When you don't have a vice/Bowers bench

[shackleton]

Also no heavy table to attach a vice.I just started my 1st bow and to use the draw knife I lean the wood at a 45°angle against the wall,pinning the bottom with my feet.It works ok but I was wondering what creative techniques that those in the same boat have used.
Scott

[Ben.Kellerman]

I sit on mine on a chair in the kitchen!  Put a towel on the chair under the stave to protect the bow and another on top to protect your @$$!  Then I work one side at a time.

[shackleton]

So do you have one end on the floor in front of you ?Or sitting on it the unworked end go's behind you and the working end come out between your legs?

[Ryan Jacob]

I use a stationary bicycle

[Weylin]

Clamp it to the rail of a deck. that works well.

[shackleton]

It works...exercise bike/clamp and saw horse!

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I do similar to Ben, I’ll use a towel as a cushion to keep from tearing up the stave. Then I sit on it to hold it still while carving. I’ll go at it with the drawknife a lot more gently than if it was in a vice. A large splinter on your underside isn’t too pleasant.

Kyle

[Ryan Jacob]

It works...exercise bike/clamp and saw horse!

Told ya! 

[Julian]

I sit in a chair and brace the wood against the floor with my feet and against my chest.

I mostly use a spokeshave and a block plane, find it works better than my drawknife when I have no workholding.

I also sometimes just sit on the wood.

[Mesophilic]

We've been renters and moving around alot for work, only so much I can do for a workshop. Compound that with my delusion that I'm "going to take a break after I finish this bow" I've yet ro get or make a more permanent bench.

What I've been using is a large plastic bucket filled with 50#-ish of play sand from a certain large chain hardware store.  Cost was under $10 for the sand and 18 years of stinky cat poop for the bucket.  Then I put a small board over the lid (or the lid will smash down) and using para cord lashed on a drill vice (vice was about $20 from same store).  You need a hand cranky lever thingy to really tighten up the para cord (and I have no idea what the technical term is).

Wife loves the portability and that I can make messes in any room in the home .

[Billinthedesert]

An 8-foot 2X10, a few three-inch screws and a used vise off Craigslist would get you a very useful bench that will hold your work firmly -- AND SAFELY. It would be $30-$35 well spent.

[JW_Halverson]

And if the weather is nice, head for the park, claim a picnic table and clamp your work to that!

[BowEd]

With staves that need the bark and sapwoood removed I generally just lean the stave against a tree outside leaving the mess outside.Makes good kindling for the wood stove.

[AndrewS]

I have a simple bench made of one board of Spruce.
I screw down a cheap vise and then I can work easy while sitting on the bench.
If I srew up the vice, I have a nice bench to sit in the garden and drink a beer (always after using the bench with the vice on...

[Bryce]

Clamp it to the rail of a deck. that works well.

That’s kinda what I did my first year of bowyery. But used the beam in the basement that helped hold up our house