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Thread: Shooting Board question

  1. #1
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    Shooting Board question

    I got a shooting board rigged up for trimming 15° bevels on board edges to mock up the profile in this thread.
    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=27403

    I know I could attach a wedge to my LV BU Jointer Fence but wanted to do this with a shooting board instead. I cut the pieces slightly fat on the BS so I could trim and true them up with the plane. I've done the first couple of piece with a LN LA Jack as it seemed about the best size for the work/board. The bevels couldn't be coming out any better after planing but I'm having a problem holding the work to the shooting board. Due to the slope on the wedges, the holddowns have a tendency to want to squish the work back out. I've thought about cutting an angled notch in the bottom of the holddowns to try and trap the back corner edge of the work, but I'm not sure if that's going to solve my problem. Once I get that little problem solved, I intend to glue some stop blocks on the wedges to act as a fence so that all the pieces come out the same width. My original plan was to counterbore some carriage bolts through the board from underneath, up through the holddown blocks. Just to test out the plan, I just attached the holddowns with screws and started running into the problem. The pieces are only 1.25" wide on the bottom side (narrower on the Up side) so there's not an awful lot of room for holddowns.
    Any thoughts (using the existing shooting board) as to how to hold these in place?
    Thanks for looking.

    ShootBoard1.jpg

    ShootBoard2.jpg

    ShootBoard4.jpg

    ShootBoard5.jpg
    Use the fence Luke

  2. #2
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    Doug,
    If you set 2 blocks to just over the width of the piece and tap a wedge so there is full contact on the edge rather than the top it should work. The force is lateral and should be resisted the same way...
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  3. #3
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    Doug,
    I'm fairly new to shooting boards, as I just completed making my first. Not sure I have a good answer. My first thought was to angle the plane. Put the wedges on the shooting part and put a new top on that. The stock is then flat and might be easier to hold, or you could use some kind of toggle clamp to hold the workpiece. Never done it so Have no idea if it would work or not.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Singer
    Doug,
    If you set 2 blocks to just over the width of the piece and tap a wedge so there is full contact on the edge rather than the top it should work. The force is lateral and should be resisted the same way...
    Mark
    I've read this about 10 times and still can't picture what you're describing. "full contact on the edge" : Are you talking about the long edge best seen in the 3rd pic? That's the edge that the plane is shaving. Maybe I should have taken a shot with the plane laying on the board. I'm having a hard time imagining anything up against that edge not interfering with the plane. Are the 2 blocks you're refering to running the same direction as the 2 holddowns I've got on there now?


    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Stutz
    Doug,
    I'm fairly new to shooting boards, as I just completed making my first. Not sure I have a good answer. My first thought was to angle the plane. Put the wedges on the shooting part and put a new top on that. The stock is then flat and might be easier to hold, or you could use some kind of toggle clamp to hold the workpiece. Never done it so Have no idea if it would work or not.
    Rebuilding the shooting board with the plane angled instead of the work was probably my next try if I can't figure out a way to make this one work better. Was hoping to avoid that if possible though.
    Use the fence Luke

  5. #5
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    Doug,
    I have never done this, so take this idea for what its worth. Shoot one side with the angle. This I am gathering you do not have a problem with. Slice the width to approximate finished width. Then take a scfrap board with the reverse 15 degree angle and screw it to the three angled wedges at just the distance you need to achieve. The reverse angle will capture the finished edge, and permit you to plane all of the pieces to the exact width and angle without the slippage you are experiencing. Whether this is what Mark meant I am not sure.
    Alan Turner
    Philadelphia Furniture Workshop

  6. #6
    Hi Doug. I have never done this before either, but I would guess that if you had a fence along the back side [like if the piece was running through a table saw] and you had a stop block at the far end, you would not need hold downs. I think that your hold downs are holding the piece in place with no stopper at the back side, and they are creating a problem that does not exist. Let us know. Peter.

  7. #7
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    Doug,
    I am sorry..I misunderstood the problem. What I would do is to cut a board that is exactly the size of the piece, but 1/16" smaller in thickness. Glue sandpaper on the base board and the cover board You are making a sandwich...Use 1/4 20 "T" nuts that hold the sandwich together. Put the piece in the cradle...put the top on , tighten the bolts to the "t" nuts and your ready. This is basically the routing template design I have used for many chairs....Click on image below...
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Mark Singer; 12-28-2005 at 8:33 AM.
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  8. #8
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    Alan/Peter/Mark
    Muchos gracias. I think there's a solution to this with one or more of your suggestions without forcing me to toss the current shooting board and start over. I'll let you know how this turns out.
    Use the fence Luke

  9. #9
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    Well if I had to do it over, I think I'd make Mark's sandwich idea mounted to some angled supports so I could stand it upright and be planing flat with the plane sole directly down. But I did manage to fix the problem on the existing shooting board and it's working pretty good. I managed to get 5 pcs trimmed up in the space of time it took for one piece yesterday with the stock skittering about on the wedges. The sandwich thing wasn't going to work too well with this board (at least not without more modifications) as it would have made the stock sit too high for the plane blade to make complete contact on the edge. I think this is the same idea as Alan & Peter's suggestions.

    The holddowns are gone. Not only were they causing the problem of trying to push the stock sideways down the wedges, they were crushing the wood fibers along the edge they were contacting. The beveled fence combined with the sideways pressure of the plane and maybe a tiny bit of downward pressure from my thumb are all that's needed to keep the work in place as I plane. Hopefully I can get some of this profile glued up by this weekend, although I think I've got to stop and make several different types of angled clamping blocks first. Oy Vey - One issue solved, 250 to go.

    ShootBoard6.jpg

    ShootBoard9.jpg

    ShootBoard8.jpg

    Thanks for the help guys.
    Use the fence Luke

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