A Benchtop Shoe

**rgsparber** · Apr 28, 2020, 12:10 PM

My workbench consists of a series of repurposed dressers from a college dorm. They have deficiencies: the lack of clamping lips and the inability to clamp things to the work surface. Marv Klotz came to the rescue. His idea, slightly modified, solved my problem.

If you are interested, please see

https://rick.sparber.org/BenchtopShoe.pdf

Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.

Thanks,

Rick

**DIYer** · Apr 28, 2020, 01:42 PM

Thanks rgsparber! We've added your Benchtop Shoe to our Workbenches category,
as well as to your builder page: rgsparber's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Benchtop Shoe by rgsparber

tags: table

**mklotz** · Apr 28, 2020, 03:54 PM

Great solution for a lipless bench. I'm very pleased to have been a source of inspiration for you.

Here are a couple of ideas that might provide further inspiration...

I'm considering screwing a small steel plate to one of my bench hooks. It would be handy for any magnetic appliance. Oil or paint cups fitted with a magnet in the bottom would resist spilling. Small, magnetic parts dishes, e.g.,

https://www.amazon.com/HORUSDY-4-Pie...8108428&sr=8-1

are exceptionally handy when (dis)assembling stuff. Small wooden blocks with bottom magnets holding all the tools for a given job could provide a means for instantly adapting the shoe to the particular task at hand. A small spring used as a paint brush holder or a coil for holding a hot soldering iron are also possibilities.

Purists would inlet the shoe so the surface of the plate was coplanar with the shoe top. I ceased being pure a long time ago; I'd use 1/16" steel and unscrew in the rare event I needed a dead flat surface everywhere.

My office (the den of antiquity) bench hook has permanently installed back stops but I found it additionally convenient to install a small stop that can be relocated to three different distances from the front to provide "just right" spacing for certain jobs. The permanent stops have a "corner" which is handy for immobilizing objects that might roll against a linear stop or locking a sharpening stone in place. I haven't needed that feature on the adjustable stops but I have it in my mind should the need develop.

A length of 1/4" half round glued to the front edge of the shoe will keep stuff from rolling off without too badly annoying your forearms. My preferred approach, though, is to use the peel and stick foam rubber draft blocker tape, e.g.,

https://www.amazon.com/Insulation-So...8110348&sr=8-5

It will stop rolloffs yet compress under the weight of your hands/arms and pop back as soon as the weight is removed.

**Manitoba Man** · Apr 29, 2020, 08:21 PM

Ingenious and sneaky cool.

**rgsparber** · Apr 30, 2020, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by Manitoba Man

Ingenious and sneaky cool.

This is a common result of collaboration. One idea builds on another. It can get really funny. I've seen amazing insights come out of someone's comment that was based on a misunderstanding. No matter as long as we advance.

Rick

**jdurand** · Apr 30, 2020, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by rgsparber

This is a common result of collaboration. One idea builds on another. It can get really funny. I've seen amazing insights come out of someone's comment that was based on a misunderstanding. No matter as long as we advance.

Rick

I had that happen with a product name. Marketing guy asked me for a description of the new device over the phone. He said he loved that made up name! <click>

Made up name? What made up name?

Sure enough, that became the product name.