I made some toe dogs.
I've been intrigued by these ever since I got my shaper. Maybe because they're "old school" or the fact that you don't see them being used anymore, I just wanted to try some.
The concept is pretty simple: screw applies pressure at a downward angle, thereby holding the stock horizontally as well as keeping it firmly seated on the table. The interface between the angled screw and the stock is the dog. I'd seen a few diagrams of them in use in various books and figured I should be able to pull something together from there.
I knew I would want to harden them, so I chose W1 drill rod as the material. After drilling a small socket on one end for the adjustment screw to lock in to, I made a little jig to hold the parts while I ground the two faces. Do one face, loosen the binder and rotate the part, do the other face. There are pointed versions as well, but I decided to use this modified spade shape for my first set.
The screws are just regular socket head set screws with one end turned down to fit the socket in the dog. At first there was a tendency for the dog to rotate as the screw was tightened, so I turned a slight point on the end of the screw and that seemed to help. Still a bit fussy at times, but that could also be operator error too.
To the test -- ran a few light passes on a scrap of 1018 and everything stayed put. Took one final one with the shear tool and called it an evening.
Thanks for looking!
-frank
