History of shooting boards

[Kees Heiden]

I posted this on woodnet, but I thought, why not share it here too?

Randle Holme (1688), Felibien (1690), Moxon (1683). These three have descriptions of the tools used by joiners. In none of their books is a shooting board. Moxon uses the word shooting where we would say jointing. He describes how to mitre a moulding. Hold the moulding up in your right hand and the plane in the left hand, sole upwards, and thrust the moulding over the edge.


Johann Hübner (1714) Curieuses und Reales Natur- Kunst- Berg- Gewerck- und Handlungs-Lexicon.
There are two places in this dictionary with a shootingboard (stossladen). In both instances the shootingboard is explictly described to be used for miters.


Roubo (1769 - 1774)is a bit difficult for me. I don't read French very well. The book about marquetry has been translated in English by Lost art press. Plate 289 has something that could be called a shooting jig, used to reproduce exact copies of the various veneer pieces. I found the German translation on Google books from the Tischler part (the cabinetmakers). The quality of the scan is particularly bad, but the images are well known. Nothing that looks like a shootingboard and there is also nothing in the text about the tools, and not in the text about how to make joints either. Roubo is very complete and accurate. If they would have used shootingboards in Paris at that time, I'm sure it would have been in the book.


I have also browsed through P.N. Sprengel, Vierter Abschnit, Der Tischler (1778). In this book, exactly like in the German dictionary from 1714, the shooting board is mentioned again with the explicit note that it is used for miters. Later in this book all the different methods to work wood in furniture making are described but I can't find any reference to a shooting board there. The endgrain of a board prepared for dovetails is planed with the board in the vise.


The Germans knew two kinds of these shootingboards. The Stosslade, used for miters. And the Kropflade. This is used for mouldings which fold around a column or the like which juts out in front of the main surface. There are some nice pictures of these two shootingboards in a book from Kunitz, Oekonomische Encyklopädie. The plane used for these devices is the Vergatthobel. Peculiar about these planes is that they rarely have a flat side. In other words, they can't be used on a shootingboard like we know it today.I have no idea how to interpret the drawings of these stossladen or how they were used.I wonder if these old German devices were a precursor for the shooting block which was made until recently by Ulmia. On these things you can use any plane in normal position, because it doesn't need to reference on its side.


Kropflade:





Stosslade and vergatthobel:





And another Vergatthobel:





And a more modern German shootingblock:







Peter Nicholson, Mechanical exercises (1812). Here is the first instance of a shooting board as we know it! It's called a shooting block.




The Joiner and cabinetmaker, anonymous (1839). This book describes the apprentenceship from Thomas. When he makes his first dovetailed box, the shooting board is being presented, and used of course. When he makes a mortise and tenon joint later in the book, a shooting board is not used and the shoulderlines are marked with a square.


So, the shooting board like we know it today seems to be introduced in the 19th century. In the 17th and 18th century they probably didn't use shootingboards for square corners, but they did have devices and special planes for shooting mitres in Germany.


And just to show some terific cabinetmakers work from 1708, illustrating how skilled they were while using comparatively simple tools, here is a picture of the lectern from the Maria Church in Uithuizermede made by the joiner Allert Meijer. These guys never cease to impress me.

[Stanley Covington]

Kees

Interesting information, but surprising coming from you. I definitely recall your obstinate objection a few years ago on this same forum to the use of shooting boards. Follansbee's book and all that. What brought about this change?

Stan

[Kees Heiden]

Hey, it's worse, I even made a new one a few weeks ago! My old shooting board was in tatters.

Being obstinate is fun for a while, but I do agree that shooting boards can be usefull sometimes. At the other hand, this brief literature study shows that you can do an awfull lot of woodworking without ever touching your shooting board. For miters the are very usefull, but I think I would prefer that German model. The occasional miter I used in my work until now, was planed with the object in a vise and working to a line, a bit like Moxon describes. For mortice and tenon joints I just don't see a use for a shooting board. The best use I see for a shooting board is preparing the edge for dovetails. But even then, I often just cut the board to length with the tablesaw and proceed from there without shooting.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Kees

The argument that "you can do an awful lot of woodworking without touching your shooting board" is what is referred to as a "straw man". This means that, if you analyse the argument, then it doesn't make sense. In this argument, what you are pointing out is that excellent furniture was made in the days before the shooting board became popular. That is no more an argument that therefore a shooting board is not necessary than saying that good furniture was made before power tools, therefore power tools are not necessary.

For mortice and tenon joints I just don't see a use for a shooting board.

I had this discussion with you once before. You can mark tenon shoulders from the end of a board - yes I know that there are strong arguments against this, but is is accurate and efficient if your stretcher is to length and squared at the end (which would be done with a shooting board). Before someone jumps up and down saying that this is not the way to do it, it is another way to do it.

There will always be other ways to do tasks. Some are better than others. They all work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Kees Heiden]

One thing for sure. There are always more ways to do a certain task!

And it's not so much a strawman argument, much more presenting an alternative way. And then I got sucked into these books and couldn't let go until I went all the way to the bottom.

I would really like to see a better description of these German shooting blocks and how they were used.

[Marko Milisavljevic]

What stops the plane from cutting into the block itself once you reach the end? In this article http://www.leevalley.com/us/newslett...llection-2.htm it suggests possibly gluing cardboard to the face.

[Brian Holcombe]

I find them to be incredibly useful because I have a lot of exposed joinery in my work. One of my regular projects is to make box frames for pre-stretched canvas and the joints are all simple miters. It would be incredibly difficult to consistently hit the mark without a shooting board.

The same applies to box making, making liners and hitting corners is much easier if you can creep up on them rather than attempting to hit the mark

[Kees Heiden]

As I understand it you only cut the mouldings and the area just around it. That leaves plenty of reference surface for the sole of the plane. But I've never used one myself.

[david charlesworth]

The last diagram is referred to as a mitre jack in England.

I believe it was much used for the mitres of large mouldings, such as cornices.

I have seen several in antique shops but never owned one.

David

[Kees Heiden]

Yes, mitre jack, that's the word. Thanks David.

I think they are a better solution for miters then the shooting board. You can use any plane, even a coffin shaped one if you like. You can skew the plane, which improves the cut and lowers the effective cutting angle. Wear to the edge is spread out over the entire edge. And you can do wide crown mouldings too.

Here is a picture of another design, which comes closer to the antique German Kropflade.

Verstehhaak.JPG

[david charlesworth]

For small to medium mitred work a shooting board works very well. It has the advantage that ends may be trimmed shaving by shaving. The mitre jack is a much more complex construction.

Personally I have found that large mitres may be planed freehand in the vice.

But then my work has never included large cornices.

David

[Jim Koepke]

None of the books mentioned are in my library, so my knowledge of woodworking history is very limited.

Do any of the books mention bench hooks or bench jacks?

If so do they list or show them in use?

jtk

[David Weaver]

I have a shooting board. But in the half dozen kitchen cabinets I've made so far, I haven't found a use for it (they are M&T joinery on the face). Any time I can ever put a mark on a piece, put it in the vise and plane to the mark, that's what I'm going to do. it's far more satisfying. They are not itty bitty little things, though (which are difficult to fit without some kind of fixture).

I've marked all of my tenons with a square, as derek says, just a different method from what he's doing.

I remember buying a couple of shoulder planes (I no longer have them). I have no inclination to use such a thing, I'd rather cut the shoulders on the marked line with a chisel.

To each their own. I am by no means much of a maker of furniture or such things.

[Kees Heiden]

None of the books mentioned are in my library, so my knowledge of woodworking history is very limited.

Do any of the books mention bench hooks or bench jacks?

If so do they list or show them in use?

jtk

But you do have them on your bookshelf Jim! At least, the virtual bookshelf. There is a lot on google books. Some universities have books on their site. Toolemera has some interesting stuff. Usually, when you start, there is no end to things you can find online.

I did see bench hooks, but now I don't remember where. They are certainly not in these oldest ones from the 17th century. That doesn't keep Follansbee from using a bench hook extensively. Which shows that even in a museum you are allowed a bit of free interpretation.

[george wilson]

They used miter jacks in the Anthony Hay cabinet shop in Wmsbg. They glued a piece of paper on their surface to keep from cutting all the way down to the wood. The paper would get shaved first. Then,they stopped planing.

Since I am not a habitual furniture maker,I never used a miter jack(I have a Lion trimmer at home,and an import one which is also perfectly good). I imagine,being wood, with humidity changes,and some play in the sliding parts,it was trouble keeping the miter jacks accurate on the exact angle they were supposed to yield.