What do you shoot at?

[Tom Winship]

I am not new, but fairly new to Neanerthalism (is that a cult)? Shooting with planes is a common topic among many of you and I understand the theory and practice, although I have never tried it.
It looks to me to be a great way to get four equal angles for things like picture frames. What else do you use it for?
Tom

[David Gendron]

I think that the most comon use is for squaring end grain on boards and ajusting mitered joint. there is a lot of different plane that can be used, but the most popular are the LA BU jack plane heather by LN or LV.

As for being a cult, i think it's more of a life style, a philosophy, a slope!!!

[harry strasil]

Its a necessity if you do mostly hand tool work. If you can hand saw as well as a table saw or a cut off saw, you will be shooting less. I also have shoot boards for shooting an edge long ways for getting a nice glue edge after ripping.

[Hank Knight]

I shoot almost all end cuts, whether mitered or 90 degrees, to make sure the cuts are dead on. I use a table saw or a radial arm saw for basic dimensioning; but, even with a well set up saw, my cuts are often off square my a smidgen. I've found the quality of my work improved noticeably when I started shooting. Drawer construction is a good example. Very small deviations from perfectly square frequently result in a twisted drawer, even if the joinery is good. When you start your joinery with perfectly square parts, you get better drawers. The same is true for other constructions.

My $.02.

Hank

[Tom Winship]

Thanks, guys!. I know the pain on drawer squareness. Do any of you have a good reference for building shooting boards?
Tom

[Larry Fox]

There is a link to a PDF on the LN site to a shooting board. You can find it on the page for the #9.

[Mark Roderick]

The key is getting the perfect 90 (or 45 or whatever) angle on the shooting board. Of course you can use a square, but in my experience that doesn't quite do it.

I ended up using the square to get it almost perfect, screwing the main board on, and then gluing to its face a thinner piece that I planed to an extremely slight "wedge" shape, testing the "wedge" with each fine shaving on two test boards, which I held against a straight edge and flipped front to back to test for absolute squareness.

I'd be interested to hear how others dialed in the perfect angle.

[harry strasil]

layout with a pair of dividers,then check with browne and sharp. after putting in 2 screws. used the stop for a saw guide and then put a shallow rebate for the stop to set in. On a small one, I used Bridgeport to cut a rebate.

[William M Johnson]

I cut it on my Bridgeport Milling Machine:)

[harry strasil]

One of the shoot boards in my demo kit is universal and will do any angle between 90 and 45.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/shootboard2.jpg

common angles other than 90 have a line scribed on the board to set the stop to.

[Jim Koepke]

Gosh, after building a couple of these I never realized it was so complicated.

I just make sure the top piece is square both faces to one edge and use screws to mount it to another piece. Then the stop block is clamped on square to the edge of the top piece and screws hold that in place. Finally, if the results are not square things are adjusted to make the work side square to the stop or bed side. If it is the stop side that is not square, then that can be wiggled a little. If it is the bed side that is not square, then the lateral adjustment of the plane's blade should take care of that.

Another thought on this is that since there is a second side to the shoot board, may as well make the other side a bench jack with mitering guides on the fence.

jim

[harry strasil]

The one I made to do the Parquetry in my Tool Chest lids, has both.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/bandingendsshootboard.jpg

[Eric Brown]

Besides holding your wood for accurate angles, the fence also greatly reduces the backside from blowing out. In my opinion, the shooting board catagory should also include bench hooks and miter vices.

Your original question about "what your shooting at" can be explained by considering that a "plane" is flat in nature and the board guides it straight.
That could be compared to a gun that shoots a flat trajectory that is then put onto a gun rest to then help guide it.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=115347 Miter Vice
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=111657 Shooting Board
Eric