I built and use David Finck’swell-designed shooting board. But I wanted a quick way to convert it to 45° without using clamps or screws, so I added my own 45° jig using a $10 plastic framing square.

Rabbet a hardwood strip to accommodate the square’s fence and glue it to the side of your shooting board. Then epoxy a 1-in.-thick rabbeted strip of MDF to the long side of the framing square to create a solid 45° fence for shooting the miters. If the square is wider than the shooting board, trim it a little proud and shoot it flush with a plane. Now just drop the framing square into the groove and slide it up against the primary shooting-board fence, and you’re ready to fine-tune miters accurately.

Illustrations by Jim Richey

Sean Montague, Raleigh, NC

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