You've seen a plan in a magazine for a project you'd really like to build. It looks easy, the directions are clear and you've assembled the necessary tools. The first step is to "cut pieces to length," and you are standing in your garage or basement, saw in hand, wondering how you can entrap a two-inch thick board or a 3/4" rolling dowel, and hold it steady long enough to make an accurate crosscut.

One quick and easy jig you'll find useful is a bench hook. Cut a precise 12"x12" square of 3/4" plywood and sand it smooth if necessary. Attach an 11" length of 2"x2" material for a fence, placing it atop the upper left corner at the back edge of the square, and leaving one inch of plywood exposed on the right.

Be certain all faces and end cuts of this 2"x2" fence material are squared to 90 degrees, which is a good habit to get into when making any jig for the shop. Glue and clamp the fence piece on top of the plywood at the upper edge. Countersink and pre-drill screwholes from the bottom, then screw them together.

Cut another piece of the 2"x2" material 12" long to glue and screw to the bottom side of the plywood at the front. This forms an L-shaped hook below the near edge, which catches at the edge of your workbench or table.

To use the bench hook, press the workpiece securely against the fence with your cut line exactly at the right end of the fence, which acts as a vertical saw guide to keep the cut straight. To avoid chopping up the plywood base, cut to within 1/16" and then move the workpiece off the right edge of the plywood to finish the cut all the way through.

For working with longer pieces, make an additional "outrigger" bench hook the same thickness as your original, but only 3" wide. This smaller hook can slide to any length along the bench, supporting a long workpiece and stabilizing it for an accurate cut.

The common bench hook has been through many adaptations. It can be made longer or wider to suit your needs. You can drill 1/4" diameter holes part-way into the base at random points, then insert 1/4" dowels where needed to secure circles or odd-shaped parts for cutting.

Another idea is to glue a piece of fine sandpaper to the front face of the fence so the workpiece will be less likely to slip when pressure is applied to it. One specialized use for a bench hook is to cut several V-shaped notches along the fence, attaching a second V-notched fence to the left edge of the base to hold square pieces steady for relief carving or other small cuts.

I now own a table saw, a radial arm saw and a new bandsaw, but if I have a single light cut to make, I'm most often reaching for my trusty old bench hook to do it quickly and quietly by hand!