stand-up work holder

Hey look! Pictures. I was working on an oddly shaped artsy piece this afternoon and I needed something with 360 degree access. I tried the picninc table bench it is attached to the table which kept getting in the way. Not so traditional either. So, a spanish windlass with my new chopping bench were the next stop. I was thinking I should drill a couple of holes through my chopping bench to put dowels or a rope through but I decided to just wrap the rope around the whole thing. I had a nice piece of maple dowel which was a drop from something I had turned and about 8 feet of 1/4 inch braided nylon rope. It all worked really well. Its amazing how much tension/pressure you can get from a stick and a string with a twist in it. Anyway, I was able to use a gouge and mallet as well as just push cutting with the gouge. The bench, half a sugar maple log about 3 feet long and 14 inches wide, stayed in place and the work piece was held to the bench with only a little slippage, mostly because to the fit between the bench top and the piece. I finished the piece and moved on to other projects.