Making a Shooting Board

[GraemeCook]

As I move along the precision path, I have now decided that I need a shooting board. I have searched the web, noted the range of variations of essentially the same design - its not rocket science - and the extreme precision required.

Most of the samples that I have seen, from utilitarian to works of art, seem to use sheet material - plywood, mdf or solid wood - of about 18mm thickness for both the runway and the base board/plane guide. Now I can appreciate the need for rigidity dictating the thickness of the runway,but the plane guide only contacts the plane between the side of the plane blade and the edge of the plane's base plate. (say 4 or 5 mm). The plane blade then cuts a groove in the top section of the plane guide. It then seems logical that the plane guide should be wider than this space between the blade and the edge, but not much wider. Anything more is redundant.

Why do most shooting boards have plane guides about 18mm thick, rather than 6 or 8 mm???

Second question: do I need a shooting board to make an accurate shooting board?

Finally; should I lubricate the runway? Silicon spray, furniture polish, candle wax, or what?

Cheers and thanks in anticipation

Graeme

[BobL]

. . . . It then seems logical that the plane guide should be wider than this space between the blade and the edge, but not much wider. Anything more is redundant.

It's worse on an angled shooting board but that's just the way it is.

Why do most shooting boards have plane guides about 18mm thick, rather than 6 or 8 mm???

I dunno

Second question: do I need a shooting board to make an accurate shooting board?

No.

Finally; should I lubricate the runway? Silicon spray, furniture polish, candle wax, or what?

Not silicon - keep that stuff away from wood as it can prevent you for using some finished. I use site sponsors natural wax/

[derekcohen]

Three articles on my website:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...%20Board4.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...g%20board.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...erfection.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[GraemeCook]

Thanks for the comments and advice, Bob and Derek.

Comments re silicon noted; self evident really. I have some antique furniture polish, won't mention a rival brand, so I'll use that.

After I posted the above I went and measured the gap between the blade and the sides of my three planes - they were 7, 8 and 10 mm respectively. This suggests that a minimum plane guide thickness of 12mm should be adequate. Derek used 10 mm plywood for the plane guide in his first reference which suggests I am on the right track here. For the Mark I effort I think I will make the fence adjustable but not micro-adjustable.

If I can get it square and usable, and a tenth as pretty as Derek's, I will be very pleased.

Cheers

Graeme

PS: Derek, some months ago you gave me some advice on sharpening chisels, etc. My first efforts remedied forty years of bad practice and I was instantly impressed. My chisels became slicing rather than hacking tools! I thought my first efforts were 'scary sharp' but each time I resharpen a blade they are getting progressively sharper. There was a steep and extending or continuing learning curve. Practice still makes better. Thanks again for the help then.

[edzell]

As I move along the precision path, I have now decided that I need a shooting board.

Graeme

Hi, Graeme, have you got the shooting board underway, maybe finished? Here's some of my experience with S.B. no. 1: It's small & ramped, made entirely from MDF(?) melamine-surfaced shelving. My first attempts to use it have been disappointing. The edges of the ramp, and of the lower piece that forms the guide for the plane, had melamine "veneer" that was hard to plane away when running-in the board. And once that was done, the underlying stuff - I'm calling it MDF but that's probably better than it deserves - doesn't plane to a smooth face. Too many voids & too much soft chunkiness to it.

But worse than those problems is the fact that I have trouble using the finished item for some of the things I want to do. I tried to plane some hard wood, 3/4 inch thick, across the end grain - ouch! A huge effort is needed to push the plane through its "Stroke" and I put that in quote marks because it isn't a stroke, it's a shuddering bouncing series of chiselled step-cuts that leaves the work looking like a very fat saw blade. The whole experience has me fantasizing about skewed planes or a home-made device that would hold a regular plane at a skewed angle to attack end grain with the board.

That's my 2-bits worth. Hopefully some of the wiser folks on the board will respond & enlighten me about shooting hard end grain. By the way I think it would be worth while to have the board extend a good distance past the fence: I have a tendency to rotate the plane at the end of the stroke, round the end of the ramp & guide, once its toe is out "in the clear."

Oh, here's another thought: neither of my planes seems to have sides accurately 90 deg. to the sole. I was concerned about that, but now it seems to me that it doesn't matter that much: I just have to adjust the blade's skew angle in the plane so that its edge is vertical when the plane is on the board.

Cheers, Edzell

[GraemeCook]

Hi Edzell

Thanks for sharing your experiences. The melamine we get here is usually formed around chipboard rather than mdf; possibly the same in Canada. I had virtually dismissed using melamine because of its hardness and the surface is not smooth. Also I had planned on making the plane guide from 10 - 12 mm mdf or ply rather than 19mm.

Other sources mention need for extreme sharpness on plane blades and doing fine cuts so you do not need to hack through endgrain.

The shooting board is down on my list of Christmas projects, but will probably be deferred into the new year.

Thanks and cheers

Graeme

[thomas.wilkens]

As I move along the precision path, I have now decided that I need a shooting board. I have searched the web, noted the range of variations of essentially the same design - its not rocket science - and the extreme precision required.

Most of the samples that I have seen, from utilitarian to works of art, seem to use sheet material - plywood, mdf or solid wood - of about 18mm thickness for both the runway and the base board/plane guide. Now I can appreciate the need for rigidity dictating the thickness of the runway,but the plane guide only contacts the plane between the side of the plane blade and the edge of the plane's base plate. (say 4 or 5 mm). The plane blade then cuts a groove in the top section of the plane guide. It then seems logical that the plane guide should be wider than this space between the blade and the edge, but not much wider. Anything more is redundant.

Why do most shooting boards have plane guides about 18mm thick, rather than 6 or 8 mm???

Second question: do I need a shooting board to make an accurate shooting board?

Finally; should I lubricate the runway? Silicon spray, furniture polish, candle wax, or what?

Cheers and thanks in anticipation

Graeme

Hi Graeme

I am looking at making a shooting board, using hand tools for most of the work (probably use a cordless drill to fasten all the bits together). I found an article from Popular Woodworking that you might find useful:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/im...ng%20Board.pdf

From other articles I have seen, one recommendation is to wax the sole of the plane in order to reduce friction; I have also seen at least one article where the base was made of melamine, also to reduce friction.

I plan on making my first attempt without a ramp (I have no reliable means of making 5-degree angles as yet; and I am just trying to get a small job finished before Christmas, and I don't think that will put devastating wear on my plane...).

Good luck / Best Regards
Tom Wilkens

[GraemeCook]

Thanks Tom

Great reference - those shooting boards are so elegant in their simplicity that it is frightening. If I am 1* out of square with the stop then it means that every future cut will be 1* out.

Maybe Derek's more complicated design makes more sense - I can adjust it to compensate for my inaccuracies.

Merry Christmas

Graeme