So I’m basically a total newbie to woodworking and I’m doing my first project right now. I’m have immense difficulty with my makeshift shooting board. First of all, using it is going to give me arthritis in my hand before I’m 30 and secondly, even if I can stomach the pain, my workpiece is not square. I know for a fact it has nothing with do with the sharpness of my blade. I’ve also put a lot of time into tuning my plane. So I don’t think it’s that.
I so far have loved every part of this project but I’d rather walk away from it than go through this god-awful shooting board process for every board.
Any tips?
Replies
I'm a relative newbie myself and made this recently:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/project-guides/shop-projects/build-shooting-board-handles-five-jobs
It works great, but it does take a bit of getting used to. I'd recommend waxing the side of your plane, take thin shavings, and don't try to "get up a head of steam" and power through brute force. Shave, not hack or thick slice.
This isn't based on experience, just on my learning curve from reading.
Neal
p.s. there's a companion video to Rousseau link above:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/project-guides/shop-projects/become-a-shooting-board-master
I too have struggled with finding a satisfying shooting board until recently, and would simply second weymouth's comments. I have found Tim Rousseau's approach and shooting board to be the answer. It still takes some practice (what doesn't?), and adjusting the plane for the thinnest of shavings.
If you have not see any of Rob Cosmans videos, there is a wealth of info for new and experienced woodworkers.
A link to using a shooting board and from there you can go down the YouTube rabbit hole of Robs many videos.
https://youtu.be/n2yZuylIB1o
Cheers.
Your difficulties can be caused by numerous causes, the type of wood you are planing, is the grain changing direction often causing you to plane against it frequently? What type of plane are you using? What angle is it ground to? Is the blade edge parallel to the sole? Is the sole square to the sides? Is there a chipbreaker and if so is it flat to the blade? Is the wood you used to make the shooting board flat and parallel?
Excessive force requirements usually stem from several things: dull blade, incorrect honing angle, planing against the grain, bad chip breaker setup, improper mouth setting, etc.
Out of square results can be trace to: sides and sole of the plane not being square, the blade edge is not square, the blade edge is not parallel to the sole, the shooting board surfaces are not square and parallel, etc.
I know you insist the blade is sharp and the plane well tuned, but I will only say that what I thought was sharp 40 years ago when I was starting out is far different than what I think is sharp today. When you encounter a problem try to keep your mind open to all possible solutions, often the answer may lie in a something that you are sure couldn't be the problem.
I suggest that you go back to square one and examine everything with an open mind and a critical eye. The Crossman videos can be very helpful and will give you a good idea of what your end goal should be and help you find the path to solve your problems.
Skip Mr Cosman and his “crowned” shooting board, you’ll drive yourself nuts, just like he drives me nuts just watching him. Then man can do a dovetail maybe I’m just jealous.
Seriously FWW has some good articles.
A shooting board does not have to be elaborate.
What kind of plane are you using makes a diff, too. I use a #6 the mass helps me anything less than that my wrist can’t handle.
The fact that you are having to push so hard tells us that something is wrong. If your shrpening is fine then perhaps the wrong angle for the material being worked. I shoot walnut end grain with little effort. It is not like a slip-n-slide; we are slicing through wood fibers and there will be some effort. I would put it on a par with other end grain planing or surface planing depending on the orientation of the material. If it is substantially more difficult than "normal" planing we need to dig deeper.
If it makes you feel better, a long, long time ago I found simple plans for a shooting board and built it. The set-up was right-handed and I'm not! Woodworking is full of surprises and challenges -- enjoy the ride.
If you're finding the shooting onerous to your hand, wrist and forearm, it's likely that you, first, need a better way to grip the plane. There's a reason that plane makers make both dedicated shooting planes and specialised grips to mount on ordinary bench planes when they're used for shooting. Most bench planes will benefit from something like the Lie-Nielsen "hotdog", although you'll probably need to make one to fit the shape and thickness of your own plane's cheek.
https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/email-subscription-thank-you-hot-dog-for-the-low-angle-jack-plane-
There can be a host of reasons for the shooting not to be coming out at the required angle (usually 90 or 45 degrees). Most of them are to do with the set or condition of the plane and/or the shooting board, as listed in previous posts. But it might also be your shooting action.
If your grip is problematic, it's all too easy to slightly tip or skew the plane as you shoot it. Such tipping and/or skewing will cause poor results to the edge being planed. So, first fix your plane grip so it's comfortable and results in good plane control.
You also need to ignore those vids in which some macho fellow has-at the shooting with vim & vigour. As another poster remarks, shooting very thin slices in a slow and careful fashion is a better way to ensure that the results come out right. Why be in a hurry? Shooting is a last-act to refine a nearly-right piece, not like ripping or scrub-planing a plank.
The plane needs to stay flat on the shooting slipway and always up against the shooting edge - the small edge out from which sticks the part being shot.
Personally I made the runway on my shooting board with an adjustable rail on the other side from the sole, against which the top of the plane's cheek presses. This ensures that I can't easily let the plane sole depart from the shooting edge. But you don't need to go so far if you can ensure a good grip on the plane and a careful, slow pass along the shooting edge.
I like to bring the plane blade up to where it just bites the piece being shot. At this point I ensure the plane is flat on the slideway and pressed up against the shooting edge. I then make a gradually increasing push to take a thin slice as I use the other hand to hold the workpiece firmly in place, so the planing can't push it away from the blade.
The force of my pushing hand on the plane is mostly 45 degrees into the corner of the shooting bed & shooting edge, with only a bit of the push forward enough to move the plane slowly and steadily through the cut.
One final thought - check the fence against which you hold the workpiece. It needs to an exact 90% (for square) with the plane sole; and it mustn't stick out even a tad so that it pushes the plane sole away from the shooting edge as the nose of the sole goes past it.
Lataxe
Old timey shooting board planes had skewed blades. Planing with a skewed blade takes less effort than a squared blade. It also, importantly, meant that the force of planing was pushing the workpiece down and back against the fence. You can get the same effect by ramping the bed of the shooting board down toward the fence. It really makes planing easier.
I've seen more than one commercially available shooting board with the ramp in the wrong direction, making every stroke of the plane try to lift the workpiece up.
A ramped shooting board also offers a small advantage in allowing more use between resharpenings, as a wider portion of the blade is presented to the wood as the plane moves alongside the ramp, distributing wear more evenly than on the bottom bit alone.
One disadvantage is that is reduces the maximum dimension of workpiece that can be dressed on such a board, though, as a thick/wide enough piece can extend above the top of the blade, even on a fairly gentle ramp.
Chuckling at the "upward" ramp products...and trying to figure out if the manufacturers are sadists or just ignorant!
Wow! Thank you for all of the replies. Quite honestly, I did not expect that so quickly.
Ok, lots to go through here. First of all, I hadn't considered a skewed blade. I only have two irons at the moment: I slightly cambered one to use for rough work, though it is no nearly cambered like a scrub blade. The other blade I have squared off using a honing guide. They're both honed on a fine and extra fine diamond stone then I give them a couple of passes on a leather strop(it's an old wallet I tore apart, balling on a budget here). I suppose I could hone further but I'm getting a slight burr when I do it so I know the tip of the blade is being honed.
I didn't consider the side of the plane square to the sole. I will check that next time I'm out in my shop. The out of square aspect of my boards is with respect to the reference edge, not the reference face. What I'm finding is that the end is bellied in the middle along the length of the end grain almost as if I'm shooting and only clipping the edges of the board.
I'm not so sure what to do about my grip. There's only so many ways to grip a plane. Off the top of my head, my plane is a #5 I think. It's my Jack plane. I only have 2 at the moment. The other is a smaller one that doubles as a scrubber and smoother (I know that's sacrilegious but again, balling on a budget.)
I think part of my problem is that I am way too eager to get through this part of the process so I can start the fun part, marking and cutting joinery. I will slow it down, take lighter cuts, and see where that takes me.
Oh, and I have watched just about every youtube video on the planet on hand tool woodworking over the past year. I will revisit Cosman's and Sellers' videos again for those little tidbits of information I probably missed.
Thank you all for your help! The numerous and timely replies will have me back here again if I need any more help.
I like Rousseau style shooting board mentioned above (#267–Mar/Apr 2018 Issue). But I used a shop made plywood that is not as good or as straight as Baltic birch plywood. It is still useful. Truth be told, I use it more in the plane stop mode. For faces and edges I feel more confident in marking out the board carefully using the center-line method (Andrew Hunter Oct 03, 2019), chamfering with a block plane to the line, then planing out the bevel using the shooting board as a stop. I use a 48 inch/one meter long aluminum ruler as a guide to check for level. I use a birds beak and wedges to hold the piece when I'm doing the edges. I fine tune with the shooting board. One reason I go through this routine is because my planes are not best for shooting boards.
Try wearing a glove. I use a #6 the extra mass helps a lot.
The only skewed plane I know suitable for a shooting board is a $500 shooting plane, available from either Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen.
You can use a tilted shooting board to simulate a skewed iron.
A sharp iron, a #6 plane and a square plane and Bobs your uncle!
Another add-on grip for a plane used on a shooting board comes in the form of a metal bracket & bolts, bearing a wooden handle to fit the web of thumb and forefinger. It's less expensive than the LN hotdog.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-gb/shop/tools/hand-tools/planes/maintenance-and-accessories/77042-veritas-shooting-grip?item=06P2301
It's meant for use on Veritas planes of various kinds that have bolt-holes in their sides to match the bolts in the shooting grip gubbins. However, it would be easy enough to drill & tap threaded holes in the side of any metal plane to enable its use.
I bought one myself to use on a wooden miter plane I'm hoping to make before too long. In fact, the design of this shooting aid is quite simple and it wouldn't be hard to make one - although a pattern for the wooden grip part is useful to have.
But even a single hole drilled and tapped into the plane side could take a standard door knob, or any other that's big enough for a hand to grip and push on. It does make a big difference toward successful shooting if the plane can be gripped and controlled well.
*****
I'm not convinced about the benefits of a large heavy plane to provide a lot of momentum through the shooting cut. I think a slow and controlled push yields better results than slamming the plane into and through the workpiece. I suspect those who do the rapid slamming style do so because they have the "time is money" meme nagging at them. For a hobbyist, this is not the case. For a hobbyist, a careful and controlled approach may be best because the rapid-slamming thing requires a lot of practice to do successfully.
I think a lot of woodworking advice is predicated on this unseen iceberg of hours and hours of experience at doing something - practice time that's available to professionals. Hobbyists often don't have the time or inclination to become adept at some WW operation via 10,000 hours of doing it - or even 10. SLow, careful and controlled is often a better option in getting it right.
Lataxe
Interesting,I also find that
“slamming” the through is often done when we haven’t quite learned how to sharpen. (Or when I’m too lazy to stop and do it and mistakenly think I’ll be better off just finishing this one thing;-)
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