Andy Wilkins wrote:
> I'm interested in you working against a stop. ...
> Does anyone else curse their "Veritas Wonder Dog" when doing 
> thin pieces?  

I inset a dado into my bench top, about 1/4" deep and 1" wide, and 
screwed an 8" long 3/4" wide stop into the slot. The 1/4" width 
difference leaves a little room in the front of the stop for sawdust 
and shavings to collect for easy removal. The stop is about 1/4" above 
the bench top.

The dado comes right out to the edge of the bench so I don't have to 
lean across the bench when planing. The top of my planing bench is a 
sacrificial piece of 2x8 western red cedar - softer than all the wood 
I work with. I intended it to be sacrificial, but 6 years on I am 
still using the first piece. Every couple of years I plane off the top 
few shavings to renew the surface.

For very thin stuff, I replace the standard stop by one that is thin 
enough to allow the stock to be planed.

When making the sliders for my plane iron sharpening jigs, where I 
have to plane down to 0.06", I use a stop that is about 0.10" above 
the bench top, and put various thickness stuff (usually scrapers) 
under the thin strips as the thickness gets near the goal. In this 
case I do not mark the sides of the stock, but use a vernier calliper 
as a mullet.

Use your hardest wood for a stop that only meets the work in 0.04" or 
so, and countersink the screws in the stop.

One problem with a thin stop is that very tall stuff tends to tip over 
the stop. I have found that just putting an intermediate sized piece 
of wood (piece of 2x4) between the work and the stop prevents this. 
This piece just rests against the stop.

Brent