Here is the shop-made fence that I have been using since well before the current manufactured versions became available. It works very well for planing a board to a straight, 90° edge. Here is how to make it.

Start with settled dry wood. I used quarter-sawn walnut with a straight, even grain. It is 11” long, 1 3/4” wide, and 3/4” thick. 

This 3/4” thickness of the guide will center the plane blade of a 2 3/8” wide (14” long) jack plane on a workpiece 7/8” thick. For a 2 3/4” wide (22” long) jointer, the blade is centered on a 1 1/4” workpiece. A better compromised wood thickness for the guide would be about 7/8”. That would center the blade on 5/8” work with the jack, and 1” work with the jointer.

However, the guide wood thickness does not need to be precise. Here is what is important: The jack or jointer blade edge should be correctly exposed in its width. The edge of these blades should be sharpened to extend very slightly more in the center than at the sides. Thus, set up the blade exposure so the cutting edge is very slightly more at the center of the workpiece width, and less at the sides of the workpiece width.

Ok, back to making the guide. See the photos. I used a piece of flat, high-quality, 11-layer, 1/2” thick plywood to attach to the guide wood with four screws. It is 3 3/4” wide, angled at the top edge. There are three 1” wide, 3/16” deep holes at the top to accommodate steel washers, glued in. Corresponding #10-24 1/2” thumb screws pass through the holes and screw into 10-24 drilled and taped holes in the plane wall. 

It takes careful but not difficult work to set up this attachment system. It does no damage to the plane wall if set up properly. 

There are a couple of very shallow, 1/8” wide slots in the top of the guide wood to accommodate the exposed cutting edge in the jack and jointer. 

Additional note: With the new fence screwed onto the plane, check for square between the fence and the bottom of the plane. Carefully plane/scrape the outer face of the guide wood to get it perfectly square to the plane bottom.

To make accurate plane cuts with the guide, it is all about using your hands, shoulders, and body weight. (Assuming you sharpened the blade nicely!) The right hand pushes the plane with the index finger usually extended. The left hand lays over the side of the guide with the thumb at the top and the four other fingers and palm heel keeping it snug against the wood work. 

At the start of the cut, the left hand thumb and palm heel can apply some pressure to the front of the plane. Then, in the long middle range of the cut, both hands keep light pressure over the whole plane. Finally, the heal of the right hand presses down at the curved lower part of the plane handle at the last part of the cut.  

Well, I made this guide tool years before there were factory-made metal guide fences available. If you prefer, check out the several different plane fences made by Veritas: Jointer Fence, Bevel-up Jointer Fence, Technical Fence, Universal Variable Angle Plane Fence, Variable Angle Fence for Veritas Bench Planes, and Variable Angle Fence for Veritas Rabbit Planes. That is certainly more versatility than the basic guide that I show you here, but I still use mine after 40 years for 95% of my edge planing. 

Now you have options. I do suggest to avoid doing the precise planing task without a guide. 

Enjoy the work!

Here is one more thing to add to a manufactured device for sharpening. The previous post explains the issue: for sharpening plane irons that have a slightly curved edge, which is most of them, a subtle curve needs to be added to the roller. (This does not apply to nearly all chisels.)

I have two Woodcraft rollers. One is used as is – for sharpening straight edges. (Photo is below.) The other roller is very slightly curved across its width. (Carefully note the photo above.) It was not manufactured that way but was easily done in the shop.

The roller itself is 1/2” wide. Working out the math and using it in practice, reveals that the roller needs to be ground just about .003” on each 1/4” half of the wheel. In other words, from zero at the center point to a maximum curve of .003” shorter at each far side edge. 

An electric motor-rotating wheel can do this. Be careful and keep fingers away from the wheel! (The safety decision is solely up to you.)

Note that you are making a curved angle on each side, not a straight-edge angle. It is easy to do.

This adds a comfortably controllable ability for angling the plane edge on the flat stone. This is far better than trying to alternately angle onto just the outside corners of a regular flat wheel guide. 

This subtly angled wheel will work for almost all of the plane blades. As I have mentioned in the previous post: nearly all manufacturers neglect this important factor. They could simply supply two replaceable wheels or two frame-wheel combinations. (Again, Lee Valley/Veritas is the only manufacturer that I know of that builds in the curvature in one of their wheels. I do not care for their expensive system but I do suggest taking a look online for your choice.)

With all of this said now, I will still say that I do the vast majority of sharpening by the total hand-holding method discussed three posts ago. But now you have options!

Sharpening is a must for good woodworking but not hard to do with the right equipment and skills!

Here are the angle gauges that I use for the method discussed in the previous post. 

The size for all is about 4 1/2” long, 1 1/2” wide, and 1/2” thick  and made from cherry or African mahogany. They about 10 to 20 years old. 

The sharpening angle goes back about 1” for all the angle gauge sizes. Therefore, its height varies based on the angle. Height is about 1/2” for the 25° gauge but 1 3/32” for the 48° gauge. 

Overall, these give working consistency except for the angle itself.

These are easiest to make with the table saw using straight, square, level wood. Please work cautiously! You make the method but work from long pieces so your hands are nowhere near the blade and pushing path. Make no chance of slipping on the angle holding setup. 

I have a spaced holder for them to stay neat and handy. As mentioned in the previous post, I do not suggest going by my nerdy 1/2° amounts for 27 1/2 and 32 1/2. It does not matter. 27° and 32° would be just fine, or whatever else you might prefer. 

Looking at the photo carefully, you can note that I measured the actual angle in each gauge. It is off a bit. That does not matter. I am using the same gauges each time sharpening. 

They will last a very long time.

Next post: to discuss an angle holding gauge which I do use, though as I mentioned in the previous post, just a minority of the time.

These wooden dogs grip a work piece using the rectangular openings in your bench top. They are easy to make and better than anything you can buy. I only use the steel ones that came with my bench over 40 years ago for very tall pieces of wood.

For the frame, use moderately dense wood, 6″ long. The side width is just under 7/8″ to fit in the width of the 7/8″ hole in the bench top. The front-to-back width is 13/16″ which works well in my bench. The corresponding hole dimension in my bench is 15/16″ in its full linear width, and 7/32″ greater in the upper 1 1/4″ of hight.

Alter the dimensional figures for the dog construction to similarly conform to the criteria of your bench.

Now plane the bottom 2 1/2″ to taper to about 5/8″ at the bottom edge. To that now-angled surface, screw in a 1/8″ strip (see the photos just above and below) of fairly flexible wood that is 1/8″ thick and 5″ long.

Now glue a piece of fairly soft wood, such as pine, 1/4″ thick and 15/16″ long, to the top portion of the frame, as you see in the photos. This serves as the contact to the work piece. Also, the sideways hole in the dog frame allows you to hang it up near your workbench, if you want.

These dogs will stand securely up to about 1 3/4″ above the bench surface. This covers 95%+ of the needs.

Make a pair, finish them if you want, and you’re done! Eventually, you probably will need to replace the 1/4″ heads. Cut the original off, chisel the service clear, and glue on a new one.

The dimensions quoted herein are based on the dimensions of my workbench as described. If necessary, adjust your building dimensions using the same principles to make the dogs fit your bench.

Wood will not get dented by these dogs, and they grip securely. You can easily adjust the hight of the dogs to avoid bumping them with the plane of other tools.

These dogs work. 

I made this handy sandpaper cutter many years ago but have not until now fully described it here. This post lays out the details if you would like to build your own. I make no claims to originality for this but I have not seen one incorporating all of these features.

By the way, cutting sandpaper with a scissors will quickly destroy the blades, and creasing and tearing sandpaper is slow and awkward especially in coarse grits.

The base is 3/4″ plywood, 13 1/2″ x 6 5/8″. The cutter is a 12″ 14-tpi hacksaw blade. Use a pliers and metal vise to make a small L-shaped kink along the length just inside each end hole to give the blade a slight lift that will make it easier to slip the sandpaper underneath.

Secure it with pan head screws parallel to the edge of the base, then carefully make marks to indicate the location of the teeth. Remove the blade. Draw a line at the marks. It too should be parallel to the edge of the base. 

Use cyanoacrylate glue to attach a 1/4″ plywood handle to the hacksaw blade. This makes it much easier to give the blade teeth good purchase on the sandpaper, which gives a straighter, faster, and cleaner cut. 

Use the table saw (alternatively, a router or hand tools) to make 1/8″ grooves, 5/16″ deep, at strategic locations, to house a snug fitting 11/16″-wide slat. [Tip: rip the slat from the edge of a board. On most boards, this will produce a slight bow in the cutoff, which will help it stay in the grooves without being an overly tight fit in thickness.] 

The key measurements are from the teeth of the cutter to the near edge of the grooves/wall of the slat. Below are the dimensions I use, based on standard 11″ x 9″ sandpaper sheets. I drew little visual aids on the base. 

5 1/2″ = half of the length

4 1/2″ = half of the width

3 2/3″ = 1/3 of the length – This produces strips for the cork blocks that I use. 

2 3/4″ = 1/4 of the length – This produces strips for Preppin’ Weapon sanding blocks. 

The line (no groove because there is no room) at 3″ is for my Singely sanding drum. The line for 2 1/2″ strips is for some of my shopmade cork sanding blocks and is the same as PSA sandpaper rolls.  

Reattach the cutter. I added an eye hook for hanging and a larger hook to easily grab the jig from its storage location low down on the wall near my bench. 

To use this nifty jig, slide the sanding sheet, grit side down, under the cutter and against the slat, which is placed in the desired groove. [For the infrequently used dimensions marked with a line only, just bring the edge of the sheet to the line.] Hold the blade down using the handle as shown, and tear. The job goes very quickly.

This is an easy jig to make and I think you’ll enjoy the ease with which it handles an otherwise annoying job.

Devoted readers (thank you!) know that I like to keep my router table simple but very capable. 

The router table is truly a key tool in the small shop but there is a wide range of complexity and cost involved. I admit to being intermittently tempted by router lifts, tracks and slots in the table and fence, bit changes and height adjustments from above the table, and micro adjustability of almost everything.

Yet, my simple set up continues to do everything required. It consists of an MDF top and fence on a 2×4 base, dust collection, and the Bosch 1617EVS held in a dedicated base attached underneath the table. Moreover, the flatness accuracy of the top equals the best tables reviewed in Fine Woodworking magazine #237, and it substantially exceeds most of them. Some of those rigs cost more than ten Bens. 

But what about routing a rabbet or profile on the end of a narrow stick, or, more challenging, a dado in the middle of, say, a 4″-wide rail? I again admit to being tempted by an impressive cast iron tabletop with a miter gauge slot. 

For routing on the end of the stick, the workpiece alone gives too little registration against the fence. Therefore, I have usually used a squared piece of plywood or MDF, about 10″ x 12″, to register the workpiece against the fence and prevent tearout at the trailing edge. (See photo just above.)

However, sometimes it is handy to use a miter gauge, especially for a short dado. This also allows me to register the left end of the workpiece against the miter gauge stop for a repeatable task.

Well, there just is not enough depth in a 3/4″ MDF top for a metal-lined track for a miter gauge. (Unlike for a T-track, which is more shallow.) Thicker MDF is an another option but that would mean a new table top that would require a recess to mount the router base. A bare slot in the 3/4″ MDF is also problematic in that it would wear quickly. I could line the slot with UHMW tape but it would be hard to get the width just right to avoid having to adjust my miter gauge bar every time I brought it over from the table saw. 

So, as usual, I turn to the late Pat Warner’s writings for a solution. On page 99 of his The Router Book, there is a simple way of making a temporary “slot” in your MDF router table top. My version uses nominal 1/2″ MDF with adhesive UHMW tape on inside edges. (See the photo at the top.) The outer board is screwed down in the near right corner to give more clearance for the miter gauge head, and elsewhere the boards are clamped.

This allows me to use my table saw miter gauge – the wonderful Incra 1000HD and its adjustable end stop. Note that I do not need to adjust the width of the bar. Instead, I retain the setting that works for the table saw, and then for the router table, simply set the two MDF boards snugly against the bar for a wobble-free fit. A backer board prevents tearout at the trailing end of the workpiece. The router table fence is not functional for the cut itself but is close by for dust collection if possible.

It looks like I just saved several hundred dollars yet again. 

Mmmm, that walnut looks nice.

My new jig for long-grain shooting accommodates workpieces up to 36″, a big increase from the old jig’s capacity of 24″. I was motivated by a few occasions when I had to use the somewhat awkward setup of clamping a long workpiece to a support board and running the plane on the benchtop. 

I have found that shooting a three-foot long piece is really not a problem with a good setup. And the big jig imposes no disadvantages for shooting much shorter pieces. 

My 10/31/19 post is a discussion of long-grain shooting. 

Construction is simple from 3/4″ MDF: The workpiece platform is 6″ wide on top of the base, which is 9″ wide, to make a 3″-wide plane runway that is covered with thick PSA UHMW plastic. I like the Lie-Nielsen #9 but any bench plane would work.

The workpiece is controlled from the front by the end stop, and from the side with clamped scraps. I find no need for an elaborate, screw-mounted permanent lateral clamp board because while it would offer some convenience, it would also limit the functional range of the jig. Top (downward) control is supplied by your hand. 

When shooting a narrow workpiece, such as a door stile, which might temporarily have a convex or concave non-working edge, there is the danger of the workpiece flexing against the straight edge of the lateral control board. The solution, shown above, is to use two separate lateral control boards, each butted against a section of the (non-straight or suspect) non-working edge of the workpiece. 

The cleat at the right end of the jig is an afterthought (you know what I mean: “Doh!”) that allows the jig to be clamped with dogs with a conveniently minimal opening of the tail vise, which is then tightened. 

It works beautifully.

Here are the details of the shooting board I use. It is designed for use with the Veritas shooting plane, as well as to fit my workbench, the work I typically do, and my personal physical characteristics (I’m right handed).

It is constructed primarily from 18mm 13-ply birch plywood. The base and thus the overall dimensions are 22 3/4″ x 14 1/2″. The platform upon which the workpiece rests is 11 1/4″ wide, and is glued and screwed to the base.

The right side of the platform was planed accurately straight before installation. The tiny rabbet, which is the basis for how a shooting board works, is created with the first few passes of the plane that “break it in.”

The cleat at the front, glued and screwed, hooks onto the front of the workbench. The cleat on the right side fits into the tail vise. Together, they give the shooting board rock-solid stability in all directions while in use.

The channel for the plane is about 2 1/8″ wide, and lined on the bottom with 3/64″ PSA UHMW plastic. The 9mm 7-ply birch strip, 1 7/32″ wide, on the right side of the channel is adjusted to create a snug fit for the Veritas shooting plane, and firmly secured with pan-head screws placed at 3″ intervals. It is not glued, so it can be adjusted if needed. The inside wall of the strip is waxed.

The fence block is 2 1/4″ wide, made from two glued layers of the 18mm plywood. It is glued and screwed square to the sole of the plane nestled in the channel. The 3/4″-thick (or 7/8″) poplar replaceable subfence is attached with two 3″ x 1/4″ lag screws that enter from the back of the fence block, accompanied by heavy washers. The pass-through holes in the fence block for the lag screws are actually small slots that allow for some lateral adjustment of the subfence. You may want to use a third lag screw to ensure the subfence is snug against the fence block. 

There are three ways to tune the 90° angle of the subfence. You can use whatever suits you; that is a big advantage of this design. Remember, we are using the in-place sole of the plane as a reference, not the channel edge itself. 

First, when you create the subfence itself, you can easily plane it as needed – it’s friendly poplar. Then, when you attach the fence you have the chance to put very thin shim(s) between it and the fence block. Now, if you placed the fence block dead on and use a perfectly thicknessed subfence, you should not need to do this, but it is good to have the option! Finally, when in use, you can put a piece of tape or a shaving between the workpiece and the subfence to fine tune the working angle.

For angles other than 90°, you can make and attach a different subfence.

The front of the subfence is 7 3/8″ from the back edge of the shooting board. This gives more than enough length to fully support the 5 1/2″ toe of the Veritas shooting plane. I prefer the plane to have full registration against the channel edge all the way through the cut. There are many shooting board designs with the fence at the end, which causes the plane to lose full registration before the cut is completed.

Also, the 7 3/8″ works out to make the front of the fence not too far away from me, so I don’t have to lean forward too much, while still allowing the base of the shooting board to reach across the tool trough to get full support from the rear wall of the trough. This also results in enough platform depth to accommodate the vast majority of workpiece widths that I use.

The 11 1/4″ fence is long enough to firmly register almost all the work I do. You may want to make your shooting board wider. For any board longer than 20″ or so, I stack a couple of pieces of plywood under the left side of it to prevent it from tipping up at the working end. 

The screw eye allows you to store the shooting board on the shop wall, away from abuse.

Remember:

• sharp!
• dynamic stability in use
• low-tech micro-adjustment
• and . . . the grippy glove on the left hand

I put a lot of forethought into this design, gathering ideas from many other designs. It has worked out very well for me. I hope it helps you with your work.

Addendum:

A plane such as the Lie-Nielsen #9 or a bench plane on its side can be gripped directly above and just behind the cutting edge. For these planes, a snug enclosed channel in the shooting board, such as shown here, is still very helpful but not essential. For the Veritas (or Lie-Nielsen) shooting plane where the grip is far behind the cutting edge, a snug channel is, in my opinion, a practical necessity. The grip location in these planes makes it too easy to get off track in the shooting stroke. Both systems work but I have come to prefer what I have detailed here for you.