Donkey's ear vs miter jack

[Dave Cottrell]

Not having a vast experience with shooting, I want to make accurate box corners easily and cleanly. In your experience, is there a difference between angling the cutter or angling the workpiece? Does one setup have any advantage over the other?

[Patrick Chase]

Not having a vast experience with shooting, I want to make accurate box corners easily and cleanly. In your experience, is there a difference between angling the cutter or angling the workpiece? Does one setup have any advantage over the other?

I've built both, and IMO the donkey-ear fixture is easier to make. It's what I did first. It's also more less technically demanding to use: If you can shoot then you can use a donkey's ear.

The Miter jack provides much more positive work-holding as it's basically an angled vise, and can handle a wider range of part geometry IMO, including work that's too large to shoot in a single pass (if your jack is big enough). On the minus side it takes some practice and technique to use a miter jack without damaging the surface around the workpiece.

For simple rectangular box corners I think that the donkey ear is more than adequate, and probably the lowest-effort option.

[Dave Cottrell]

Thanks that's good advice!

[lowell holmes]

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ShootingBoard2.pdf

I used to know what a donkey's ear was, but i had to go online to refresh my memory.
Old age is for the birds, but it sure beats the alternative.

[Jim Koepke]

It is easier to make slight adjustments when needed with a donkey's ear.

Here is one made for making a 22-1/2º cut:

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?157217-Eight-Eared-Donkey

jtk