# Long mitre shooting jig



## MusicMan (2 Jan 2017)

I recently saw Mike Pekovitch's mitre shot for long mitres including cross-grain. http://www.finewoodworking.com/2016/11/ ... lding-jigs. It struck me as easier to make, adjust and use than the usual donkey's ear or the "sandwich" version, and I have some boards to join with a highly visible mitre (bracket feet for a bureau) so I tried it. 

Just happened to have some spare thick sapele or similar. This looks too expensive for a shop jig, but the back has a lot of screw holes from its original use as a shop fitting. And it is nice to work. The stripes down the middle and side are softwood segments







After squaring and flattening a chunk about 300 x 400 mm, I routed a 5 mm rebate on one side. I then ripped another piece at 45 degrees, smoothed the surface and screwed it on. Avoiding glue at the moment as I may need some tweaking yet.






Next, the edge of the rebate was planed with a rebate plane to form the edge of the 45 deg shooting board. A handsaw cut was made at the bottom of the resulting V groove so that the corner of the plane would bed down nicely.

Finally, a stop piece was screwed on, with one end adjustable by +/- 1 mm.






A simple hook was made out of another slice, to act as a support for long boards.






The side of the plane runs on the 45 deg slope, so it is quite stable, and secure in use.

Initial tests are very successful. Note that one can use shims at either end of the board to alter the angle slightly. I think this will be needed for the bureau, as I suspect the the base is no longer exactly 90 degrees, after 250 years!

Of course this is unnecessarily thick and heavy, but there seemed no point in thinning it down, and it is certainly stable!


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## Trevsf1 (5 Jan 2017)

Thanks, I enjoyed that,


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## Cordy (5 Jan 2017)

Good post M/Man
I got inspiration from the same Mike Pekovitch YouTube

The very first item he demonstrates; the T Stop is brilliant yet simple
I made one to slot in the vice of my new work-bench

Using the stop, lengths of wood, clamps and small wedges I have managed a few glue-ups with-out the need to drill Dog holes in the surface of workbench


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## MusicMan (5 Jan 2017)

Thanks, both.

Cordy yes, the T stop is another great one, definitely on the "soon" list!

Keith


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## Steve Maskery (8 Jan 2017)

Many years ago I made a mitre shoot from a design by Bob Wearing, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for my love of jigs. All the working surfaces were lines with formica and it worked a treat. The biggest problem is that it was not that easy to tweak the 45 angle if I didn't get it Right First Time.
The way you have canted the plane makes a lot more sense to me, easier to make and easier to make accurately (and if it is not accurate, then what is the point anyway?).
When I remake mine I'll do it that way, but still lined with formica. Thanks for posting.


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## MusicMan (9 Jan 2017)

Many thanks Steve, that's much appreciated from you, though the credit should go to Mike Pekovitch. But the reasons you cite are the ones that steered me this way rather than the Bob Wearing jig (which I also considered), primarily the ease of making accurately. Also, there is no limitation on the thickness of the work other than the width of the plane blade. It's a No. 5 in the pictures above, which seems to work very well and is easy to hold.

One of the reasons I, too, love making jigs is the need to work accurately; I usually improve my technique on each one I make!

One additional point on the jig description. Originally I just planed off the edge of the rebate. I felt on using it that this was perhaps not quite uniformly planed (that is, the bottom of the V groove was slightly inclined to the horizontal plane of the baseplate). So I dismantled the jig - it was screwed and not glued in case of such a contingency! - and trimmed the rebate edge with a V cutter in the router table. The right hand edge of the baseplate was the reference surface for the whole thing anyway, so this was easy to do. I also cut a little deeper than the bottom of the rebate to leave a slightly larger channel at the base of the V. 

The jig now works very well. It's not just for mitre joints; one can use it to make a very accurate chamfer on a board. Here it is shown doing just this on a chopping board, and the dowel in the V-groove is an excellent way to set up the fence so that the V is accurately parallel to the actual edge to be chamfered. Even if the work is not exactly rectangular!






Formica would indeed let the plane run very nicely (only needed on the 45 degree surface though, the baseplate is better not being slippery), but I like looking at mahogany so simply waxed it .


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## Steve Maskery (9 Jan 2017)

MusicMan":pz7wvc57 said:


> Formica would indeed let the plane run very nicely (only needed on the 45 degree surface though, the baseplate is better not being slippery), but I like looking at mahogany so simply waxed it .



LOL! Er, yes, I did mean the slippy-slidey surfaces, hot the holdy-grippy surfaces...

For the latter a piece of hardboard upside down is a good choice.


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## Blockplane (10 Jan 2017)

That looks to be just what I need, having failed totally with adjustable angled long shooting board.

Many thanks


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