Shooting board
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Anonymous26 November 2012 at 9:25 am #3845
I can’t use that excuse because I’m the dishwasher in our house and SWMBO would become even more unsettled regarding my tool buying antics. lol 😀  I normally tell her one of the dogs must’ve eaten them (We have six labradors lol) 😉
Draw filing will work well for prepping
And here’s mine. Now I just need to learn how to use it properly.
Well, I made the base and the part that has the dados and, the cleat from a 1 x 12. I made the wedges from a couple pieces of 2 x 4.
I *think* the “1 by” material might too shallow. But, I’ve never used a shooting board before so, I don’t know if it makes a difference or not.
It seems, I’m able to introduce an angle to the edge of the board that’s being squared. It’s very easy to tilt the plan toward the piece (leaning onto the corner between the flat side and, the bottom of the plane). Thus causing bevel on the end of the board. I hope that makes sense.
So, maybe I’ll make another one from a piece of 2 x 12. Whew! That’ll be a lot of work to plane the base boards down to 1 inch.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.20 February 2013 at 3:03 am #8199I guess theoretically it would be more important to ensure the plane is at a 90 degree vertical angle to the board being shot rather than having the bottom of the plane flat against the edge of the dadoed board. Of course having a deeper edge board would help me keep the plane square.
[quote quote=8199]I guess theoretically it would be more important to ensure the plane is at a 90 degree vertical angle to the board being shot rather than having the bottom of the plane flat against the edge of the dadoed board. Of course having a deeper edge board would help me keep the plane square.[/quote]
Unless your plane has its iron fixed so tightly you can’t adjust the skew, keep the plane securely to the ramp and running edge while adjusting the skew of the iron to square the cut. Having a dead-square body to the plane isn’t the be-all-end-all for using a shooting board. It does however make it EASIER to use.
With a sharp iron and a fine cut, the shooting board shouldn’t need a deep ramp to guide the plane. Anything from 3/8″ to 3/4″ is sufficient for the average bench plane. So long as the ramp is at least deep enough to fully capture the enclosed portion of the plane mouth but not so deep as to prevent you from shooting material of reasonable thickness because the blade isn’t wide enough.
Well, it appears my 90 degree (wedge) fence is about 1/32 off. I’m not able to correct a board that’s crosscut slightly out of square — to be square — by using my shooting board. I’m kinda bummed about that. I ‘spose I need to build another one. Or use some shims or some thing like that.
I managed to get the end square with the (wide) face of the board. I hadn’t considered skewing the blade as mentioned by Rob. I’ll need to keep that in mind.
Kelly- Maybe you don’t need to remake it. One trick is to use shavings to adjust the angle. If you put shavings  between the board being trimmed and the shooting board fence right near the cut, then you’ll adjust the angle in one way. If you put those shavings out away from the cut, then you’ll adjust the angle in the other direction. You can control things quite finely and don’t need to make an absolutely perfect shooting board. You can use the same trick for adjusting the bevel angle:  Put the shavings between the piece being trimmed and the base of the shooting board (rather than between the board being trimmed and the fence). Again, shavings near the plane and shavings away from the plane tilt the piece in opposite angles. You can use a single fine shaving or a wad to get really small or big corrections.
I can’t say if this is a Paul approved trick or not but I’ve found it handy.
Thanks Ed,
I tried that but, I wasn’t happy with it. But, I was able to make the straight edge part of the (90 degree) dado a little more square by trimming it with a chisel. It’s still not perfect but, it’s closer.
I’ve found that I can get pretty close to a square end now but, I have to do it juuuuust right. It’s almost like saying, you’ve got to hop on one foot, on Tuesdays, when it’s raining …and it’ll work. 🙂
Making things perfectly square is very difficult.
Hello Kelly, did you also checked the 45 degree fences ?
When the fences are all off by the same amount you could try adjusting the fence where the plane rides against.
I usually put my plane(with blade retracted so it doesn’t take shavings) against the fence and check for square with the plane as my reference point.
When i am a little out of square i adjust that fence with my shoulder plane checking regurlary for straightnes of the fence my plane rides against and squarenes from the sole of the plane to the fence where you put your wood against.
Hope this makes any sence.
I used this on my shooting board and it turned out great.
Hope i can explain it better (it is difficult for me to explain something,especialy in another language)
In the picture you see my plane against the fence ,i then check for square as you can see in the other picture.
When i am out of square i use my shoulder plane on the same fence (see picture) to bring it back to square checking with my straightedge to keep my fence straight,and keep checking for squareness.
When you are satifyed with the result take the plane you use for shooting and take small shavings to establish the small rebate again,since it has been removed by the shoulder plane, you should be square now.
It looks like a lot of work but it actually isn’t,it just takes some patient.
Hope this helps you some more.
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