Thread: Veritas Shooting Plane...........................Wow!

Lou, your shooting board will function 1000% better with a side fence to capture the plane ...





I began adding these many years ago with inspiration from the Stanley #52 chuting board ...



Of course, with the Veritas, the #52 is sublime ...



Incidentally, Veritas are now offering a shooting board with their fence.

My review of the Veritas Shooting Plane is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...tingPlane.html

Enjoy, it is a fantastic plane!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Lou, your shooting board will function 1000% better with a side fence to capture the plane ..

Thx for the good oil Derek

1000% is a huge jump on whats already producing some great results can you tell me a bit more bout why? ..............your thoughts am very curious about your feedback on shooting boards as I am aware you have been an advocate of their use for some time

The Veritas Shooting Plane is amazing and a joy to use it literally bought a wry smile to my face and i LOVE the precision JUST TAKES IT ALL TO THE NEXT LEVEL why oh why did i not explore these earlier!

are there any other tips and tricks any thoughts on long grain shooting AND do you think the ramped board is worth the effort on a custom build?

Regards Lou

Hi Lou

I am actually surprised that you are getting good results without a side fence. If you are indeed pushing the plane with the handle, all the force is at the rear of the plane, and there is hardly anything focussed at the front to keep the place against the work piece. In the usual course of pushing other planes, such as a LA Jack or any Stanley Bailey type, the hand is usually situated over the mouth. One pushed forward and simultaniously towards the inside of the runway.

The shooters, with the handle at the rear, are easier to push, but the energy is not being used efficiently - you lose power and control. The answer is simple add a side fence to capture the front of the plane and force it against the inside of the runway. Now all you have to do is push the plane. Power and control go up. The added control adds to a better result.

With regard the ramped shooting board ...

I began writing about ramped board - how to build them and how to use them - over 10 years ago. I was introduced to them by Terry Gordon, who was using one made by Michael O'Connor, who still sells the, I believe. Over the years I developed them a little further, and designed add on for cutting mitres, etc.

The ramp was really useful in reducing the impact when a square blade hit the work piece. The plane Terry used was, understandly, his Try Plane, and this was the one I used as well. The ramp did a great job of enabling the blade to enter the work piece progressively rather than head-on. I still use a ramped board, such as the one below, but only with a shooting plane plane with a straight blade, such as the strike block plane I built below. This bevel down with a 37 degree bed compared to the 60 degree bed of the HNT Gordon Trying Plane, and gives a smoother and longer lasting cut than a plane with a high bed.



The advantage of the Veritas Shooting Plane over other planes used for shooting which have a straight blade is thta its blade is skewed at 20 degrees. This introduced a skewed cut, which immediately makes the entry progressive, as well as lowering the cutting angle. The advantage if the low bed is that one can get a 37 degree cutting angle over other planes, including the LN/Stanley #51, which have 45 degree beds. The lower cutting angle cuts more efficiently and leaves a smoother finish, as mentioned above. In regard to choice of ramped vs flat, the answer now is that you do not need a ramped board. This benefits a shooting plane with a straight blade.

There are accessories you could build. Check out the Shop Made section of my website for the articles on shooting boards. One is this Donkey's Ear ...



... for long mitres ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

Great to hear from you Derek always appreciate the in depth reply's

I did a few experiments .......................and took a few shavings will report my observations ASAP

Regards Lou

Gidday

Just been having a look at the Veritas Shooting plane and getting used to "how she rolls" As suggested this is an amazing piece a kit. Ive never dimensioned stock by hand before always relying on a jointer and thicknesser it times gone past........

Why the transition to handtools for me ...................I love the exercise and get a sense of satisfaction from purist dark side adventures this is not to say that im going totally VEgan ops I mean Neander HAhaha

I still use track saws routers and such and am more akin to a wanna be hybrid woodworker. That said am going to the dark side as much as possible ......................... lets see where it takes me

I got some scrap to play with and literally just started Shooting away ........................Its an 800mm Shooting board and didn't register a number of nuances Derek mentioned earlier

I concentrated on pushing the plane up against the fence and listened with glee as the Veritas Shooting plane sliced away

End grain cuts presented as Dead on with minimal effort both the plane and the Shooting board new what they were doing! I tagged along....................................and smiled!

Results of end grain shoot in next post

Initially I seemed to be getting some blowout

So focused on keeping the stock tight up against the fence and adjusted my feed into the cut [I settled on feathering it in] rather than trying to force things

I can only describe it as the force taking over LOL oh back to reality.........................I mean I put some subtle weight leading into the cut ................ just gently ...............the result no blowout!

Once again the shooting board and plane seemed to make an adjustment............................I smiled some more

You can literally dial your cuts in a 1000th at a time .............................it really is fun to watch your pencil line slowly disappear!

Next some long grain cuts

The Jim Davey Shooting board has a nice adjustable fence, Blade still felt like it was holding up [V11] so I adjusted the fence and off I went.................

One hand controlled the stock the other carefully pushing the Veritas Shooting Plane along a 700mm stretch of long grain shooting

This time I used the handle rather then holding the shooting plane above the blade [which seems to give more feedback than a handle hold – BUT that said the handle felt great also] and found I could direct adequate force into the shooting board and pull off a complete straight long grain cut………………….at about 2000^th

The long grain cut shimmered like I’ve never seen before another smile as I realised no more sanding required!

More dark side possession ensued and I had to break out the No7 Custom for some double teaming ………………………NICE!

Shooting board giving results like a jointer and thicknesser but better W.T.F.?

Nonetheless the final pic is the stock I started with and the end result hard to complain about the outcome and yeah im still smiling

I might of just got lucky but seems great results can be achieved without a runner for the side fence that said clearly Darth Cohen and many other high profile woodworkers enjoy and see benefit in using a side fence.

I'll definitely incorporate one into my own custom Shooting board build!.................................in the [not to distant] future

There may also be benefit in incorporating some kind of holding system into the classic shooting board design so that stock can be fully dimensioned it really was fun throwing the No 7 into the mix

Dare I say could the forums engineering team make some suggestions...................who knows we might be onto something

Regards Lou

Now to keep them sharp!

Yeah I have an industrial belt grinder just touched the shooting plane blade up used a worn trizac belt with green honing paste from veritas took me 1 minute sharp enough to take off some manhair ..............from my arm of course

Regards Lou