Shooting board refinement
- Thread starter Maverick47
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Michael Smith
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Yes, but don't you want the back of the work to be slightly raised to also get a shearing motion with blade?
Maverick47
Active member
Don't really catch your drift.
Just shoot the piece straight, then adjust the fence to required width, then shoot piece down until plane stops cutting, hey presto, exact width, repeatable, to within a few thou.
For example, today I've just planed some Q/S spruce back and front braces: 5mm thick, 10mm wide. Started out with something like 10mm x 20mm standard bought in stuff, then just planed it down to exact size, a lot easier than handsawing .And didn't take very long.
(I don't have a bandsaw, and live in a retirement complex, so can't make too much noise. Years ago I did have a proper workshop with machinery -planer/thicknesser, table saw, bandsaw etc. So, it's all hand tools now, apart from a Proxxon disc sander and a wet and dry grinder for tool sharpening.)
Just shoot the piece straight, then adjust the fence to required width, then shoot piece down until plane stops cutting, hey presto, exact width, repeatable, to within a few thou.
For example, today I've just planed some Q/S spruce back and front braces: 5mm thick, 10mm wide. Started out with something like 10mm x 20mm standard bought in stuff, then just planed it down to exact size, a lot easier than handsawing .And didn't take very long.
(I don't have a bandsaw, and live in a retirement complex, so can't make too much noise. Years ago I did have a proper workshop with machinery -planer/thicknesser, table saw, bandsaw etc. So, it's all hand tools now, apart from a Proxxon disc sander and a wet and dry grinder for tool sharpening.)
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Rick Turner
Well-known member
You guys are talking about two separate issues...
One style of shooting board has a sloped board holding the work piece so that nearly the full width of the plane blade gets used, and it is in a skewed shearing cut.
Maverick is refering to his fence setup that allows for duplicating the width of the work piece.
Both ideas can be combined...
One style of shooting board has a sloped board holding the work piece so that nearly the full width of the plane blade gets used, and it is in a skewed shearing cut.
Maverick is refering to his fence setup that allows for duplicating the width of the work piece.
Both ideas can be combined...
resoman
Well-known member
What I think he's saying and the way I've seen the boards made is that the work is on an incline, at an angle to the plane, while the plane runs horizontal so you are cutting across more of the cutting edge rather than in one spot on the plane. I think I saw a nice shooting board like this on the youtube. Here's a tube vid that shows what I'm tryin to say. It's not the vid I saw but you'll get the idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsfBO42XweQ
Like your adjustable fence.
Like your adjustable fence.
Maverick47
Active member
Well, I watched the vid, but I'm talking about repeatable exact width planing - goes without saying that if you use a shooting board the result will be square in both planes.
I can't see why you're advocating any kind of slope on the board. No need for the blade to skew cut, we're only talking thin pieces here.
As Rick says.
Edit - but I do use a Lee Nielsen plane......
I can't see why you're advocating any kind of slope on the board. No need for the blade to skew cut, we're only talking thin pieces here.
As Rick says.
Edit - but I do use a Lee Nielsen plane......
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Michael Smith
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I like using the slope because I don't have to sharpen the plane iron as often and I get a little less tear out. It was just a suggestion and will work fine either way.
Liam Ryan
Well-known member
I'll be stealing your idea maverick. Very nice. Thanks.
Maverick47
Active member
You're entirely welcome - I've learnt so much from this forum, it's nice to maybe give something back.....
Rick Turner
Well-known member
Exactly re. the use of the full width of the plane blade.
Combine the two ideas, and you've got a real winner.
Then you could go to one of these:
http://www.veritastools.com/products/Page.aspx?p=515
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=140
And yes, the skew planes are short, but it's not necessarily the plane bed establishing the straight line...it's a precision edge on the shooting board which could be done in phenolic or even brass or steel.
Combine the two ideas, and you've got a real winner.
Then you could go to one of these:
http://www.veritastools.com/products/Page.aspx?p=515
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=140
And yes, the skew planes are short, but it's not necessarily the plane bed establishing the straight line...it's a precision edge on the shooting board which could be done in phenolic or even brass or steel.
Maverick47
Active member
Ah, I shall have to await the lottery win for one of those, though I must say my L N smoothing plane is a joy to use, and worth every penny.
Pete Howlett
Well-known member
Shooting boards are NOT 'straight' guides. If that was the case, after each cut, the bed would have to be 're-trued'. The strength required to cut through 8mm of hardwood plus 18mm of plywood would be great preparation for the world arm wrestling championshps! I'm not sure where this misunderstanding arises from since the original use for a shooting board was to trim end grain for which the position of the stop is critica;l hence my boards have a compound sliding dovetail stop so they can be trued... And you don't need the wonderful Lie Nielsen - you can get an excellent equivalent Chinese plane at half the rpice from Quaung Sheng at Tool Heaven in the UK or from Robert Cossman in the US/Canada - can't remember the brand name.
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Maverick47
Active member
I quite agree, Pete - the whole idea of the "refinement" is to produce parallel pieces of thinnish wood on a repetition basis - for instance linings, bars etc, for those of us who don't possess a planer or sander thicknesser.
The Lie Neilsen was a Christmas present from my wife about 10 years ago, prior to that I did use the (much) cheaper varieties.....
The Lie Neilsen was a Christmas present from my wife about 10 years ago, prior to that I did use the (much) cheaper varieties.....
Pete Howlett
Well-known member
Your solution is great. It was Rick's assertion I was challenging. I'll put on me tin hat now....
Rick Turner
Well-known member
A "traditional" shooting board is not a straight guide, but a redesigned one CAN incorporate a straight guide with the adjustable fence and a hardened guide for the plane.
I used to use a similar concept with two precision steel rails in a long vice-like arrangement and a reground plane blade set so it wouldn't dig into the guides. It worked fine with a small low angle block plane.
I used to use a similar concept with two precision steel rails in a long vice-like arrangement and a reground plane blade set so it wouldn't dig into the guides. It worked fine with a small low angle block plane.
Liam Ryan
Well-known member
I better make sure my shooting board with incorporated straight edge doesn't meet Pete or it might realise it's not supposed to work.
I wonder if the issue here isn't a fault of language.
In its simplest form, a shooting board is just a bench hook with a stop to keep the workpiece from sliding forward as an overturned plane is run along its edge. Fair to say that I have just described a shooting board?
Add straight edges (Liam, I'd love to see a pic of that), adjustable fences (Maverick47, I really like this upgrade), rails and reground planes (damn Rick, when you do something you do the hell out of it!) and maybe the humble shooting board becomes capable of a little more than producing a crisp edge? Yet we are still calling it the same thing as the ultra simple bench hook arrangement.
I think this might be what Rick is getting at as he mentions a "modified shooting board". Here's a lame analogy, maybe someone else can think of a better one.... A car is a car, but add cruise control and now it can do a little more (propel itself without pressing down the accelerator) - but we still call it a car.
Just a thought.
In its simplest form, a shooting board is just a bench hook with a stop to keep the workpiece from sliding forward as an overturned plane is run along its edge. Fair to say that I have just described a shooting board?
Add straight edges (Liam, I'd love to see a pic of that), adjustable fences (Maverick47, I really like this upgrade), rails and reground planes (damn Rick, when you do something you do the hell out of it!) and maybe the humble shooting board becomes capable of a little more than producing a crisp edge? Yet we are still calling it the same thing as the ultra simple bench hook arrangement.
I think this might be what Rick is getting at as he mentions a "modified shooting board". Here's a lame analogy, maybe someone else can think of a better one.... A car is a car, but add cruise control and now it can do a little more (propel itself without pressing down the accelerator) - but we still call it a car.
Just a thought.
These skew planes won't work well with a shooting board. Since the blades extend all the way to the edge of the plane, they would plane away the shooting board track, making the shooting board slightly narrower with every pass. Lie-Nielsen makes a dedicated shooting board plane: http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=1-51
My $30 Stanley No. 4 from the 40's works just fine though.
Rick Turner
Well-known member
There's nothing illegal about regrinding the plane blade so it doesn't contact a straight line guide; the blade does not have to go to the edge of the plane, and you can do the mods yourself if you care to. That's what I did when I used the low angle block plane.
I'm a major fan of modifying existing tools to suit one's needs. I did this on my Baker resaw...reground the guides so I could use the 3/4" Timberwolf blades. The saw was originally built for a minimum of 1" blade width. A few minutes with a grinder took care of that.
Another neat trick would be to incorporate a vacuum hold down into a shooting board, especially to deal with irregularly shaped tops and backs.
I gave up on the whole hand planing center joints, though. We use a well tuned jointer and finish off with self stick sandpaper on the pin router table with a fence. Works fine. Yeah, I know it's not supposed to, but it does...
I'm a major fan of modifying existing tools to suit one's needs. I did this on my Baker resaw...reground the guides so I could use the 3/4" Timberwolf blades. The saw was originally built for a minimum of 1" blade width. A few minutes with a grinder took care of that.
Another neat trick would be to incorporate a vacuum hold down into a shooting board, especially to deal with irregularly shaped tops and backs.
I gave up on the whole hand planing center joints, though. We use a well tuned jointer and finish off with self stick sandpaper on the pin router table with a fence. Works fine. Yeah, I know it's not supposed to, but it does...
