Shooting board for long grain edge?

[bp122]

After my disastrous attempt at squaring two pieces of tulipwood for an experimental edge joint, I discovered that I just EAT shavings when I'm using a handplane, and end up with two trapeziums rather than rectangles.

Should I have used a shooting board (after making one)?

The length of pieces I was working on were 110mm and 300mm, I was trying to do an L-shaped piece, joining them along the grain. Neither of them were end grain.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

a) Just use your workbench as a shooting board (if it's reasonably flat). You'll need to sit the workpiece on a thin piece of material - eg thin ply to bring the entire edge of the workpiece upwards into the zone where the plane blade actually cuts.

b) Another option when edge jointing - and I know not everyone on here agrees with it, but it works, is to put the two edges alongside each other in the vice and plane them simultaneously. Any error off 90 is equal and opposite (if you get the two 'face' surfaces pointing in opposite directions) when you asseble the edge joint.

c) Another option - which I haven't seen others espouse but works for me - is simply to find a square block (say 2" X 1" by three inches long) and hold it tightly onto the sole of the plane with your subdominant hand as a makeshift 90 degree fence while planing the edge of the workpiece.

Cheers, W2S

 

[woodbloke66]

After my disastrous attempt at squaring two pieces of tulipwood for an experimental edge joint, I discovered that I just EAT shavings when I'm using a handplane, and end up with two trapeziums rather than rectangles.

Should I have used a shooting board (after making one)?

The length of pieces I was working on were 110mm and 300mm, I was trying to do an L-shaped piece, joining them along the grain. Neither of them were end grain.

Yep, make yourself a shooter...this one. I use one like this as does Custard. Dead easy to make, dead easy to adjust for 'true' ('cos they always eventually go out of kilter) and it just works....brilliantly! I've made loads of the things over the decades and this is the best one out there by a few light years, give or take a Black Hole or two - Rob

 

[Steve Maskery]

+1 for Tim Rousseau's design (though mine has a built-in UHMW track for the plane).
I met him last week and had the opportunity to thank him for it. It's a fantastic school that he runs, in a tranquil setting, far from the madding crowd.
Not jealous at all.