STEP 13: DRILL DOG HOLES IN THE TOP

We chose to drill a series of holes in our bench top to improve clamping versatility. The holes receive bench dogs that come with the Kreg clamp vice we installed, and they also work with other clamping tools. If you’re adding dog holes, first lay them all out, as shown. Then place your top assembly – upper face up – on a scrap of plywood or something else you can drill into. That way, as you drill the holes, you won’t get as much blowout on the underside. Then you can drill all the holes using a 19 mm spade bit. A superslick tool for doing this is a portable drill guide, as shown in the tip below.