Comments on: Shooting help

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 22:51:13 +0000

OK, Matt, so the blade initially hooks the workpiece, then pivots it on the convex fence, moving the distal portion of the workpiece away from the blade. Hence, the systematic error you observed, as described in the opening section of the post, above.

I will write soon about the shooting board I constructed, and include some other construction options.

This is all worthwhile because, again, shooting is a core technique for accurate woodworking.

Rob

By: Matt Shacklady

Matt Shacklady — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 21:26:26 +0000

Hi Rob, Thanks for the tips – I really appreciate it.
I took another REALLY close look at my shooting board today and I noticed a couple of things. The fence is not perfectly flat. It’s slightly convex near the plane end which can throw things off by 1/64″. If you hold the wood against the fence it is square, but I could see that because of the convex face the force of the plane hitting the wood could move the piece on the fence throwing things off.
It doesn’t help that I made the fence out of hard maple (thinking it needed to be hard to wear well) and glued and screwed it onto the board – it makes it very hard to plane in place, and it can’t be removed to be worked on.

I do have the plane riding in a snug channel but because of the humped sides there is only one point of contact with the side wall of the channel. There is a tiny little bit of slack in the channel and along with the single point of contact the plane pivots ever so slightly if pushed sideways at the front or the back. Again, the initial force of hitting the wood could be pivoting the plane slightly.

I think I’m going to have a go at making another shooting board with a removable fence that can be easily trued up, or adjusted it it is out of square and see if that helps. It may take me a while because I don’t have much free time, but I’ll let you know if it helps or not. thanks again, Matt

By: Pascal Teste

Pascal Teste — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:37:31 +0000

Thank you for pointing out the fence detail. I would not have thought of the wear factor. I will build it as you described with an adjustable replaceable strip. It totally makes sense. Great design!

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 15:17:44 +0000

Thanks, Jonathan. That is one of the main reasons I continue to write. There is much left unsaid in most teaching materials. My aim is to help empower fellow woodworkers to enjoy and master our wonderful craft.

Rob

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 12:08:00 +0000

“Mystery frustrations like this reader is experiencing afflict all of us woodworkers but are rarely addressed in books and other teaching media where the descriptions are often idealized. Rest assured, however, there are solutions.”

Thank you for expressing this sentiment! I’ve run into these often and continually as I try to learn new things in a part-time hobby manner. It’s such a large part of the experience and so rarely expressed I feel!

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 02:21:36 +0000

Great. There is a little trick to the fence though. There is the big permanent block in the back and a replaceable poplar strip on the front that is fastened to the block with screws from the rear side. This allows some lateral adjustment to compensate for wear, and permits placement of a shim (behind the poplar) if needed to square it perfectly.

Rob

By: Pascal Teste

Pascal Teste — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 02:15:13 +0000

Thank you again. Your picture is good, and I will be fine building one with the info you provided.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 01:56:29 +0000

Pascal,

There are two layers of 3/4″ good quality birch plywood. I used the flattest pieces I could find. 1) The large base layer. The plane is riding on the right side of it. 2) On top of the base there is platform for the workpiece.

The photo may be a bit confusing because there is also a cleat at the front of the shooting board that hooks onto the front edge of the workbench. There is also a small cleat on the right side that fits into the tail vise.

I’ll try to sometime soon write a post about the details of the shooting board but it’s really pretty simple.

Rob