Oh Shoot!

[Jim Koepke]

My old shooting board has been pretty trusty over the years.

Added note: The blue tape was added to adjust the angle when there was a little bit of movement from weather or what ever else may have been the cause.

339278

Lately I decided I wanted to rework it into an ambidextrous shooting board. I also wanted to make the platform lower to get more of the blade into action. The old platform was a piece of 3/4" thick material. The new platform is just a hair under 1/2" in thickness.

The old shooting board was disassembled. It was easy since nothing was glued. I decided to make a new 'hook' out of a piece of scrap left over from making a tile topped table recently. The piece was ripped so it was shallow enough to fit in either of my vises.

339277

The fence was made from a piece of the old hook. If you want to avoid unwanted holes in your bench either use plenty of scrap under your work or check the depth of your drill:

339276

A square is also used here to make sure everything is square.

The fence was made to be a bit proud of the platform and was chamfered on the back side.

Next a piece of scrap is tried and checked while trimming the fence:

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This is done on both sides.

A wedge at about 17º was cut to the same height as the fence to chamfer the bottom of some legs for another tile topped table:

339291 It finally loaded! ;)

The wedge is held in place with tape so it can be moved out of the way.

This was used to chamfer around the bottom of the leg. I count the strokes to keep it even. Then the wedge is flipped up so the bottom can be shot square:

339281

The top of the leg is marked for center from the corners and the sides and then worked using the wedge to make a pyramid top:

339280

Just for fun the leg was stood up on the table and checked with a square:

339279

Sure to get a few more years out of this one.

jtk

[Hilton Ralphs]

Great idea with the wedge, I will remember this. Thanks.

[Joe Tilson]

Very nicely done Jim.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the kind words.

I want to sharpen my blade today to get a bit smoother cut on the top.

Hilton, I have also done this with a 45º wedge for shooting miters. It can also work with the wedge standing up for thin stock.

Just found an old image showing how another board of mine was set up with a 45º wedge to shoot miters.

339303

A little finessing may be needed to get air tight miters. Things like a little lifting or moving in and out from the wedge.

I hope to post more on this as time allows.

jtk

[Phil Stone]

I love seeing variations on this important tool.

And hopefully not to derail this thread, but the "Elbows" thread talked about tendonitis issues from normal planing. What really aggravates my "golfer's elbow" (i.e. tendonitis on the inside of the elbow) is a prolonged shooting session. I think the constant small impacts and the not-so-ergonomic arrangement of the plane on the shooting board are what cause this. I've often wondered if designs of shooting boards that are perpendicular to the front of the bench are better in this regard.

[Jim Koepke]

I love seeing variations on this important tool.

And hopefully not to derail this thread, but the "Elbows" thread talked about tendonitis issues from normal planing. What really aggravates my "golfer's elbow" (i.e. tendonitis on the inside of the elbow) is a prolonged shooting session. I think the constant small impacts and the not-so-ergonomic arrangement of the plane on the shooting board are what cause this. I've often wondered if designs of shooting boards that are perpendicular to the front of the bench are better in this regard.

The changing ergonomics might help. Sometimes I shoot pieces that are a bit to long to hold vertically during the task.

Having a 'tender' shoulder propelled me to buy a Low Angle Jack plane for shooting. I know some like to hog off big slices when planing. I find there is less wear and tear on my body by taking a lighter approach.

The other way I work around the problem is to change tasks when possible. My main reason for making an ambidextrous shooting board was to use my right shoulder less for this task. I also lean into the work while planing to add my body weight to the work at hand.

Hopefully the thread will not go off the rails. Hopefully others will be able to add insights and leave out any slights.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Spent a little time sharpening the blade on my LA BU Jack.

Makes the top of the leg look a little better:

339333

This is the same piece as pictured in the original.

Sharpness can fix a lot of things.

Looking close at the image I can see I need to tune it just a bit more.

jtk

[Phil Stone]

The changing ergonomics might help. Sometimes I shoot pieces that are a bit to long to hold vertically during the task.

Having a 'tender' shoulder propelled me to buy a Low Angle Jack plane for shooting. I know some like to hog off big slices when planing. I find there is less wear and tear on my body by taking a lighter approach.

The other way I work around the problem is to change tasks when possible. My main reason for making an ambidextrous shooting board was to use my right shoulder less for this task. I also lean into the work while planing to add my body weight to the work at hand.

jtk

By 'perpendicular' I meant still lying on the top of the bench, but rotated 90 degrees, so the planing action is away from the body rather than side to side.

But now that I pay closer attention, I see that you stand on the end of the bench, so this is exactly what you are doing. Hmm.

Awesome pyramids! The proof is in the pudding.

[Stew Denton]

Jim,

Great job, very interesting, and as is often the case with your descriptions with photos, I definitely learned some things.

Thanks!

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

My truck has had side boards since I have owned it. When installed they were given a coat of BLO. The BLO is all that has been between them and the weather for about 8 years. I noticed one of the uprights was starting to get bad so I am working on some replacements. This time I will use a sealing stain to see if they last more than 8 years if the truck lasts that long.

I wanted to chamfer the ends using my recently reworked shooting board. Since the uprights are 2x3s something had to be done so the plane could reach the full edge of the long side.

The wedge used for the 2x2 was cut corner to corner so the other piece was used to make a wedge to hold the long face of the 2x3 horizontal. My quick taping method didn't work well with this. The idea of holding the wedge in place with a pin (dowel) had occurred to me. It was given a try:

339837

The horizontal shooting wedge:

339839

The Vertical wedge:

339838

Mark the center of the shooting board to install the pin if you are make an ambidextrous board.

To remove the wedges it may be necessary to carefully drive a wedge underneath to lift it up.

jtk

[Normand Leblanc]

Hi Jim,

I had problems in the past trying to shoot with a wedge like yours. It was constantly moving. I'm going to remember your dowel trick.

Thanks for input,
Normand

[James Pallas]

Jim, an ambidextrous board is a good thing. Here are some photos of my setup. I like how you set up to use a wedge.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Jim,

I like your big donkey ear. I am thinking of making something like that for my board. It can be a handy attachment when working with molding or any other mitered pieces.

jtk

[Tom M King]

I'll copy that, and thank you every time I use it.

[Jerry Olexa]

Excellent post and Pics!! Thanks Jim for showing us your ways, ideas....VERY Well done!!!!!Thanks

[Jim Koepke]

You are welcome Jerry.

One thing about my boards that has been omitted is about the tail piece that holds against a bench edge or may be mounted in a vise. This should be either perfectly square to the base or have a slight angle to it. This is so the vise doesn't lift it off of the bench. With a slight angle to make it a half degree less than 90º it will press it toward the bench as the vise is tightened.

Some folks have tapered jaws on their vises. In this case one may need to do a bit of experimenting to find a perfect angle of adjustment.

jtk

[David Eisenhauer]

Thanks for the ideas Jim. Good food for thought for an improvement on mine.