If you ask ten experienced woodworkers about bench dog hole spacing, you’ll get eleven opinions. 3-inch spacing. 4-inch spacing. 4-1/4 to accommodate the Veritas Wonder Dog. Imperial vs. metric. Round holes vs. square. We posted the question to our community and got 63 responses. Here’s what we found.
The most common spacing was 4 inches, chosen by 31 of the 63 respondents. Reason: 4 inches is a common modular spacing that works with most commercial bench dogs and many shop-made fixtures. Counter-reason from the 3-inch camp (19 respondents): smaller spacing gives you finer workholding adjustments and is essential for shorter workpieces that can’t span a 4-inch gap. The 3-inch builders were almost exclusively hand-tool focused; the 4-inch builders were more likely to do mixed hand-and-power-tool work.
Eight respondents had no bench dog holes at all and called it the right choice. Two of them use exclusively holdfasts. The other six use a Moxon vise for edge work and only a planing stop for surface work, and they’ve found that they never needed dog holes in the first place. “Every hole you drill is a place where debris collects and the surface is weakened,” said one. “Prove to yourself you need them before you drill them.” Solid contrarian advice.
Five respondents had changed their mind mid-bench – started with 4-inch and wished they’d gone 3-inch, or vice versa. Three of them plugged and redrilled their dog holes. Two are living with the spacing they chose. Our takeaway: if you’re uncertain, go 3 inches. You can always skip holes; you can’t add them without plugging first. What’s your spacing and would you choose the same again?