Pop-Up Bench Stop

Sometimes simple tools make our lives easier, like this bench stop from Big Horn. It sits flush in a mortise on your bench top and pops up when you need a stop. Sure, you could use a bench dog — but when you’re planing or sanding, it’s handy to have a stop that doesn’t extend past the top of the board.
Turn the finger screw to raise the spring-loaded jaw into place. When you’re done, push the stop down and tighten the finger screw to lock it back flush with the bench top. You can mount this 1-1/2″ wide and 2″ long aluminum bench stop flush with any bench top that’s 7/8″ or thicker.
A single bench stop costs anywhere from $8 to $10, depending on where you shop.
Bench Stop [Big Horn Corp.]
Bench Stop [Rockler]
Bench Stop [Toolmarts]
This would seem to leave a piece of diecast metal in the benchtop as a permanent fixture. Compared to dog holes, this is not very friendly to edge tools or the odd slip that one might have with a power tool. Maybe it is less of a problem in practice.
my dad’s workbench has had these for 20 something years.
they are made of a soft zinc or aluminum alloy (copy says alu, i remember the catalog saying they were zinc ages ago. could have changed, could be defective memory)
they are soft enough to not nick even a really sharp wood chisel.