Get a Grip Man!

I'm sure most of you have been hit up at your local Rockler to check out the "Bench Cookies" which I'll admit I have a dozen of now (put a cute name on something and my wife will buy it). The gripping surface is good I'll give them that much and they will hold their grip even with a decent amount of dust on the gripping surface. If you look at the gripping surface it looks suspiciously like the material on the underside of a mouse pad... hmm homemade bench cookies in my future? So in certain "grippy" situations like sanding, scrapping, or finishing they've come in quite handy! Now recently while lurking my local Rockler I was hit up to try their new or newish Bench Dog Ultra Push Block (pic below). I've resisted their attempts to sell me on several occasions. Well this time I got sold... they hit me up AND they a demo with my current push blocks. Needless to say the $7.00 they were selling them for was well worth buying two of them when i saw how much more grip they had compared to mine. And it's like my first shop teacher always said "Safety first!" actually he said "Don't be a dumb ass or you'll lose a finger." So in the spirit of not being a dumb ass I retired my old non-grippy push blocks. I was amazed at the difference and feeling of control i had especially at the router station. When I compared the old blocks it was like using blocks of ice they had no grip at all! I even grabbed some fine sanding dust threw it on the gripping surface to see how it held up... and it held surprisingly well! Now we'll see how they stand the test of time. So moral of the story "Don't be a dumb ass for $7.00" invest in your safety and work piece control. 

I like these new blocks at the router table above all else. 

My old push block... well not the actual one but you get it!

New grippy push block!