A dilemma that often surfaces is how to hold thin boards vertically to work the edges with a handplane. This is especially a problem if there is no face vise in your workbench or if it is being used for other clamping. This solution incorporates a traditional Birds Mouth stop into a planing board. The Birds Mouth stop is a plug-in accessory and works in conjunction with two wedges. The board to be planed is held tightly vertical using custom wedges. The stop is designed to but against the planing board horizontal stop therefore increasing its strength. The premise of the planing board is to create a secondary surface above the workbench surface to facilitate planing of small parts.
Dowels are used to lock the Birds Mouth accessory into the planing board. The planing board itself attaches to the workbench surface through the use of dowels. Dowel placement is custom to your own workbench. In my case, I have two identically configured workbenches so the planing board is portable between them. I have also developed a version of Birds Mouth accessory that plugs directly into the workbench surface. I use hardwoods for the Birds Mouth accessory, the wedges, as well as the stop on the planing board. The planing board itself is created from dimensionally stable 3/4 in. Baltic Birch plywood. The dowels are both glued and reinforced with short wedges inserted into a kerf sawn into the top of each dowel.
The images below demonstrate how a tall, thin board is wedged into the Birds Mouth accessory. The long edge of the thin board can then be successfully handplaned or jointed without resorting to using a face vise.
