Chris Griggs
01-07-2013, 7:19 AM
When I made my first shooting board I made it so it could do 90 degree 45 degree ends (miter goes across the face grain like for mouldings). It worked fine but, but in addition to wanting something that worked a little nicer for basic 90 degree ends, I've been needing a miter jack/donkeys ear for shooting wide end grain miters (miter goes across the edge grain like for mitered boxes) for a while. A few months ago I upgraded my basic shoot board and made a nice long ramped shooting board (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?190454-New-Tools-for-the-New-Shop&highlight=) and over the holiday I had some time to put together a miter jack. The particular design I used is one I'd seen on both Tom Fidgens site (http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/mitre-shooting-board.html) and also an old article linked to from ALF's site (http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/wwmitreshootingboard.html). Nothing fancy about the one I made, but man is it great! Its never been so easy to get perfection on wide miters. I am very very happy that I finally made one of these, and like most shop appliances can't believe I put it off for so long. As an added bonus I now have 3 boards that I leave setup as is, so here is no changing things around for different types of cuts. The ramped board is obviosly for 90 degrees, the new miter jack is for what I'm calling wide miters, and the original shooting board I made a couple years ago now stays set up with 45 degree fence for the other kind of miter (though I will probably be upgrading that soon as well). Pics are below (obviously) with some comments about how I went about making it.
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I started out by plowing a 1/8 groove in the piece of MDF that makes the base (surprisingly my LV plow handle the MDF just fine). The corner of the shooting plane rests in this groove and it sets the locations of the other pieces. Next I made the end grain miters that make up the ends of the ramp. This are the thick pieces at the end in the lighter colored wood (its mystery wood, but I think it might be hickey, its a PAIN to work). To make sure that those end grain miters were dead on I shot them on my other miter board. Its much easier to make the shooting board for miters going that direction and it makes making this type a lot easier so I would suggest making one and doing the same before making one of these. Also, I took my time to make sure all 4 long grain faces were square, flat, and parallel as they all will serve as a reference at some point.
The next step was to attached the ends of the ramp. I made some very shallow dados in the MDF the same width as the end ramps using just a striking knife and my router plane. The purpose in doing so was not structural but rather to give myself a positive reference to make aligning the ramps easier. The ramps were placed in the dados, lightly clamped down and then carefully adjusted to ensure the the inside faces were square to the front edge of the mdf (and the thus to the groove). I was also careful to make sure that the mitered ends were in the same plane. I got close by just making sure that both came all the way to the groove, but holding a straight edge across the ends and making sure it sat flat both of miters helped me to dial things in further.
After aligning the ends of the ramp and screwing them into place I went to work on the top part of the ramp (the dark walnut part). This part is pretty simple. Get a board of proper thickness, flatten and square up two faces, mark the 45 degree long grain edge and plane to your lines. This is easier said than done and obviously takes some care to make sure your 45 degree edge is straight and even all the way across, but really at the end of the day it's pretty much the same as squaring an edge. You just check your accuracy with the 45 degree referance of your combo square instead of the 90 degree reference. One I got the 45 degree edge dialed in I clamped it on top of the ramp ends knocked it around until it was perfectly in line with them, and secured it with some screws.
From there, the only thing left to do with was to do screw down a 1/4 of plywood to the part of the board where the work piece rests. This raises it up a bit and ensures that the entire workpiece can be reached by the blade (without this the lowest part would be contacted by the edges of the plane sole on either side of the blade. I did plane a 45 degree edge onto this piece of plywood but didn't go to crazy about accuracy, as I secured it just a hair back from the rest of the ramp and thus the sole of the plane is not referencing it anyway.
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I use I find that I can either hold my LAJP by the handle or by the side as I typically would on a shooting board. Holding it by the handle is nice if you are using it to hog off a lot of wood, in a situation where you maybe didn't saw the miter first. I always finish by holding it by its side, as this ensures that the plane sole is fully referencing the ramp at all times and give the most accurate cut.
Of course, an example of the fruits of this labor is warranted. Below is a small mitered box that will eventually have a micro plane inserted into the top and become a cheese grader ( a personal request from my father in-law). All four side have been shot on the board and the all the miters a closing nicely with just pressure of the rubber bands. I'm quite pleased....
As always, comments, questions and criticism are welcome!
250353
250350 250355 250352
I started out by plowing a 1/8 groove in the piece of MDF that makes the base (surprisingly my LV plow handle the MDF just fine). The corner of the shooting plane rests in this groove and it sets the locations of the other pieces. Next I made the end grain miters that make up the ends of the ramp. This are the thick pieces at the end in the lighter colored wood (its mystery wood, but I think it might be hickey, its a PAIN to work). To make sure that those end grain miters were dead on I shot them on my other miter board. Its much easier to make the shooting board for miters going that direction and it makes making this type a lot easier so I would suggest making one and doing the same before making one of these. Also, I took my time to make sure all 4 long grain faces were square, flat, and parallel as they all will serve as a reference at some point.
The next step was to attached the ends of the ramp. I made some very shallow dados in the MDF the same width as the end ramps using just a striking knife and my router plane. The purpose in doing so was not structural but rather to give myself a positive reference to make aligning the ramps easier. The ramps were placed in the dados, lightly clamped down and then carefully adjusted to ensure the the inside faces were square to the front edge of the mdf (and the thus to the groove). I was also careful to make sure that the mitered ends were in the same plane. I got close by just making sure that both came all the way to the groove, but holding a straight edge across the ends and making sure it sat flat both of miters helped me to dial things in further.
After aligning the ends of the ramp and screwing them into place I went to work on the top part of the ramp (the dark walnut part). This part is pretty simple. Get a board of proper thickness, flatten and square up two faces, mark the 45 degree long grain edge and plane to your lines. This is easier said than done and obviously takes some care to make sure your 45 degree edge is straight and even all the way across, but really at the end of the day it's pretty much the same as squaring an edge. You just check your accuracy with the 45 degree referance of your combo square instead of the 90 degree reference. One I got the 45 degree edge dialed in I clamped it on top of the ramp ends knocked it around until it was perfectly in line with them, and secured it with some screws.
From there, the only thing left to do with was to do screw down a 1/4 of plywood to the part of the board where the work piece rests. This raises it up a bit and ensures that the entire workpiece can be reached by the blade (without this the lowest part would be contacted by the edges of the plane sole on either side of the blade. I did plane a 45 degree edge onto this piece of plywood but didn't go to crazy about accuracy, as I secured it just a hair back from the rest of the ramp and thus the sole of the plane is not referencing it anyway.
250351 250354
I use I find that I can either hold my LAJP by the handle or by the side as I typically would on a shooting board. Holding it by the handle is nice if you are using it to hog off a lot of wood, in a situation where you maybe didn't saw the miter first. I always finish by holding it by its side, as this ensures that the plane sole is fully referencing the ramp at all times and give the most accurate cut.
Of course, an example of the fruits of this labor is warranted. Below is a small mitered box that will eventually have a micro plane inserted into the top and become a cheese grader ( a personal request from my father in-law). All four side have been shot on the board and the all the miters a closing nicely with just pressure of the rubber bands. I'm quite pleased....
As always, comments, questions and criticism are welcome!
250353