New Shooting Board

[Tim Null]

Thought I would post a pic or two of my new shooting board. I was inspired by Derek and it is his design with a little tweaking.

3/4" Baltic Birch ply for the base. Maple for the edge and fence. Cocobolo and cherry for the clamp and donkey's ear.

I added a holdown clamp and a sliding clamp in a track. This also allows me to clamp the donkey's ear without bolting it to the fence. The rear adjustment is a single piece instead of individual feet, making it easier to raise the rear keep it in alignment.

Danish oil and a good coat of wax on the sliding surfaces.


http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/tnull5/IMG_1295.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/tnull5/IMG_1297.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/tnull5/IMG_1298.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/tnull5/IMG_1300.jpg

[Gary Hodgin]

Nice shooting board! Pretty too!

[Russell Sansom]

Nice shooting board...
But I don't know about your workbench. It looks a bit soft!

[Tim Null]

Yeah, but anything I drop on it never gets dinged...

[Bill Houghton]

Nice shooting board...
But I don't know about your workbench. It looks a bit soft!

Hard to keep flat, too.

On the other hand, shops with sofas are GREAT. Your friends can sit back and kibbitz while you work.

[Tim Null]

Actually quite easy. Just stop pressing on it and it pops right back to flat.

[James Owen]

Nice!!!!!!!

[Zach England]

That looks very impressive. Would you mind taking a pic of the mechanism for attaching the donkey's ear to the t-track?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Tim

I cannot take any credit for that design - it looks like a Tim-design to me ... and a darn good one at that!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Don Dorn]

Yes - very impressive. Have you been able to stretch it's legs yet?

[Tim Null]

Thanks guys.

I did a test. That is how I designed the rear adjustment. I was going to use Derek's feet design, but accidentally drilled holes in the back of the supports instead of the bottom. So I decided to make a single piece that adjusts the height in the back, using two knobs to tighten. I like this design better, sometimes mistakes turn out to be advancements in design. With this design, I was able to miter two pieces and then fine tune the angles to be exactly 45 degrees.

I originally had just the piece on the T track holding the donkey's ear, just by sliding it tight and locking it down. But it would slip. So I added a small triangular piece to the right front corner of the ear. This is flush with the clamping piece and prevents the ear from moving forward, which is where it want to move. The piece is just shy of flush with the surface of the ear, so it does not interfere with a work piece. The small amount of play in the clamping piece allows me to fine tune the ear flush and then lock it down. Rock solid, no slipping!

This will be perfect for fine tuning small boxes, etc.

[Jacob Mac]

Out of curiosity, what plane do you use with that shooting board?

[Tim Null]

I have an LV 4 1/2. I also have a LV block that also works. I have thought about a Jack plane for it, but this is a small shooting board, the Jack might be a bit over sized.

One edit, the block I attached to the right corner of the ear prevents the ear from moving back, or away from the plane. I found that when I held onto the work piece and tried to plane the miter, the ear would creep away no matter how tight I placed the clamp.

I tried to make the ear so that it would not have to be attached to the track or the fence. This small piece allows me to lock the ear in place without having to resort to other attachments. It leaves a real clean look with minimal holes drilled into the fence and ear.