Don’t give up. It all comes with practice
Shooting board woes
- Thread starter worker
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Adam W.
A Major Clanger
Good luck, it can be very frustrating trying to get perfection with hand tools, as it takes a lot of practice.
I gave up trying modern work and went back in time to a period where wonky work was acceptable, I find it much more relaxing and enjoyable.
Flat enough is good enough. Although, producing an authentic wobble comes with its own challenges.
I now have an image of you deliberately shortening one table leg…
Adam W.
A Major Clanger
It comes naturally.
I'm sure this is the right attitude. The more I've moved away from treating wood like a homogeneous lump of stuff, the more satisfying I've found woodwork. Learning to work with grain and the irregularities of wood due to it being a naturally grown substance is essential.
It's key to understand that what's important is that thing looks straight rather than them being absolutely straight.
Joints can fit perfectly without having to be perfectly square. For example having an undercut in the throat of a dovetail and concentrating on getting just the showing edge square results in a better fit.
Jointing boards by planing them in pairs, back to back, results in any out of square cancelling out. That makes jointing much quicker and produces excellent results without wasting time checking for square.
I'm sure that working this way is essential to woodworking be a satisfying hobby. Especially if you embrace the pleasure of using hand tools and getting the best out of them
Jacob
New Luddism. Awake and resist!
Yes you've got it! Doesn't have to be scribed though - pencil is good for most purposes, and regular checking your progress with a square.
Shooting boards are just a fashion amongst amateur woodworkers which amount to a mirage of possible perfection.
That's why they features so often on woodwork forums, year after year!
They do have their uses for some repetitive jobs but on the whole you will probably do better without one.
Last edited:
Cabinetman
Established Member
Yes I wouldn’t worry, I’ve been making furniture for 50 years and never had one.
gold_bantam
Established Member
I’m planning on making the English Woodworker’s shooting board. It is a bench hook anyhow and has some good skills I need to develop. If it is out of square then he mentions you can plane the edge back into square but I would probably just use it as a bench hook by that point. I made the Paul Sellers shooting board a few years ago and had similar issues to the OP. I don’t want to get that neurosis again, horrible!
https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/how-to-make-a-shooting-board-video/
https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/how-to-make-a-shooting-board-video/
Keith Cocker
Established Member
If it’s any consolation to the OP I bough a Veritas shooting board and one of their fancy shooting planes (big ouch to wallet) and I still don’t get perfection!!!
Yes, "shooting to a scribed line rather than relying on the fence to give you the 90degs." is absolutely the best advice and the best technique IMO...
Why does nobody ever use the 5 cut method for setting a Shooting board?
Use a couple of M6 bolts to fasten the fence with a slightly oversize hole furthest from the shooting edge, adjust the fence to suit. Then permanently fix the fence with screws.
Use a couple of M6 bolts to fasten the fence with a slightly oversize hole furthest from the shooting edge, adjust the fence to suit. Then permanently fix the fence with screws.
Dr Al
Established Member
I used the 5-cut method on mine (after I got a comment from a member on another forum questioning whether it would be accurate enough). The 5-cut method showed it was more accurate than I could measure. I didn't permanently fix the fence with wood screws though, I just use three M6 cap screws to hold it in place. If it shifts, it's easy to adjust and if the fence wears down, it's also easy to adjust (the latter would be more awkward with wood screws holding the fence in place permanently).
By shooting board I thought you meant the board that shoots out from table saw because of kickback. Stumpy Nubs made a video on this "CAUGHT ON TAPE: Table saw bevel kickback goes through wall- WHAT HAPPENED??"
If all else fails, maybe put the work on a milling machine. 
Remember, this is wood we're talking about.
One piece needs to be fitted to another. It's not about micron
accuracy to square, as such. It is about creating a tight, and
pleasing, liason between one piece of wood and another.
ETA : I have been making furniture, etc for 30 years, and I have
never posessed a shooting board.
Remember, this is wood we're talking about.
One piece needs to be fitted to another. It's not about micron
accuracy to square, as such. It is about creating a tight, and
pleasing, liason between one piece of wood and another.
ETA : I have been making furniture, etc for 30 years, and I have
never posessed a shooting board.
Jacob
New Luddism. Awake and resist!
Deleted. Just repeating myself again, again.
I finally tracked down the problem - it was due to how I was clamping my fence against my square. When clamping, I was pulling the fence ever so slightly out.
After another project of freehand shooting, I decided to have another go at making one and it still had the same problem.
Using cards as shims were not helping but when I used end grain shavings as shims, it finally worked. But these were too delicate to handle without crumbling.
I used a few sheets of blue Rizla paper (the thinnest apparently) to shim one side and am getting expected results now.
It looks so easy on YouTube, I never thought it would take me so many attempts to get it right!
In hindsight, my mistake seems obvious. I think an engineer's square would be much easier for alignment and clamping, a combo square has too much going on to give good space for clamps.
After another project of freehand shooting, I decided to have another go at making one and it still had the same problem.
Using cards as shims were not helping but when I used end grain shavings as shims, it finally worked. But these were too delicate to handle without crumbling.
I used a few sheets of blue Rizla paper (the thinnest apparently) to shim one side and am getting expected results now.
It looks so easy on YouTube, I never thought it would take me so many attempts to get it right!
In hindsight, my mistake seems obvious. I think an engineer's square would be much easier for alignment and clamping, a combo square has too much going on to give good space for clamps.
Don't give up, its likely down to poor technique and advice already proffered will steer you in the right direction.
My 1st and in fact only 90 degree shooting board was made from shuttering ply off-cuts when I 1st built my workshop and once waxed and with a good sharp plane it was a pleasure to use over the years that I didn't bother to make another 'nice' one
My 1st and in fact only 90 degree shooting board was made from shuttering ply off-cuts when I 1st built my workshop and once waxed and with a good sharp plane it was a pleasure to use over the years that I didn't bother to make another 'nice' one
woodbloke52
Established Member
Over the last few decades I've made loads of these things and no matter how accurate you make them initially, they always go 'out of kilter' and refuse to plane a lump of end grain squarely. This one is different; it still eventually goes 'out of kilter' but if you look at the clip, it's the work of seconds to true it up again. I've been using one of these as my 'go to' shooter for the last five or six years; I use it so much that the formica runway needs to be replaced. If you're only going to make one shooter, this is the one to make. A completely brilliant bit of kit and thoroughly recommended - Rob
I disagree with those on here telling you to forget squareness... fair enough if you're extremely experienced, but at this point in your learning any problems will simply be magnified in your build as you go down the line. You must get this right.
...but I think what you are doing is all part of the process. You're learning. I know it isn't much fun making these kinds of mistakes, and you're right that it feels depressing spending all your time in the beginning sharpening, squaring, flattening planes, making bad jigs etc. But you are also learning about the materials, learning your tools, learning about what is square, how do you measure square. Don't be downhearted - try again and get things right.
I recommend strongly using a sacrificial fence against your main fence using some toggle clamps to keep it in place. If the fence is then marginally out of alignment you can than shim it with pieces of plastic (I use bits of plastic document wallet like David Charlesworth taught). This is super quick and you can shim in any direction with this approach.
...but I think what you are doing is all part of the process. You're learning. I know it isn't much fun making these kinds of mistakes, and you're right that it feels depressing spending all your time in the beginning sharpening, squaring, flattening planes, making bad jigs etc. But you are also learning about the materials, learning your tools, learning about what is square, how do you measure square. Don't be downhearted - try again and get things right.
I recommend strongly using a sacrificial fence against your main fence using some toggle clamps to keep it in place. If the fence is then marginally out of alignment you can than shim it with pieces of plastic (I use bits of plastic document wallet like David Charlesworth taught). This is super quick and you can shim in any direction with this approach.
