Adze work on the low bench

I've been trying out the new low bench today, I added a couple more holes for a Kuksa project.


I started by using the adze to see how it holds, I made 4 smaller pegs to hold the wood.



It holds well but a hand supporting the piece does help as the motion of the adze striking can tend to make the wood try to rise out of the hold, this is mainly because this piece of wood is light, larger pieces hold better because of their weight.





I also tried it out for gouge work.





I must say that again it works well and holds reasonable well even when the gouge is struck with the mallet.



I am thinking of adding a slot in the centre of the bench for a clamp or log dog to really hold the smaller pieces of wood in place.

The good thing about the low bench is you are able to move around the work, some other holding devices you have to move the work around, I suppose its just depends on personal preference, I dont mind moving the work around so I sometimes use a log that has been cut at angles so the work is on a slope, this is good for adze work, you can use pegs either side of the work to keep it from moving but really the pressure of you holding the work can be enough, also slight lips can be cut into the bottom slope cut to give grip stopping the work from moving.



There are many clever ways of holding the work in place and it is just down to personal preference and what works well for you, trial and error and practice.