so we can work well. Next, for a final “part 5” of this, I will go through the whole idea of wood being secured and why it is so important for working well.

Let us continue with the previous post. If the wide piece of wood being held in the front vice is also fairly long, we need a second system that grips the right side of it. Otherwise, it will tend to slip down due to weight, especially pressure from planing the edge straight and square with a #5 or #7.

The photo above shows the system in action. 

There is an aluminum T-track (“T-slot track”) (3/4” wide x 3/8” deep) screwed into a slot in the bench top made with a router bit. A small space on the left side of the slot allows you to easily enter the clamping device. The slot is not extended into the opening for the right-sided bench vice. The T-track never interferes with any other use of the workbench.

The workpiece is held with a quick-release toggle clamp with an anti-slip tip. It is attached with four screws on a sturdy piece of hardwood 3/4” x 10” x 2 1/4”. The toggle clamp is screwed in near the end of the wood piece.

This toggle clamp is GH-225-D. This holds the work I use.

A 1/4 x 20 x 1 1/2” T-track bolt is at the mid-point of the wood piece. It tightens with a three-branch star knob.

To use it:

Attach the toggle clamp device in approximate position on the T-track. Set the workpiece in the bench vise, using the compensating thickness piece on the left side of the vise (see the previous post), and tighten.  Then set the final position for the toggle clamp and tighten the T-track bolt. 

Then adjust the height of the toggle clamp based on the tightness to the workpiece, set it, and tighten it.  

This system allows adequate pressure to hold the right side of the workpiece. You can work well.

What about larger pieces and needing even more support on the right side of the workpiece? Coming up on the next post!

Let’s say you want to hold a wide piece of wood in a classic front vice of the workbench. You probably do not want to grip it in the middle area of the vice because it must be held above the lead screw and guide rod. 

You can grip the wood by the part of the jaw that is fully to the right of the screw and rod. This allows the wood to be lowered to where you want it. It will be held at a much better working height for planing and other tasks. (Exactly what is done with the right end of the wood itself will be discussed in a latter post.)                           

But the problem now comes when the vice is tightened. The empty left side of the moveable vice jaw can curve toward the bench top. This especially happens when strongly gripping thick pieces of wood. When the vise is turned tighter, it actually reduces the area of the pressure contact against the workpiece. (All of this varies with differently constructed vice designs in different benches.) 

Solution? Yes. Easy!

You just put an approximately matching thickness piece of wood in the left side of the jaw. This distributes the tightening pressure against the bench from the right and left ends of the vice. The vice stays aligned and, most importantly, the work wood is gripped more securely and evenly.  

You do not have to hold the matching piece there when tightening the vice. A wide cross piece grips it with a magnet and keeps it there. (See photo above.) So you place it, let it go, and then place in the work piece on the right side of the vice at whatever height you want. 

I have a small collection of gripper pieces, from 3/8” through 1” in 1/16” intervals, and 1 1/8” through 1 3/8” in 1/8” intervals. That is 14 sizes that covers thicknesses within 1/32” of most work pieces. Close enough to work.

They are 3” long with a flat head screw in one end to grip the holder top piece. The holder is 5” x 1” x 3/8” with a 3/4” diameter magnet at the center. The grippers get stored in the bench drawer, and the holder gets stored at the head of a flat screw leveled into the side of workbench. 

This is very easy to make and use. It really improves the performance of the bench vise.

But what do you do with the right side of that long workpiece which has its left side securely in the front vice? 

Answers in the next two posts coming up! 

We often use the outer edges of the top of our workbench to restrict any movement of a piece of wood being worked on. Let’s go through some handy, practical methods to keep the wood in place. These can all be easily made by you with minimal cost.

The first one is very simple. Sometimes we have a board, thick or thin, that we do not want to clamp down. We just want to stop it from sliding in one direction – for most people, to the left.

On the left side of my bench, I have two small blockers that can be quickly and easily raised for this purpose. The photo above shows an example of a piece of beautiful cherry in place. The blockers never get in the way when not in use. They have been part of my bench for a long time.

Here is how I made them: 

The hardwood pieces are 1/2” thick x 2 1/2” long x 1 1/2” wide. They have a 1/4” wide slot, about 1 3/4” long from the bottom. The main, visible screws have large handles, 1 1/2” in diameter (“star knob heads”), to make them very easy to use. They are 1/4” – 20, 1” long. These are very easy to loosen and tighten.

Those handled screws go into slotted set screws. The set screws sit very firmly in their drilled and slightly taped holes. These are centered about 1” from the top surface of the bench and about 6 1/2” apart. 

We’re all done. This little rig can be used for lots of tasks. 

Another nifty tool is coming up in the part 2 post.

Only you know, but here are some of my thoughts. 

You are taking a break from work, family, wood shop, and the duties of life to spend a few minutes enjoying and adding to your woodworking. Let’s go over what is here.

Since 2008 I have published here 264,000 words written originally by me alone. (Not including comments.) That is the length of four non-fiction books! There are over 1400 original photos taken by me. 

It is all real and all directly from my wood shop. The only break in publishing was about two years, which you can read about here:

https://www.rpwoodwork.com/blog/2025/07/03/where-was-i/

The site remains quite popular and well regarded according to the valid online evaluation systems.

I simply want to share my woodworking with you so you can enjoy and add to your work in the shop. 

There are never advertisements here. No business or selling for me or anyone else. I do not make a dime here. And that is just fine. No nonsense. No time wasting. 

There is also periodic philosophic thought for real woodworkers – like you. I have been woodworking for over 60 years, always growing in skill. So yes, I do have something to say!

I also aim to getting you thinking and evaluating your work. I would love to know that you are making things, but even more, I truly hope that you are happy doing it. 

THANK YOU, dear readers! More to come!