No More Racking

Racking is what happens when you clamp a narrow piece of wood in a vise. There are two reasons why you wouldn't want it to happen. As you might have guessed from the photo, it doesn't do the vise any good. The other problem is that the vise only contacts one edge of the workpiece, so it's not held firmly.

Racking is easily prevented by inserting a spacer of about the same thickness as the workpiece at the opposite end of the vise. Trying to finding a scrap of the proper thickness used to be time-consuming and frustrating, until I discovered this idea for an adjustable spacer made from scraps of thin plywood. Problem solved. I only wish I'd known about it 45 years ago.