# how to build a shooting board and what plane to use?



## badger99

Hi everyone,

I am starting to build picture frames, mostly small ones 30x40cm but some larger ones also. I have received lots of great advice from this forum so far. One-piece I would like to act upon is to build a shooting board to finish/refine the miters.


Does anyone have links to tutorials (worksheets or videos) to build a shooting board?
And can anyone recommend a plane? Would a general plane be ok to use, as I’m making no more than 15 frames a year, or is it best to get a dedicated shooting plane?

Thanks in advance.


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## MorrisWoodman12

Paul Sellers shows how to make a mean shooting board at Shooting Board - Woodworking Masterclasses
It might be a little complex but it does both 90deg and 45deg in one unit. I'm contemplating making one as I don't have any SB. I think he also discusses what sort of plane, although it's almost any plane, is needed. 
Have fun. Martin


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## custard

I'm a shooting-board-a-holic, with at least four different shooting boards in my workshop including one for a Lie Nielsen specialist shooting plane.

But I'll let you into woodworking's dirty little secret, in the 21st century shooting boards aren't actually all that useful. 

Heresy I know, because they're one of the great hobbyist fascinations. But the tasks where a shooting board is still the best/only option has been whittled down to a very short list. You've got shooting the edges of veneers, shooting tiny components and inlays, and you could argue they're pretty good for shooting the edges of the kind of thin stock that you might use for drawer bottoms.

But there's a reason why Stanley's shooting board and plane was consigned to the dustbin of history. The best method for cutting picture frame mitres, and by a country mile, is a guillotine. The cut is flawless and most importantly a guillotine such as a Morso guarantees precise component lengths, which is the often overlooked essential for perfect mitre joints.

Failing a guillotine here's how professional furniture makers set about mitres. Very few use shooting boards. The favourite options are a disc sander (and for the small sections like you need even a titchy, cheap disc sander with 240 grit is all you need), or a compound mitre saw where the negative hook angle delivers a superb, glue ready finish. 

Consequently the shooting boards that see most use are the two metre behemoths you need for veneer edging and the small, impromptu things you might use with a block plane or a number four bench plane. Spending a king's ransom on a dedicated shooting board plane (and hey, I'm guilty of falling into that rabbit hole) is unlikely to be the best use of your tool budget.

Good luck!


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## Jacob

custard said:


> I'm a shooting-board-a-holic, with at least four different shooting boards in my workshop including one for a Lie Nielsen specialist shooting plane.
> 
> But I'll let you into woodworking's dirty little secret, in the 21st century shooting boards aren't actually all that useful.
> 
> Heresy I know, because they're one of the great hobbyist fascinations. But the tasks where a shooting board is still the best/only option has been whittled down to a very short list. You've got shooting the edges of veneers, shooting tiny components and inlays, and you could argue they're pretty good for shooting the edges of the kind of thin stock that you might use for drawer bottoms.
> 
> But there's a reason why Stanley's shooting board and plane was consigned to the dustbin of history. The best method for cutting picture frame mitres, and by a country mile, is a guillotine. The cut is flawless and most importantly a guillotine such as a Morso guarantees precise component lengths, which is the often overlooked essential for perfect mitre joints.
> 
> Failing a guillotine here's how professional furniture makers set about mitres. Very few use shooting boards. The favourite options are a disc sander (and for the small sections like you need even a titchy, cheap disc sander with 240 grit is all you need), or a compound mitre saw where the negative hook angle delivers a superb, glue ready finish.
> 
> Consequently the shooting boards that see most use are the two metre behemoths you need for veneer edging and the small, impromptu things you might use with a block plane or a number four bench plane. Spending a king's ransom on a dedicated shooting board plane (and hey, I'm guilty of falling into that rabbit hole) is unlikely to be the best use of your tool budget.
> 
> Good luck!


Agree. They aren't all that useful. I tend to knock one up from a few scraps if I feel the need. 
Agree about disc sander too. They've gone out of fashion but I got a 12" disc and an adjustable table with my long bed Arundel J4 Senior lathe (£100 ebay!!!) and you can buy velcro mounted sanding discs. Really useful. Also for sharpening. In fact found my Sorby Pro-edge a bit redundant and sold it. A very nice but very extravagant machine!


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## msparker

@custard if working hand tools only(ish) is there an alternative to a shooting board? I've made one recently and I love it. Its also just great as a planing stop and bench hook in a pinch


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## thetyreman

I made the paul sellers one out of pine and use it quite a bit, especially when making boxes when I need a dead square edge for dovetailing, as well as mitres, when making picture frames even one shaving too many can make it out of square, getting perfect mitres is not easy. p.s I use my vintage stanley no 5 1/2 plane with its original blade and cap iron.


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## matkinitice

I went down this rabbit hole a few years back.

Ended up making a few and since then this has been my go to. Simple to make, easy to adapt and always accurate each time. 

My use for mitres is limited so I use the clamp/combination square method in the video.

I haven't the time or need for these fancy youtube bolts/adjustment ones.


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## TheUnicorn

never made any of these but they may be of help?






Search for Shooting board - Instructables







www.instructables.com


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## paulrbarnard

custard said:


> I'm a shooting-board-a-holic, with at least four different shooting boards in my workshop including one for a Lie Nielsen specialist shooting plane.
> 
> But I'll let you into woodworking's dirty little secret, in the 21st century shooting boards aren't actually all that useful.
> 
> Heresy I know, because they're one of the great hobbyist fascinations. But the tasks where a shooting board is still the best/only option has been whittled down to a very short list. You've got shooting the edges of veneers, shooting tiny components and inlays, and you could argue they're pretty good for shooting the edges of the kind of thin stock that you might use for drawer bottoms.
> 
> But there's a reason why Stanley's shooting board and plane was consigned to the dustbin of history. The best method for cutting picture frame mitres, and by a country mile, is a guillotine. The cut is flawless and most importantly a guillotine such as a Morso guarantees precise component lengths, which is the often overlooked essential for perfect mitre joints.
> 
> Failing a guillotine here's how professional furniture makers set about mitres. Very few use shooting boards. The favourite options are a disc sander (and for the small sections like you need even a titchy, cheap disc sander with 240 grit is all you need), or a compound mitre saw where the negative hook angle delivers a superb, glue ready finish.
> 
> Consequently the shooting boards that see most use are the two metre behemoths you need for veneer edging and the small, impromptu things you might use with a block plane or a number four bench plane. Spending a king's ransom on a dedicated shooting board plane (and hey, I'm guilty of falling into that rabbit hole) is unlikely to be the best use of your tool budget.
> 
> Good luck!


Quite a few woodworkers are still working in the 19th century through choice. 

I love my LN shooting plane. I’ve got a very nice shooting board with swappable stops.


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)

I've been using shooting boards for a couple of decades. No project happens without one being used.

I agree with Custard that a guillotine is better for mitres. However the shooting board excels and is the choice for trimming drawer fronts to fit, and for creating square edges and trim drawer sides. It is an instrument for precision planing ... like no other.

Here, a Veritas Shooting plane on the Stanley #52. This is probably the best combination available ...







Ramped board with strike block plane ...






Gigantic shooting board with Veritas Custom #7 for jointing edges ...







Regards from Perth

Derek


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## Jacob

Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) said:


> I've been using shooting boards for a couple of decades. No project happens without one being used.
> 
> I agree with Custard that a guillotine is better for mitres. However the shooting board excels and is the choice for trimming drawer fronts to fit, and for creating square edges and trim drawer sides.
> 
> Derek


I've trimmed loads of drawer fronts and sides but it's never occurred to me to use a shooting board and I can't see why you'd need one, except as a bench stop, which is a very useful bit of kit. I tend to mark up a lot and once the marks are there I use them, usually with pieces held in the vice. You still need to mark up for a shooting board otherwise you can easily over shoot (no pun intended)
I guess a shooting board is something you'd use if you had one, but wouldn't miss if you hadn't.


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## weekend_woodworker

Well now I am in a quandary! I built my first shooting board this year and had limited success in getting good shavings with my planes. I was building up to the idea of investing in a veritas shooting plane when they come back in stock in the UK. However after Custard’s post I wonder whether that is a good plan. I could invest in a sander, but I don’t know if I have the space to store it. 
I did see a Veritas shooting plane on eBay recently, but it sold for £420! Someone must have been desperate for one when there is no new stock available to pay that price.


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## Jacob

weekend_woodworker said:


> Well now I am in a quandary! I built my first shooting board this year and had limited success in getting good shavings with my planes. I was building up to the idea of investing in a veritas shooting plane when they come back in stock in the UK. However after Custard’s post I wonder whether that is a good plan. I could invest in a sander, but I don’t know if I have the space to store it.
> I did see a Veritas shooting plane on eBay recently, but it sold for £420! Someone must have been desperate for one when there is no new stock available to pay that price.


Sounds like you need to practice your planing technique without shooting board, first.
Sanding disc: buy an old lathe, even just the headstock, but with double ended spindle so you could put two face plates on. Attach ply discs with velcro mounted sand paper. This is brilliant for wood shaping and also for sharpening grinding, but not honing.
PS nobody needs a "shooting" plane.


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## billw

I found my shooting board really useful for a number of reasons: -
1. it helps hold work steady whilst you plane at the right angle
2. it helps you learn to check the lateral adjustment on a plane before using it
3. the effort put into getting a 45 degree jig will repay itself over and over, and also it's fixed whereas everything else that I own with 45 degrees needs setting all the time
4. they're also good as throwaway surfaces to protect workbench tops


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## TRITON

The morso, and other miter trimmers are great, but only in small section as trying the adjust the mitered edge of a big bit of hardwood is nigh on impossible. You'd need to clamp it on tight, then get a stepladder in the case of the morso so you can jump down onto the pedal and hope it shaves off the few thou'. My trimmer really can't handle anything but the finest shaving of stock under 60mmx60mm of hardwood, as I found out trying to do a mirror in hard maple.

As above, a sanding disc or direct off the saw. As long as the saw has an 80t plus and like most things you've set distances.
Chap I worked with was always constructing them, but took him ages for 45d and he was always fiddling with it, complaining it 'just wasn't right'. As such i stuck to sanding them.



> Quite a few woodworkers are still working in the 19th century through choice.


After running their stock through the £3K thicknesser 
9'x200mm board thicknessed by hand ?. Few would even want to attempt that when the job requires 2 or 3 boards minimum.

It is fun doing it all by hand, but its also a real drag and theres buckets of sweat involved, and unless its hobby you're not really going to be able to charge what it costs in time.


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## Just4Fun

billw said:


> 3. the effort put into getting a 45 degree jig will repay itself over and over


Oh yes, don't underestimate the effort needed to get a 45 degree shooting board spot on. At least it took me a long time. I would be embarassed if anyone knew exactly how long but luckily even I don't know that.


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## Droogs

I have to agree with Custard, the only shooting board usage I have had over the last few years (not counting 2020) is for veneer work. disk or belt linisher is preferred tool for cleaning up and truing mitres and bevels. I would love a nice big guillotine but cost and space prohibit it.


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## Benchwayze

Rob Cosman describes a good shooting board on the Tube. Quite posh with dovetails and everything. It's also useful! Check it out.

John


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)

I wonder why many here yammer on about mitres? These are a tiny percentage of the use for a shooting board. I cannot see how one would use a guillotine to trim drawer fronts or sides to a piston fit. I cannot imagine using a disk or belt sander to do the same without rounding over edges and creating a wavy surface. 

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## badger99

Thanks for all the opinions, suggestions, and advice so far. It seems like a disk or belt sander is the prefered option. I imagine once I have one, other jobs will present themselves where I can make use of a sander compared to a shooting board. My main constraint is the budget, can't really afford to spend hundreds on a specialist piece of kit at the moment. Does anyone have recommendations on models or manufacturers?


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## Droogs

I'm talking bench or pillar mounted machines with a large adjustable table and a T-track or simillar Derek, not hand held.

@badger99 have a looksie here






Bench Belt & Disc Sanders - Machine Mart







www.machinemart.co.uk


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)

Droogs said:


> I'm talking bench or pillar mounted machines with a large adjustable table and a T-track or simillar Derek, not hand held.
> 
> @badger99 have a looksie here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bench Belt & Disc Sanders - Machine Mart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.machinemart.co.uk



Droogs, I am aware of the machines being mentioned. This is mine ...







I am not a stranger to sanders. I own and use them .... but NOT for precision work!

I have a work shop full of higher end machines, but when it comes to the fine, precision fitting of drawers, joinery or other similar work, it is always hand tools that I reach for. I would rather use a shooting board over a sander any day of the week. I trust my work speaks for itself.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## Hornbeam

Given that Badger 99 has a limited budget and is just starting out to make a small number of frames I would go down the shooting board route. Will probably cost less than £5. has a lot more uses than just trimming mitres and you will improve hand skills doing it and using it.
Many very high level cabinet makers use the sander/linisher method but I dont think either are better than a shooting board. Definitely a bit faster but you will also make mistakes faster
Ian


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## custard

Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) said:


> I wonder why many here yammer on about mitres? These are a tiny percentage of the use for a shooting board. I cannot see how one would use a guillotine to trim drawer fronts or sides to a piston fit. I cannot imagine using a disk or belt sander to do the same without rounding over edges and creating a wavy surface.
> 
> Regards from Perth
> 
> Derek



Derek, it's because mitres are what the OP asked about. Since selling my Morso I use a sanding disc for small mitres such as the OP is aiming to make. 

For creeping up on a drawer front when hunting for a precise fit in a drawer cavity I use a shooting board, it's the chief application that stops me selling my LN shooting plane. But the intricacies of drawer making aren't on the OP's agenda so I'll say no more.


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## paulrbarnard

TRITON said:


> After running their stock through the £3K thicknesser
> 9'x200mm board thicknessed by hand ?. Few would even want to attempt that when the job requires 2 or 3 boards minimum.
> 
> It is fun doing it all by hand, but its also a real drag and theres buckets of sweat involved, and unless its hobby you're not really going to be able to charge what it costs in time.


Some of us don’t have a thicknesses either  but yes it’s just a hobby for me. 

Until I sectioned off one end of my workshop to use as an office I didn’t have mains power. I did have a solar panel, wind turbine, battery and led lighting. 

Once I got the power the slippery slip started and I got a metal working lathe and a mill. Still no electric wood chewers though.


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## paulrbarnard

Paul Sellers just uploaded a YouTube video on this very subject.


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)

custard said:


> Derek, it's because mitres are what the OP asked about. Since selling my Morso I use a sanding disc for small mitres such as the OP is aiming to make......



Ahh ... I lost track of that. My apology for my rant.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## Peter Sefton

Love using shooting boards as the finish from a sharp plane is so good for mitres ect. Can get a very good cut from a very sharp saw blade on the table saw or great finish from the disc sander, although my velcro disc sander doesn't give a flat finish on larger mitres. Used our right and left handed shooting boards for trimming down the ends of these tray rails. The finish from my Veritas shooting plane is excellent but you can do most shooting with a decent sized hand plane, for me a Jack or larger (long toe) is great. As long as you can use the lateral adjustment lever as not all plane sides are square to the sole.


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## David C

Shooting boards, very useful and easy to make.

The one change I have come up with, is a sacrificial fence, which sits against the fixed fence. It is held with one or two small toggle clamps.

The end can be set against plane sole for an almost zero gap. This ensures minimal spelch.

This removable fence may also be adjusted for perfect squareness, although I have always found shimming with paper to be a good method for achieving perfect squareness.

(Obviously I use my 5 1/2)

A mitred version will do the small picture frames, though it is best to have R & L fences.

David Charlesworth


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## JonG

Matt Estlea does a good one too. It is on a slight angle sinuses the whole plane blade rather than the same part over and over b


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## johnnyb

I always use a guillotine to get close(+.5mm) then a chute board to get it just right. mainly because I can do it right by the job so its quick. a saw a bit coarse tbh.


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## johnnyb

this is mine


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## johnnyb

many mitres on older painted joinery were basically done with a saw rough then filled with putty.


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## Jameshow

I may be simple but how do you top the plane blade digging into the shooting board??? 

Cheers James


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## harryc

badger99 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am starting to build picture frames, mostly small ones 30x40cm but some larger ones also. I have received lots of great advice from this forum so far. One-piece I would like to act upon is to build a shooting board to finish/refine the miters.
> 
> 
> Does anyone have links to tutorials (worksheets or videos) to build a shooting board?
> And can anyone recommend a plane? Would a general plane be ok to use, as I’m making no more than 15 frames a year, or is it best to get a dedicated shooting plane?
> 
> Thanks in advance.



I have always made picture frames with a table saw mitre sled.

Not difficult to Make and the mitres are always spot on.

But as others have suggested if you are looking to go into production then a guillotine is the tool you want.


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## Ttrees

You might have advanced the iron a bit far once, and possibly need it to take a shoulder plane to it, or whatever method you wish to take that track down a bit, as your blade may be protruding too much.


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## johnnyb

the plane may initially make a little shaving but the little bit of sole that makes a bench plane not a rebate plane stops it going any further. a rebate plane would do as you describe though.
there is a knack to them with regards to mostly pressing down onto the runway.


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## Jacob

Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) said:


> I am not a stranger to sanders. I own and use them .... but NOT for precision work!
> ...


Depends on the sander. Belt not so good as they never seem quite as stable/solid/flat as a solid metal disc against a solid table. Disc can be very precise and very easy to use.
Conversely a shooting board can seem perfectly set up but still fail to do quite what you want, for no obvious reason!


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## bp122

I have seen a ton of tutorials, but this is the one I liked the most


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## AFFF

Matt Estlea made a "Rolls Royce" shooting board, very fancy! I will get round to making one of these someday ...


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## Peri

I use one for the mitred corners.


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## Jameshow

johnnyb said:


> the plane may initially make a little shaving but the little bit of sole that makes a bench plane not a rebate plane stops it going any further. a rebate plane would do as you describe though.
> there is a knack to them with regards to mostly pressing down onto the runway.


Many thanks

James


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## johnnyb

heres my 90 degree board. its quite clever in that the fence is a slide so the end of the fence is always fresh. can't remember who I stole the design off tbh!


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## Jacob

bp122 said:


> I have seen a ton of tutorials, but this is the one I liked the most



I like this one. It's hardly a shooting board at all.
It's still unnecessarily complicated - I would use just the board alone, against a planing stop, for edges of boards. No need to add anything, just a piece of scrap with one straight edge. No need to clamp it or hold it down, though you might if you had a lot to do.
For end grain I'd just nail on a stop at right angles and rest it all against planing stop the same. Might screw it if planning to use it a lot.
Mitres often don't work too well and there's a simple reason; because of the light holding, and angle of cut, the plane tends to pull the mitred piece towards itself a touch and alter the cut angle fractionally. Easier to get it close and then trim by "offering up" and eyeballing the adjustment needed - which is what chap in vid is doing at one point, where he's adjusting his stop.
PS what plane to use? A 5 is a nice size for thin stuff. 5 1/2 for thicker drawer fronts perhaps.


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## billw

I got the design for mine from the woman on 3x3 Custom. She also showed how to do the 45 degree bits, which I find really useful. 

Shooting Board with Attachments — 3x3 Custom


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## Woodmatt

I use mine mainly for shooting drawer components to size


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)

> Matt Estlea does a good one too. It is on a slight angle sinuses the whole plane blade rather than the same part over and over b



Sorry. He talks a lot of nonsense in his preamble ramble:

Only a small part of the blade is used in his set up .... "his" design is no different from many others built before him. Michael Connor was the first one I saw. I built nearly 20 years ago, and have discussed many a time on fori. His attempt to use "all the blade" fails (although there is a way to do this - just not his way). The preamble of his is simply to sell his video. Viewer Beware on YouTube. 

I wrote this article in 2008: Setting Up and Using a Shooting Board

The ramp does not impart a shear cut, as he claims. The shear cut can only come from a plane with a built-in angle, as with the shooting planes by Veritas, Stanley and Lie Nielsen. All straight blade planes cut at an initial angle, but there after it is edge-on. 

The fence does not, as he claims, prevent spelching (or breakout, as he calls it). What prevents spelching is technique (simply, a chamfer on the backside of the board). As soon as one uses a fence, it loses the zero clearance aspect.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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