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View Full Version : Miters I cut in 1978 with a miter "shooting vise"



Russell Sansom
10-09-2011, 3:01 AM
In a recent thread about shooting 2" stock, I declared that I use a broad variety of shooting boards in my work. I wasn't able to get out to the shop to photograph most of them, but here's a miter / shooting vise I've had for eons. Pictured also is my beloved Bedrock 608c that I picked up at a garage sale for $20 back in the 70's. It might sound funny to say this, but it has a ton of personality. The two of us have spend hundreds of hours together since those early days. It's the perfect plane for this job.
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I see these miter vises around from time to time. For as bulky as it is around the shop, I can't picture finishing this kind of miter any other way. I realize for some it is a stretch to consider this the same as a shooting board. In the previous thread I was just trying to suggest that there isn't a fixed form for these kinds of appliances...and here's a planing jig that easily handles stock thicker than 2."

After a year of struggling in 1978, I awoke one morning with a sudden insight into hand joinery. This chess board was the first piece I built after that awakening. The tiny ogee molding around its top was created with a homemade scratch stock. The cherry border is a hair over 1/4" wide. The one joint I photographed here was the "4th" miter to go into place. It's about 1/64" short, as you can see, but the lines in the molding match up well, and that's what the eye sees. The miter shooter/vise makes for very positive control of the fitting process. With some shimming, the vise can do a much broader range of angles outside of 45-degrees

.209605 The rim of this board shows signs of the many chess and checkers battles it has been involved in. I'm very happy with how it has aged.

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Front and back of the same miter
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Eric Brown
10-09-2011, 6:04 AM
I find this vice very handly and when used with shooting boards they can make woodworking life easier.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?115347-Miter-Vice-for-shoulder-planes&highlight=

Eric

David Keller NC
10-09-2011, 9:46 AM
Russell - That's interesting, I've never seen a miter jack used upside-down in that way. Typically, period illustrations show the workpiece being held so that the face to be planed is extending slightly past the 45 degree face of the jaws, and the plane is registered on the surface of these jaws.

Bill White
10-09-2011, 10:32 AM
Ok. Dumb question time.
How do ya keep from shaving the vice? I've done some shooting on thin stock for inlay, but just to get clean edges.
Bill

Russell Sansom
10-09-2011, 2:18 PM
David,
I think what your describe is how this works. My photos came out a bit confusing. The subject board sticks up fractionally and the plane rides on the top of the vise and shaves the protrusion.

Bill,
Not a dumb question. The "non-cutter" portion of the plane can't go any deeper into the wood, so that's the limiter...and the beauty of this device. Troughs work the same way if you need to trim, say 200 lollipop sticks to the same width and thickness.