Use Veritas Platform Saddles and Lumber to Make Quick Work Supports

Simply put, Veritas platform saddles hold dimensional lumber stably on its edge. These jigs allow you to quickly make “sacrificial work standoffs,” which raises the work above a surface you don’t want to cut into with saw blades or drill bits.

The platform saddles can either be surface mounted by screwing them down, or they can be attached to the included posts which fit both 3/4″ and 20 mm dog holes.

The saddles and posts are made from polypropylene, which is strong yet shouldn’t damage cutters if you accidentally run into them.

Lee Valley sells these platform saddles as a set of 4 or in two different kits which we’ll get into below.

You can buy the platform saddles in two difference sizes: 1×3 and 2×4. The 1×3 platform saddles fit 1x dimensional lumber and the 2×4 platform saddles fit 2x lumber.

Each set contains 4 saddles, 4 posts, and 4 screws. The 1×3 size runs $13 for a set of 4, and the 2×4 set of 4 will cost you $14.50.

Price: $13 to $14.50

Buy Now (via Lee Valley)

Here’s Lee Valley’s promo video:

Veritas Panel Platform Kit

Lee Valley also offers a panel platform kit.

Using the 12 included 1×3 platform saddles and some 1×3 lumber you supply yourself, the panel platform kit provides a stable platform for breaking down panels with a circular saw. This platform saves you the worries of damaging the blade or damaging the surface beneath the sheet.

The panel platform kit comes with 12 platform saddles, screws, and a 4′ nylon bag to carry the assembled kit.

Price: $30

Buy Now (via Lee Valley)

Veritas Clamp Rails

Using the clamp rail kit, you can ensure your clamps are all correctly aligned for glue-ups.

The 30″ long plywood rails are made from Baltic Birch and have slots machined to fit both parallel jaw clamps and pipe clamps. The platform saddles can either be screwed to a base or used with posts to fit dog holes in your workbench.

The kit includes 4 platform saddles with posts and screws and two 30″ plywood rails.

Price: $27

Buy Now (via Lee Valley)

3D Printed Platform Saddles

After I saw these platform saddles, I thought they’d be something easy to design and 3D print, but user charlesodonnell on Thingiverse already beat me. He has files that you can download for the 1×3 and 2×4 platform saddles plus the posts, linked-to below.

I printed out a few of the 1×3 platform saddles and posts out of PLA and tried them on my workbench. They seemed to hold the 1x board firmly.

More Info (via Thingiverse)

First Thoughts

Stuart found the Veritas clamp rail kit initially and I wasn’t sure it was worth posting about by itself. $30 for a few pieces of plywood seemed excessive to me, but I had missed the really interesting part: the platform saddles.

I started thinking about how I could use the platform saddles and started coming up with several possibilities. For instance, how often have you had to drill into the edge of a 1×4 only to find yourself awkwardly trying to steady it? What about supporting a board while you plane one edge?

Sure there are other ways to hold a board steady on its edge, but if you already have a workbench with dog holes or a MFT or similar portable work surface, it can’t hurt to have another way to do it.