Shooting Board:

woodguy51 | Posted in General Discussion on February 8, 2023 05:45pm

Having built a new shooting board and sharpening my plane irons, should I expect to be able to shoot endgrain on 5/8″ x 3″ white oak stock. I’m finding it difficult to impossible. I can easily shoot 3/4 cherry. I think my irons are scary sharp but I could be wrong.

Replies

geedubbee | Feb 08, 2023 06:01pm | #1
End grain is not a problem with the right iron well sharpened. Just to check I just walked out to the shop, grabbed a piece of white oak scrap out of the barrel and took after it with my apron plane that I keep in the pocket of . . . well . . . my apron.

Tighter grained woods like cherry or walnut yield more continuous shavings but, for white oak this doesn't seem too bad. I included a walnut run with the same plane just for the sake of conversation.
tbonetim | Feb 08, 2023 07:01pm | #2
Set plane blade for super thin shavings.
elmaduro | Feb 08, 2023 07:03pm | #3
Wetting the endgrain might help.
Jkatzowitz | Feb 08, 2023 07:19pm | #4
Are you using a low angle iron or a regular 45 degree iron?
john_c2 | Feb 09, 2023 05:58am | #5
You should be able to.
esch5995 | Feb 09, 2023 07:39am | #6
I shoot endgrain with a model 62 bevel up plane. With a freshly honed blade set for a thin shaving this not a problem at all. I don't think I would try this with a conventional bevel down plane, but then I love my Lie-Nielsen model 62 so I tend to reach for it first and it seldom let's me down.