More shooting board questions

Re: More shooting board questions

Dean J in MN

>The side of the plane riding on the board keeps the plane square, not the bottom of the plane. No need for that little fence you mention; you just run your plane over the shoulder you've created by making that plane 'runway' and the blade cuts out a little bit and leaves the area which you refer to untouched.

-Dean

Re: More shooting board questions

Alan Hamilton

>Mitch,

First let's see if I understand you correctly.

You're wondering about the usual step of running in the plane, which is done to create a little step at the bottom of the fence where the plane iron doesn't reach. (This is done so the sole of the plane rides against the little step, and thus keeps all the angles correct.) You want to know if instead of running in and creating the little step with the plane, could you just build into your shooting board the necessary little step. Is that your question?

If so, the answer is yes. You certainly can build in the little step.

But why? It takes all of twenty seconds to do it with the plane; and by running in with the plane you're going to use on your board, you make the little step the exact width and depth required. Building the step would require a great deal of measuring, testing and altering--all of which is unnecessary. It seems to me that you'd be making lots more work for yourself for no increase in the usability or accuracy of your board.

Alan

Re: More shooting board questions

Nemo Tools

>I'd like to see someone post some pictures of their shooting boards so my poor brain could visualize what you are talking about.

Re: More shooting board questions

Mitch from NYC

>Thanks for your responses to my post. The reason I'm thinking of adding the little step is that I don't see why the ramp has to be supported on both sides. If you look at Derek's posting:

http://www.woodcentral.com/newforum/archives_handtools.shtml

you'll see that there are angled pieces on both sides of the ramp. I was thinking of simply supporting the "high" end of the ramp. That would mean there is nothing for the plane to ride against at the base. The reason I'm thinking of only supporting the high end is that it seems easier to do it that way and get a ramp surface that is perpendicular to the "runway" which the plane rides on than it would be to cut two angled pieces that make the ramp perpendicular. It also seems easy to add this little fence. As long as the fence is perpendicular to the runway, it wouldn't have to be the exact thickness of the flank of the plane (the distance between the blade and the side of the plane). I could run it in a bit.

Re: More shooting board questions

Garrett in Victoria

>Hi Mitch

The link wouldn't come up. If you can find the post again, please paste the link into the "link" window on the message reply form. That's the easiest way for readers to get at it.

Cheers, Garrett

Re: More shooting board questions

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>The Link does not seem to work, and it is not possible to Search beyond October 2004, so here is another copy of the picture you are referring to.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: More shooting board questions

Paul Jordan (NY)

>Here's one we made here at the shop, steel and brass.

Re: More shooting board questions

Mitch from NYC

>Thanks, Derek, for posting that picture. Obviously, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the best ways to make shooting boards. These things are more complex than I thought!

One question I'm still struggling with is what angle the ramp should be. I'm going to acquire an LN 62 soon (yippie!) and it has a 2" wide blade. The issue seems to be determining a ramp angle that will allow the most exposure to the width of the blade over the longest distance while still having the advantageous effect of planing the end grain at an angle. The idea is that i want to be able to plane boards that are 1 1/2" or so thick and 10" or 12" wide.

Another thing I'm confused about is how to support the ramp. In your shooting board, there are two angled sides. Did you cut those with a tapering jig on a table saw? Are the pieces oriented so the grain runs horizontally? One idea I have is to support the high end of the ramp instead of both sides of the ramp.

The problem this presents is not having anything for the bottom flank of the plane's sole to register against. I was going to solve that by attaching a little fence to the runway. The fence would be the thickness of the bottom flank of the plane's sole.

So many questions... Sometimes I tend to overcomplicate things a bit, but this is part of my process of figuring things out. Thanks, all, for your help and patience.

Regards,

Mitch

Re: More shooting board questions

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>"I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the best ways to make shooting boards. These things are more complex than I thought!"

Mitch, shooting boards do not have to be complex. I have posted a picture below of two Quick-and-Easy shooting boards I made out of scrap MDF and melamine.

"The issue seems to be determining a ramp angle.."

The angle of my ramped shooting board is 5 degrees. I get a full 2" cut at the fence while a 3/4" thick piece of timber would be managed for a width of about 8".

Hope this helps.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: More shooting board questions

Russ Allen - Chicago

>Hi Paul,

It's good to see your posts again.

Here are two other shooting boards. The first is the Stanley #52 reproduction Rob Kempinski cast a few years ago. The second was made by Mike Lindgren for his left handed shooting board plane. Both planes (left handed and right handed) were cast from patterns I made.

Russ

Paul and Russ...

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>you two are really starting to make me jealous. : )

Best, Ted

Re: More shooting board questions *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Derek's boards are great; but for a fuller description complete with drawings, you may want to check out Jeff Gorman's site.

Pam


Jeff Gorman on shooting boards

Re: More shooting board questions

Norman (Metcalfe, Ont.)

>Mitch,

Here is a small shooting board I made this afternoon.

Basically two pieces of baltic birch plywood

screwed together one above the other. The top layer is narrower by 3 in. to form a runway for the hand plane.

The stop is maple and mahogany.

I'm left-handed so this one works best for me.

The very bottom of the sole rides against the vertical edge of the plywood and is very square.

This keeps the upper layer from getting planed

beyond a certain point.

Norman

Archive Search

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>You accessed the current message base search, which is at the top of the message thread page.

The archive search will cover from Feb 2003 to October 2004. It is listed to the left (at least in my viewing setup).

I made the same mistake, until one of the folks around here straightened me out.