Shooting board

[shed9]

Appreciate this has likely been done to death but can people share their real world opinions on shooting boards?

Finally got my hands on a decent shooting board plane with plenty of heft and will be making a suitable shooting board to go with it. I appreciate the T'internet is littered with designs but what are people using on a frequent / daily basis? Ideally I'm looking for a working design with a robust track for the plane itself and the ability to accurately set repeatable angles. The Veritas parts look like a good start, anyone used them?

 

[D_W]

I have a large MDF and ply shooting board (made by me, buying one pre-made is a bit weird), and a skewed infill shooting plane.

it's very dusty. Both are.

since making it, I've made at least 5 cabinets, and I can't remember using it on any of them as all of them are M&T anywhere there's sticking and all drawers have been large enough to mark with a square and plane to the mark.... M&T is left long and then planed flush in situ on the doors or frames.

wait...I do remember setting the shooting plane very heavy to do rough work for a couple of things just for giggles, and it worked well at that (taking a hundredth instead of a thousandth), but still, it's more practical to do that work marked in the vise.

Small drawers and small parts, different story, but I don't do much of that and suspect most people who needle over shooting boards trying to imitate a chop saw find out when they start building things that they have fewer exposed ends, and that as a hand tooler, most of those ends get planed flush with the workpiece after joinery, not before.

 

[D_W]

(no experience with the parts, by the way - prefer a plane that the handle orientation causes you to keep the plane against the side of a chute board and with a shaving being taken in an amount that it's picked up easily). Even when you have a track, you don't have down pressure on the plane and the life of a shooting plane between sharpenings is short because of it.

I did an iron durability test two years ago now and found planed lengths at 3 thousandths greater than 800 feet on a panel - across endgrain (as in, how many feet before a plane stops picking up a given shaving thickness). I don't know if any shooting planes I've used (before just going to the vise for most work) have gotten more than a hundred feet.

 

[pe2dave]

I use one by Paul Sellers, he has a youtube video on it.
V. simple, 90 and 45.

 

[MusicMan]

Appreciate this has likely been done to death but can people share their real world opinions on shooting boards?

Finally got my hands on a decent shooting board plane with plenty of heft and will be making a suitable shooting board to go with it. I appreciate the T'internet is littered with designs but what are people using on a frequent / daily basis? Ideally I'm looking for a working design with a robust track for the plane itself and the ability to accurately set repeatable angles. The Veritas parts look like a good start, anyone used them?

Yes I have the Veritas shooting plane and used the Veritas tracks to make both 90 deg and 45 deg boards. The fences are adjustable (a bolt at each and with the hole further from the plane bigger to allow wiggle) and I check the angle when needed. This has the advantage that if you make a frame and the angles are not exact, you can tweak the last one to make it fit. In restoration work this may be essential.

The combination works very well. It's a little odd at first because you can only take a cut depth equal to the amount that the plane blade is projecting from the sole. So you take this cut, retract the plane, push the work till it touches the sole then take another cut. So the cuts are small. but easy, the finish is both good and accurate. Just about my favourite tool.

Before someone says that you don't need this gear, of course you don't. It is one of woodworking's pleasures, and also make it less painful on my arthritic fingers.

 

[Doug B]

I’ve got two shooting boards both made with the Veritas track which I’ve been very happy with, this one has the track set at 45 degrees.

The second also has the Veritas adjustable fence.

obviously non of this is a neccessity for a shooting board indeed I managed for years without any of this but I really like both set ups particularly the second for doing segmented work & the more unusual stuff I get asked to make like picture frames in the shape of coffins

 

[shed9]

Thanks for the replies, it is appreciated. I echo the comments on accepting it's not a necessary tool, more a welcome one. I've been shifting to hand tools more and more and getting the best tools I can to enjoy it more. I've seen the Paul Sellers version but my requirement is for angles beyond the standard 90 and 45 degrees which is why I think the Veritas option of track and fence is possibly the better option.

 

[tradesman]

hi - simple question from me - is the type lof plane used critical - low angled planes are a lot of cash ?? any reccomendation becuase my stanley no.5 doesnt appear up to it or I need to persever more

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I have all the Veritas gear (and no idea!). It's a pleasure to use, but a luxury really - a 5 1/2 and a bit of MFC or MDF with a bit of old HDPE kitchen chopping board would work just fine.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

hi - simple question from me - is the type lof plane used critical - low angled planes are a lot of cash ?? any reccomendation becuase my stanley no.5 doesnt appear up to it or I need to persever more

The most important thing really is the weight of the plane, so a 51/2 or 6 would be better than a 5. Depending on what you're trying to do, a 5 should work - thin cuts, supersharp blade?

 

[fezman]

I haven't used the veritas shooting board parts - always made my own. They are always rudimentary, just a piece of MDF, bench hook, fence.

Up until recently I used my 5 1/2 jack plane, but over xmas treat myself to the veritas shooting board plane. What a revelation. Yes it's very expensive, but boy is it nice to use. I also made a new board, with an addition to keep the shooting plane tight against the shooting edge, a bit like the Veritas track I suppose. That improved it somewhat.
I screw the board down (single screw into the bench), which for me gives a sturdy base to work from.
Currently toying with the making a ramped shooting board, or certainly adapting my current one to have a moveable stop to prevent spelching.

 

[Just4Fun]

thin cuts, supersharp blade

Totally agree that these are key. I find that with this approach the choice of plane doesn't much matter. I pick up a #4, #5 or #6 pretty much at random, just depending on which is closest to hand and sharp. In my work the weight of the plane is important only if taking thicker cuts and I rarely do that. However, I don't use particularly hard woods and that may also be important.

 

[Jacob]

Appreciate this has likely been done to death but can people share their real world opinions on shooting boards?.....

Popular with amateur woodworkers as an imaginary solution to imagined woodwork problems.
Useful if you are having to trim the edges of a lot of thin stuff like drawer sides.
Easy to bodge up from a few scraps when you need one.
Popular with woodwork media as you can write articles about them til the cows come home.
Popular with tool sellers as you can even persuade people they need special planes which cost a fortune.
I was going to say I've never seen them for sale, then I spotted the Veritas offerings. You need two of course, left and right handed.
And a really expensive plane!
PS checked again - no you need two very expensive planes (guess what - left and right handed )
PPS and a fence! I guess the total Veritas shooting board kit deal with two of everything must be approaching £1000 - I can't be bothered to check.
If I was going to spend then a mitre guillotine could be better for end grain work (they do right angles too!). I did have the use of one for a big job involving lots of architraves and it was brilliant. And they do left and right on one machine!

 

[furnace]

I made a ramped one a few years ago. Very useful on small pieces and very handy for perfectly squaring the ends of boards prior to marking out for dovetails etc. Obvs they are useless if they aren't accurate, but that doesn't mean they have to be expensive!

 

[billw]

Easy to make, you can make addons such for mitres and all manner of angles. I don't see how "getting a face straight and true" is a made-up woodworking problem, it's literally THE problem I usually have.

As long as you constantly check that the blade of the plane is square to the board, you're good to go.

 

[Jacob]

Easy to make, you can make addons such for mitres and all manner of angles. I don't see how "getting a face straight and true" is a made-up woodworking problem, it's literally THE problem I usually have.

As long as you constantly check that the blade of the plane is square to the board, you're good to go.

You mean edge, not face? There are ways and means!

 

[billw]

You mean edge, not face? There are ways and means!

Yes.

 

[shed9]

Popular with amateur woodworkers as an imaginary solution to imagined woodwork problems.
Useful if you are having to trim the edges of a lot of thin stuff like drawer sides.
Easy to bodge up from a few scraps when you need one.
Popular with woodwork media as you can write articles about them til the cows come home.
Popular with tool sellers as you can even persuade people they need special planes which cost a fortune.
I was going to say I've never seen them for sale, then I spotted the Veritas offerings. You need two of course, left and right handed.
And a really expensive plane!
PS checked again - no you need two very expensive planes (guess what - left and right handed )
PPS and a fence! I guess the total Veritas shooting board kit deal with two of everything must be approaching £1000 - I can't be bothered to check.
If I was going to spend then a mitre guillotine could be better for end grain work (they do right angles too!). I did have the use of one for a big job involving lots of architraves and it was brilliant. And they do left and right on one machine!

All valid points. I will throw out all my tools and fashion some form of sharp implement from a disposable plastic fork.

I do get the gist of your response Jacob but I'm kind of done being told I don't need the tools I have to achieve the results I want and in the way I want to preform that task. Yes you can get the same results with a whole range of other tools to achieve an end that may even be subjective that you need that end result itself in the first place but we all do things differently. I could understand the endless argument of not needing particular tools if this was purely focussed as a forum for streamlined businesses that need to extract every ounce of efficiency and cost saving to churn out some wood based products but it isn't.

To be clear I'm not knocking your opinion, it just doesn't apply to my original query is all.

 

[Jacob]

All valid points. I will throw out all my tools and fashion some form of sharp implement from a disposable plastic fork.

I do get the gist of your response Jacob but I'm kind of done being told I don't need the tools I have to achieve the results I want and in the way I want to preform that task. Yes you can get the same results with a whole range of other tools to achieve an end that may even be subjective that you need that end result itself in the first place but we all do things differently. I could understand the endless argument of not needing particular tools if this was purely focussed as a forum for streamlined businesses that need to extract every ounce of efficiency and cost saving to churn out some wood based products but it isn't.

To be clear I'm not knocking your opinion, it just doesn't apply to my original query is all.

".....can people share their real world opinions on shooting boards?"

 

[D_W]

Popular with amateur woodworkers as an imaginary solution to imagined woodwork problems.
Useful if you are having to trim the edges of a lot of thin stuff like drawer sides.
Easy to bodge up from a few scraps when you need one.
Popular with woodwork media as you can write articles about them til the cows come home.
Popular with tool sellers as you can even persuade people they need special planes which cost a fortune.
I was going to say I've never seen them for sale, then I spotted the Veritas offerings. You need two of course, left and right handed.
And a really expensive plane!
PS checked again - no you need two very expensive planes (guess what - left and right handed )
PPS and a fence! I guess the total Veritas shooting board kit deal with two of everything must be approaching £1000 - I can't be bothered to check.
If I was going to spend then a mitre guillotine could be better for end grain work (they do right angles too!). I did have the use of one for a big job involving lots of architraves and it was brilliant. And they do left and right on one machine!

These aren't the worst of things. The LV Planes are nicely made and if someone was going to do lots of small work, they're quite nice. This is gentleman woodworking at this point, after all, unless one has a very enthusiastic or deep pocketed customer.

The worst to me are "systems" made of plywood and fixtures offered by shooting board specialists for enormous money.

All that said, if someone is in this for pleasure and that pleases them - then it's really hard for me to criticize that at all. it's kind of like golf clubs. I see lots of people with the latest and greatest golf club and a swing that doesn't take a path that will ever create a playable ball flight - but they get immense joy out of the clubs, and not so much out of grooving the swing. When it's leisure and escapism, then one has to consider the real goal.

And I think on the other side of this, the folks who are burned out (jacob, this isn't you) because they couldn't make a living woodworking, and who want to go constantly heckle people who are just looking for pleasure and not to imitate taig frid....I think those folks are more pitiful than any $400 shooting board. Just my opinion.