History of shooting boards

[Jim Koepke]

One of the things that comes to mind in this thread is something read years ago about "blocking in" to square the end of a work piece.

A knifed line would be scribed all around a piece. Then a chisel would be used to chamfer all around to the line and then the waste would be pared away with a chisel.

It works, just not as fast as a shooting board.

My recollection was this article claimed this might be how the 'blocking in' plane first came in to use and got its name.

jtk

[David Weaver]

What works really wonderfully well to me is to mark a board all the way around with a knife line (this can be done quickly), and to put it in the vise and plane the board as if you're jointing an edge, only not planing off of the far corner (for obvious reasons). If you plane the end grain to the marks evenly, you'll find that you have an awfully good and square board, more accurate than you can sometimes get out of a power miter saw, especially if you don't have a great power miter saw.

For someone hand sawing boards, this is a quick operation, as quick to me as using a shooting board. I don't know what size piece I stop using this on - maybe 3 inches wide? Things like drawer sides are pretty easy to plane off like this, plenty accurately enough to make a nice square box.

For someone who can cut accurately with a hand saw, this is not much more than just cleaning off saw marks.

Other than that, I try not to let end grain every show in anything other than parts that stay inside of something.

Folks who joint an edge with regularity, I'd encourage to put their drawer sides, sticks, whatever, in a vise with a marked line around it and plane until the bottom of the marked line is reached--with a simple smooth plane, obviously not planing off of one end, just work the smooth plane in from each side on the skew, and you'll be surprised how fast it removes material with no need to drag anything else out.

In the event that something small needs to be planed, I like David Charlesworth's comments about it - a shoot board doesn't need to be perfect, it needs to be shimmable. I remember about 5 years ago, maybe more, a $100 chute board came out and there were two reactions:
1) that's ridiculous, it should be a freely made device to be used only on small work
2) why isn't it ramped and this or that, I'd pay more if it was

Now there are shoot board systems that are made of plywood that cost $300, $400 and more. It's nutty. Certifiable.

The skill developed to plane on any board of any side is not very much, it doesn't take long (just don't use a perfectly dead flat freshly ground plane or it might skip or chirp), and it gets rid of one of the things that irritated me the most as a beginner, which was trying to do pieces of any size on a chute board and finding out that they were close to square but not dead perfect every time. You can get just as close or closer by hand and build coordination and skill at the same time.

[Daniel Rode]

I find the shooting board really convenient and I use it all the time.

For me, it's much like a bench hook in that it provides a simple way to hold a board and plane in order to square the end, or trim the length by very small increments. When cross cutting, I almost always create a knife line whether make the cut with hand saw, table saw or occasionally the miter saw.

It's become routine for me to make a cut and then take a few strokes on the shooting board to get down to my line. It also encourages me to make more cuts with a hand saw because I can easily clean up cuts that wander off a bit.

FWIW, my shooting board is made from some MDF, plywood and a scrap piece of oak. I was all left-overs but the retail value is probably less than $10. Also, since I made the shooting board perfectly square and the plane is set correctly I end up ends that are perfectly square in both directions every time.

[David Weaver]

FWIW, my shooting board is made from some MDF, plywood and a scrap piece of oak.

I have one of the same type, something I made as an afterthought as a beginner, though I did use it for a couple of years back then until a discussion came up on another forum and several more experienced member said "what exactly are you shooting"?

Miters that don't fit well in a miter jack (the type that are really wide but not tall) might be a reason to have one.

[Kees Heiden]

A shootingboard is so easy and cheap to make, that there is no reason not to make it. And who knows, once in a while it might be usefull.

[Adam Cruea]

A shootingboard is so easy and cheap to make, that there is no reason not to make it. And who knows, once in a while it might be usefull.

This is why I made mine.

Now, why I spent the coin on a LN shooting plane? Yeah, can't answer that. I think it had something to do with the weight and shiny nature.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Now, why I spent the coin on a LN shooting plane? Yeah, can't answer that. I think it had something to do with the weight and shiny nature.

If we all bought stuff that we only needed and not wanted, I think we'd all still be sitting in a cave grunting to each other and making really smelly farts.

[Sean Hughto]

All this would be much more meaningful if we knew what they did and how. Moreover, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

If one aspires to work completely by hand, a shooting board is very very handy as it perfects saw cuts, lengths, and so forth.

If one uses well adjusted a sliding compound miter saw, the shooting board might get pretty dusty.

[Bill Moser]

All this would be much more meaningful if we knew what they did and how. Moreover, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

If one aspires to work completely by hand, a shooting board is very very handy as it perfects saw cuts, lengths, and so forth.

If one uses well adjusted a sliding compound miter saw, the shooting board might get pretty dusty.

If I had a million lives to live, one of them would be a woodworker with a full complement of power tools. Right now all I have is, literally, a 6'x10' space for my bench, tools, and wood. In this setting, a shooting board is well worth making & using. Cheap, light weight, and gets the job done. I made one recently*, and it's been a revelation. Sure, it takes a little more time to use than a chop saw, but there's no dust, and no noise. And that noise thing is important, especially after a lifetime of listening to ac/dc & led zep. Not that I would know anything about that

* Derek Cohen has a number of pages devoted to this, well worth looking at for those considering making one.

[Daniel Rode]

Not long ago, I had a "full compliment" of power tools. I had every common tool and a number of less common ones, like a drum (thickness) sander.

I wish I would not have wasted the time and money. I now have only a few power tools and a core set of hand tools. I enjoy this way of working much more. I really enjoy the quiet.

[Warren Mickley]

Here is some history of shooting board that I posted on another forum last year:

I don't recall shooting boards in Felibien, or the plates of Roubo or Diderot. Nicholson (1812) gives a description of the shooting block:
Nicholson shootingblock.png
The fact that he mentions planing with the grain, or oblique to the grain, but does not mention cross (end) grain planing for the shooting block does not mean that it was not done, but it does suggest that it was not a major use. Earlier he describes shooting (jointing) long grain for glue joints in the bench screw (vise). I think the use described for panels in shooting block section refers to thin stuff.

Holtzapffel (1843) says shooting boards are for thin stuff, with the grain, across the grain, and mitres. Shooting boards are often used for joining pieces for soundboards for harps, harpsichords, etc. Harpsichord soundboards are around six feet long and 1/8 inch thick. Here is Holtzapffel's illustration.
holtz shooting boards.png

Moxon, Felibien, and Holmes were not woodworkers, so we cannot assume that their omission of the shooting board means that it was not in use.

I have gone at least 30 years without using a shooting board. I made one around 1981 in order to make some very small boxes. In those days workers used shooting boards for very small pieces or for very thin pieces, stuff that would be difficult to balance a plane on. In 1962 I was taught to shoot end grain with the board held vertically in the vise.

[Kees Heiden]

But Roubo was a woodworker, and he was very thourough in his writings. Hard to imagine that he skipped the shootingboard if it was used. And Paris was one of the hotbeds of fine furniture making in Europe before the french revolution.

The description from Nicholson is curious: "By this instrument the joints of panels for framing are made [...]". The PANELS. Not the rails of styles. I wonder why. Does he mean the edge joints for making wider panels?

[ernest dubois]

I was at Rijksmusem yesterday. To see this cabinetry, earlier during my schooling we were there often, is mind expanding. I cannot imagine a kind of work like this being done without much reliance on aids like shooting boards for one, all the intricate moldings, not to mention the prevalence of veneer work where the use of a shooting board is integral.

[Kees Heiden]

I really must visit more musea. I visited The Rijks at least 30 years ago and since the renovation it should be something special now. Whenever you find yourself in Leiden, you should visit the Lakenhal. Much smaller, but they have some incredible stuff, both paintings and furniture from the 17th century.

[ernest dubois]

Not being so keen on museum upgrades many cities are doing to keep modern, I will say that once you get into the Rijksmuseum and manage to shake the initial impression from the new entry situation, (criminal/ideological for sure), the reordering of their collection is a big improvement, so much more interesting to see the furniture in among the paintings and other objects grouped by time period and events.