I’ve read about shooting boards several places and one source stated that shooting boards are appropriate for small components such as small cross-section molding and trim, implying that shooting doesn’t work very well for larger stock.
What would be a reasonable practical stock size limit on say shooting 45 degree miters? Would it be reasonable to use a shooting board for preparing 3″x3/4″ mitered panel frames out of walnut? Do you have any other comments on the utility of shooting boards?
Thanks.
Replies
A shooting Box, also called a shooting board, is a shop made jig that turns your plane into a precision miter machine. Shooting boxes are easy to make and even easier to use. Older woodworking texts give several prescriptions for making and using them.
They take a variety of forms but I will concentrate on the ones that I have, from experience, found to be useful, covering a variety of general joinery needs. The simple shooting box is for planing an edge square to a face and is the most often used. The miter shooting board is for frame type 45° miters. The trim molding around a door or window is an example of such a miter. The donkey's ear shooting board is for 45° miters in the flat. Examples of this would be thin wood mitered to line a pistol, jewelry or cigar box. While these designs are for 45ø miters the reader may modify freely for other angles.
The Simple Ramped Shooting Box
As you can see by the attached photo, this is the simplest to make and use. As explained above, this shooting board is for making an edge square to a face. It is good for both plank and end grains. I have designed the work area extra wide to accommodate planing the edges of such things as thing drawer stock without them becoming unwieldy. This is a ramp design, in that the work sits on an inclined plane. This causes the cut to start at the lower edge of your plane iron and progress to the upper edge, thereby distributing wear evenly. This is both wear that dulls your iron and wear that erodes the sole of your plane. While a simple un-ramped shooting box works fine it is easy to wear a 3/4" groove in the sole of your plane so, the ramped design is better. The height of the ramp should be between 1 and 1-1/4" depending on the make of your plane and whether it is a No. 5 or 5-1/5 plane.
The best material for the base piece is a piece of 3/4" x 12" x 32" plywood. High grade plywood is needed, and while a good grade of veneer core plywood will do, Baltic birch or Appleply is better. The ramp is best made from a piece of 8/4 poplar. Before gluing, cut a dust groove at the juncture line between the edge of the ramp and the plane. The dust groove is important for it prevents the corner where the plane rides from becoming impacted with debris which would cause the plane to ride up out of square. After the groove is cut, glue the two pieces together. Depending on the layout of your bench a cleat on one edge or the other may help in anchoring your shooting board during use. All that is left to do is to screw a stop cleat for the work to rest against. This should be square to the plane but held in a tapered dado with screws.
Miter Shooting Board
The miter shooting box is used for 45° miters on flat work such as the molding around windows and doors. This is probably the shooting box you need for your door project. I might add as an aside that I rarely use my simple shooting board any more except for very thin stock (1/4” or less). This is because I can plane an edge square to a face “a cappella.” It is quicker to transfer work to the tail vice for edge planing free hand than to drag out the shoot board. You may find that the simple shoot board is much like bicycle training wheels. You will be able to save it for the younger kids once your skill has progressed sufficiently. However, I use my miter shoot board whenever I have such work. It is immensely useful for fitting miters exactly because minute amounts may be trimmed off and repeated trial fits made. No matter what your experience and skill level, it is next to impossible to plane to exactly 45° while simultaneously maintaining square without a shoot board. In short, I would be hard put to live without my miter shoot board.
This board is even simpler to make than our first one, although the stop block requires some precision. It should be made to about the same size as the simple shoot board, but the work area can be somewhat narrower. Since the work is always at a 45° angle there will be more bearing surface for the narrower width. Again a piece of Baltic birch or Appleply is a good choice and run the dust groove on the inside corner. The stop block requires some precision. Its two faces must circumscribe a perfect 90ø while also being dead square. While it is possible to plane this, it is a difficult task, especially if you are a plane neophyte. Therefore, a disc sander or a table saw is the tool of choice if as the old song goes "you have cheating on your mind?"
The Donkey's Ear Shooting Board
The donkey's ear shoot board is another I could not do without. It miters in a plane 90° from the miter shoot. It is for wide miters such as the corners of a mitered box, or the corner joint of a wide molding such as a baseboard. It is also indispensable for secret dovetails which is what I have pictured mitering in the attached photo. The name derives from the end view looking like a donkey's ear. This shoot board may be made equally well out of Baltic birch or Appleply or scrap hardwood. I made mine out of maple. 3/4” or even 1" material should be used for the plane trough, while 1/2" material is right for the work apron.
While this board may look somewhat daunting, it is really the simple to build - providing your table saw will make an accurate 45° rip cut. A biscuit joiner is of immense value in building this project. Biscuits provide excellent strength with the necessary registration of the parts. I screwed the assembly together for test trial cuts then glued and screwed when perfection was achieved.
Using Shoot Boards
Finish all shooting boards with a couple of coats of white or orange shellac. Rubber cementing some fine sandpaper to the surface of the area where the work must be held helps to keep it from sliding around. I actually like Quick Grip rubber clamps much better. I hang the edge of my simple shooting board over the bench and use Quick Grip or a screw clamp to immobilize the work. Note in the photo that I added a parallel clamping surface to the miter shoot board and the ear of the donkey's ear may be hung over the edge of the bench such that work can be clamped in place. The plane trough should be liberally waxed with paraffin on a regular basis. I do this at the start of each work period and as needed during a session.
Check that the cheeks of the plane you plane to use with your shooting boards are square with the sole. Often times they are not. Lap the offending cheeks and/or sole on emery paper until everything is in perfect juxtaposition. If you have a plane that is badly out of square you can correct the plane trough to make things come out square. Stanley used to make a plane, the No. 51, especially for use in a shooting box and one brings very big money on the antique market. They also made a cast iron shooting box the No. 52. It is a beauty and in good condition with the No. 51 plane brings $2,000 or more. Record made a special plane for shooting boxes, the T5, up until the late 1960s. The T5 is a jack plane with extra big cheeks and an additional handle that screws into either cheek. This handle makes manipulation in the shooting board much easier, but the regular handle can be used for normal work. A T5 is a great investment if you can find one on the used market.
Seeing as the planes I own number in the hundreds, I dedicate a good jack to shooting boards exclusively and I think this is a good idea. It can always be tuned and ready to go. It is best if a shooting board plane is tuned slightly different, mainly in the sharpening. While the iron of a plane for general use is ground slightly convex, the iron of a shoot board plane should be like a jointer plane blade - straight. In this way the plane will make a vertical cut no matter where on the blade you are working. This is especially advantageous on the ramp board. If you only have one jack plane you will have to be ever ready with the regulator to correct for blade curvature.
In use the work is held in the shooting box with the left hand while the plane is manipulated with the right. As noted I employ rubber faced Quick Grip clamps to help immobilize work on the board. They do not mark work and can be opened and closed with one hand.
A shooting board is not a replacement for good lay out work. You should always scribe layout lines and plane to them. The plane should be razor sharp and set to take a very light chip, especially on end grain cuts. A common mistake of all new plane users is trying to take to much wood. It is better, and takes less effort, to take three light shavings than one heavy one. The light cut will also allow you to keep the work immobile and not have it jumping out of alignment. Enjoy your new shop friends, they should give you years of faithful service and add precision to your woodworking. And one final note. Whispering in the donkey's ear will not make him work any faster.
With best regards,
Ernie Conover
Ernie -
Thanks so much for the in-depth and inspirational response! Is there any reason you didn't incorporate the ramp into your miter board?
Thanks.
Your are welcome. It is unnecessary as the cut is so small that there is little or no effect on the plane.With best regards,
Ernie Conover
Ernie, Call me stupid, but I'm always wondering why the shooting board isn't getting planed away along with the stock. I must be missing something.
Almost any thinking person asks this question and the answer is quite simple. The plane does cut the shooting box at first; however, the blade does not extend the entire width of the sole. The bit of the sole at the bottom edge, next to the blade, and the cheek of the plane rubs on the box and does not wear it other than normal friction. This can be ameliorated by the liberal use of wax.With best regards,
Ernie Conover
Ahh, as I sort of expected. I can actually see that slight cut in the second photo. So the guide board could only have to be about 1/8-3/16 inch thick?
You have it.Regards,
Ernie
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