Shooting Board

[Mark Roderick]

I'd like to make a simple shooting board to plane 45 degree angles, thereby avoiding the noise and fussiness of cutting lots of 45 degree angles on on a table saw or radial arm saw. The pieces I'm cutting will be very small, maybe half an inch square in cross-section. I'll cut with a handsaw first, then use the shooting board to dial in the exact angle and length.

Can anybody point me to good plans?

If it matters, I have a number of different planes available, from a low-angle block plane to a low-angle jack plane to a #7 jointer.

[Mark Roderick]

This is probably illegal, but I'm answering my own question. A Google search turned up the following resource, which is excellent.

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/shootingboards.html

[David Marcus Brown]

Oh man, you are so in trouble.

First, you answered your own question and then you linked to some foreign website???!!!


Just kidding!

Welcome to the forum!

regards,
Dave

[Eddie Darby]

This is probably illegal, but I'm answering my own question.

I hope that you didn't give yourself a bad answer!

I would hate to see you start arguing with yourself.

Thanks for the nice reply by the way!

[Michael Schwartz]

Fine woodworking had plans a while back (within a few years ) for a very good one in one if its issues. I have used a shooting board made by the author of the FWW artical and it works like a dream.

[harry strasil]

These are the tools I use for making banding and for my small Parquetry projects.

banding shoot board.


width shoot board.


thickness planer shoot board.




All have a hook on one end to catch on the edge of the workbench.

[Mark Roderick]

Very interesting and helpful. Thanks. It seems that once you start thinking about shooting boards the possibilities are endless.

[Mark Roderick]

Okay, I've made the shooting boards, one for 90 degrees and one for 45 degrees. I'll be using a Lie-Nielsen low-angle jack for the plane. What angle do you recommend sharpening the plane blade? The shooting boards will be used exclusively for end grain, so should I keep a dedicated blade at a really low angle?

[harry strasil]

what I use is a stanley 140 skew angle block plane. or a dedicated skew angle woody I made for use with the banding shoot boards.

[Mark Roderick]

Sharpened at what angle?

[harry strasil]

just normal angle, 140 is a bevel up plane originally, I don't have any fancy planes, in fact I only use antique special purpose metal planes, I am a woody person, I don't get into all the wierd sharpening some do. I do things the old fashioned way, they work fine for me as they did for the old timers.

[harry strasil]

my one consilation is chisels now as my wife gave me a worksharp 3000 for xmas.

[harry strasil]

just be careful with those small pieces. holding them wid you finger for the second cut can make finger tips shorter and ruin work with blood. don't ask me how I know. LOL

cut and shoot the first one before cutting to length.

[harry strasil]

I nailed on a stop and made a holdown piece with the end recessed to hold the little pieces for the second cut shooting, that way they were all the same. it was undercut not quite the thickness of the material being worked so it would hold it in place with out skating out when shooting.

[David Marcus Brown]

If you've got a LN low angle jack, it's an A2 blade. A2 is prone to edge failure at sharpening angles of less than 30 degrees. Because planing end grain is tough, I'd sharpen at 30 degrees.

I use a 5-1/2 on my shooting board and it works fine. The mass of the plane is more important than the cutting angle -- up to a point. A scraper wouldn't make a good shooting plane.