Adjustable Sticking Board

The side components of the web frames have a 1/8" deep groove 1/8" from one edge.  Since my bench dogs are 3" in from the front face of my workbench, and these components aren't 3" wide, I needed to find another way to hold the part so I could cut the grooves.

My first thought was to just bring them to my brother's house and run them on the table saw.  This is the fastest solution to the problem, but I've been enjoying using the plow plane and took a look at the cut list and found that I'll also run into the same problem with the drawer slips.  Surely, in all the years of hand tool woodworking history, someone else must have run into this problem.

After a little searching online I found a very old, simple, and common solution: The Sticking Board.  Basically, you clamp a board in your bench dogs that is wide enough to be flush with the front of your workbench.  On top of that board is a fence.  And at the end of that board is a sharpened screw head that "sticks" into the end grain of whatever you're planing.  The act of planing presses the component into the screw head and fence simultaneously, holding everything in place.  It's very common to find this appliance where molding planes are being used.

I had some time off from grooving because the depth stop knob on my plow plane snapped off and I had to wait for a replacement from Lee Valley (which they nicely provided at no cost).

Broken Depth Stop Knob

So I looked around at a few examples and decided to make my own.  I only needed a short one for now so I kept it small.  I used aluminum t-track so the fence can be adjusted for different widths.  Primary inspiration came from Derek Cohen of inthewoodshop.com.

Sticking Board in Action

Sticking Board works great!

With this device I made quick work of the web frame sides.  It really sticks to the wood, too.  When I went to remove the wood, I slipped and pulled a Roy Underhill and sliced my finger open on the sharpened screw head.