fine-adjust shooting board fence... is it amazing, or more trouble?

[chris carter]

I’m about to put a fence on a shooting board and I’m very tempted to make an adjustable one, with a fixed bolt on the right and an adjustable one on the left (right handed board) for fine tuning like what Derek has shown on his website. I’ve done a search, but haven’t found the answer to this question:

How often does an adjustable fence go out of square? Is it roughly as stable as a fixed fence, just with the ability to adjust it when the wood moves too much (as opposed to having to shim, or fix with a rabbet plane on a fixed fence)? Or does it go out of whack constantly and you have to square it up daily?

Would love the real world experiences of people who use a fence with a fine tuning adjustable pivot point.

[Tony Zaffuto]

An adjustable one might be nice, however, my down and dirty shooting board tunes up very quickly (provided the fence is installed dead square). A couple of swipes with my large shoulder plane and followed with a bench plane to re-establish the ridge at the intersection of the board to the bottom runner board.

[Norman Pirollo]

I've been using for 12 yrs. a couple of shooting boards I made in 2008 for a Fine Woodworking article of mine. Use them on an almost daily basis. What I find is that the angle of the fence never changes if built and secured correctly. What wears instead is the end of the fence at the runway by occasional nicking. So this is easily fixed by having a two-part fence. The back is screwed ( and glued?) in whereas the front hardwood fence component has elongated holes so it can be shifted towards the runner when necessary. I check the angle of the fence over the years and it is consistent. I can see the system where the fence needs to rotate and pivot off a bolt if a different angle is desired than 90d. Pic below has a 45d face miter attachment but you can see the split fence with a hardwood front component that adjusts from left to right for wear. Norman

ShootingBoard-800.jpg

[William Fretwell]

Chris, when shooting hard woods especially the force to trim end grain can be considerable, even with a freshly sharpened blade. A moveable fence will at the very least flex somewhat, if not move. If it’s adjustable you will be constantly adjusting it! To do that with any accuracy takes time.
99% of what you want a shooting board to do are 90 and 45 degree angles. Why compromise on the importance of those main angles. If you use weird angles make a second adjustable board.

The precision of my recently posted ‘decent’ shooting board is a revelation compared to the makeshift one. The second hook on fence changes the angle to 45 degrees in 2 seconds with equal precision: love it!

[Prashun Patel]

To each his own. On the first 2 shooting boards I made, I was unable to get the adjustable mechanism to lock reliably; it required rechecking all the time.

I second the advice to build a sacrificial fence. I now use shims to adjust the sacrificial fence into square. It doesn't lock down per se; it's held by the force of the piece. I've been meaning to add a table saw fence clamp to lock it into place.

[Derek Cohen]

I’m about to put a fence on a shooting board and I’m very tempted to make an adjustable one, with a fixed bolt on the right and an adjustable one on the left (right handed board) for fine tuning like what Derek has shown on his website. I’ve done a search, but haven’t found the answer to this question:

How often does an adjustable fence go out of square? Is it roughly as stable as a fixed fence, just with the ability to adjust it when the wood moves too much (as opposed to having to shim, or fix with a rabbet plane on a fixed fence)? Or does it go out of whack constantly and you have to square it up daily?

Would love the real world experiences of people who use a fence with a fine tuning adjustable pivot point.

I built a lot of shooting boards over the years. Experimented with designs. The relationship with a shooting plane.

I built these two in 2011. The one on the left went to someone in the USA and the other I kept ...



Apparently, the USA-bound one arrived with the setting it left Oz, and remained perfectly accurate. The one I kept has been upgraded a little, however it has never lost its accuracy.



Why adjustability? Two reasons. The first is that the fence adjusts to 45 degrees ...




The second reason is that the fence could slide towards the runway to take up any wear. Wooden tools wear, and fine wooden tools, such as these shooting boards, are intended to be used for many years ...



The fine adjustment is not just for the main fence, but also for any accessory attached to it, such as the Donkey's Ear ...



Can the setting move? I suppose so, but those bolts I used are pretty hefty, and get cranked down tightly.



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

My fixed fence shooting boards do not move very much. My philosophy when using a shooting board is to "trust but verify."

My old shooting board was still working fine:

Old Shooting Board.jpg

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have wide swings in humidity. The greatest movement on this board was able to be corrected with a layer or two of tape. This was my first ambidextrous shooting board. It wasn't as easy to use as when it was redone:

Ambidextrous Shooting Board.jpg

For shooting different angles it is easy to add a donkey's ear or other attachments.

jtk

[David Eisenhauer]

Chris - I use an an adjustable fence shooting board that is built as you describe - one end fixed by a same diameter hole/machine bolt with washer/lock washer/nut setup. The opposite end is fixed by the same (1/4") size machine bolt setup run through a drilled hole in the fence that is 1/8" larger than the machine bolt to allow adjustment. I use a 1/4' drive ratchet to tighten both ends. I doubt that I have ever moved it more than (if that much) once a year. I did nit apply any finish to the board that is made with a ply base and scrap piece of white oak for the fence. For whatever reason, I have always had the habit of throwing a square on my material after shooting to check for square and only have to shoot some more when I did not completely plane the entire end of my material. I probably don't even check my shooting board fence for square more than once a year or so. I tend to keep my shooting plane sharp-sharp and take very thin bites when shooting and do not have to "run into" the material as I find that "pushing through" works for me. The shooting board currently in use has been in use for many years and should be replaced one of these years, but the fence remains square. We are all different and there are different ways to accomplish the same goal. In my particular case, I definitely dislike dealing with shims. Other folks may not have that same dislike.

[Blake M Williams]

Not trying to hijack, but I have a question.

I do not have a shooting board, I've been thinking of making one for a while with an extra no 6 hand plane I have. Will a shooting board help keep me from having tear out as well as square it up? Is a no 6 a good plane to use?

Derek those look awesome!

[glenn bradley]

My shooting board fences are adjustable. I do not have issue with them going out of square. I will detail this a bit. I use 1/4" carriage bolts from underneath to make the pivot point and adjustment point for the fence. The pivot point is near the plane with the adjustment point at the opposite end. The holes for the 1/4" bolts fit quite snug through the board base and through the fence pivot points. The hole in the fence at the adjustment point is 3/8" so, not a lot of adjustment but way more than you need. The pencils in the second pic are just showing (for another article) that I have multiple fence positions for the board.

Shootingboard v2 (4).jpg . Shootingboard v2 (3).jpg

This also makes the 90 degree fence removable and lets me put a 45 degree fence on.

Shootingboard v2 (6).jpg

The left hand hole of the 45 degree fence is also a 3/8" hole for the 1/4" bolt. Again, this does not allow a lot of adjustment but, way more than you need. I use a fender washer under the knob at the adjustment point to supply a large load bearing area. I have not experienced any problems with the adjustment slipping. I would not put the adjustable position near the plane chute. This is the area of the most impact and I could see things maybe getting knocked out of alignment if there were opportunity at that point.

[Warren Mickley]

Not trying to hijack, but I have a question.

I do not have a shooting board, I've been thinking of making one for a while with an extra no 6 hand plane I have. Will a shooting board help keep me from having tear out as well as square it up? Is a no 6 a good plane to use?

I made a shooting board in 1981. I last used it in 1981 also. Traditionally shooting boards were used to plane very thin stuff or to trim small joints for miters and such.

I am not sure what you mean by tear out in this case, but when planing end grain the far end of the cut is vulnerable to breaking out. Use of a shooting board nearly eliminates this breaking out, usually just leaving the corner a tiny bit frazzled. What we do when we shoot end grain in a vise is to bevel the far corner so there is no breaking out. We cut the board to width after planing the end grain to length.

[Derek Cohen]

Not trying to hijack, but I have a question.

I do not have a shooting board, I've been thinking of making one for a while with an extra no 6 hand plane I have. Will a shooting board help keep me from having tear out as well as square it up? Is a no 6 a good plane to use?

Derek those look awesome!

By “tear out”, I assume that you are referring to spelching, Blake.

There is a mistaken belief that a closed up fence is necessary. What prevents spelching is correct shooting technique.

The appropriate process involves creating a fine chamfer at the end of the side you are shooting, and working to this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tony Zaffuto]

Rob Cosman shows in his shooting board video, placing a tiny chamfer on the end, as Warren said. Tried it a few weeks ago and works like a charm.

[chris carter]

Wow, thanks for all the real-world experiences everyone! I think right now, based upon some of the folks with the adjustments I was talking about, that it's not an issue. I also like the idea of being able to swap the fence out. That said, I also like the idea of the two part fence. With that, when things go out of square it would be much easier (dead easy) to adjust the second part and then get back to work.

[Gary Focht]

I really like the fence on Tim Rousseau’s shooting board. It is a great concept.

https://youtu.be/pwYJhfChDdM