Shooting Board

[Mark Roderick]

I'd like to make a simple shooting board to plane 45 degree angles, thereby avoiding the noise and fussiness of cutting lots of 45 degree angles on on a table saw or radial arm saw. The pieces I'm cutting will be very small, maybe half an inch square in cross-section. I'll cut with a handsaw first, then use the shooting board to dial in the exact angle and length.

Can anybody point me to good plans?

If it matters, I have a number of different planes available, from a low-angle block plane to a low-angle jack plane to a #7 jointer.

[Mark Roderick]

This is probably illegal, but I'm answering my own question. A Google search turned up the following resource, which is excellent.

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/shootingboards.html

[David Marcus Brown]

Oh man, you are so in trouble.

First, you answered your own question and then you linked to some foreign website???!!!


Just kidding! ;) :D

Welcome to the forum!

regards,
Dave

[Eddie Darby]

This is probably illegal, but I'm answering my own question.

I hope that you didn't give yourself a bad answer!:D

I would hate to see you start arguing with yourself.:rolleyes:

Thanks for the nice reply by the way!:)

[Michael Schwartz]

Fine woodworking had plans a while back (within a few years ) for a very good one in one if its issues. I have used a shooting board made by the author of the FWW artical and it works like a dream.

[harry strasil]

These are the tools I use for making banding and for my small Parquetry projects.

banding shoot board.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/bandingendsshootboard.jpg

width shoot board.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/bandingwidthshooboard.jpg

thickness planer shoot board.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/thicknessjig01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/thicknessjig02.jpg

All have a hook on one end to catch on the edge of the workbench.

[Mark Roderick]

Very interesting and helpful. Thanks. It seems that once you start thinking about shooting boards the possibilities are endless.

[Mark Roderick]

Okay, I've made the shooting boards, one for 90 degrees and one for 45 degrees. I'll be using a Lie-Nielsen low-angle jack for the plane. What angle do you recommend sharpening the plane blade? The shooting boards will be used exclusively for end grain, so should I keep a dedicated blade at a really low angle?

[harry strasil]

what I use is a stanley 140 skew angle block plane. or a dedicated skew angle woody I made for use with the banding shoot boards.

[Mark Roderick]

Sharpened at what angle?

[harry strasil]

just normal angle, 140 is a bevel up plane originally, I don't have any fancy planes, in fact I only use antique special purpose metal planes, I am a woody person, I don't get into all the wierd sharpening some do. I do things the old fashioned way, they work fine for me as they did for the old timers.

[harry strasil]

my one consilation is chisels now as my wife gave me a worksharp 3000 for xmas.

[harry strasil]

just be careful with those small pieces. holding them wid you finger for the second cut can make finger tips shorter and ruin work with blood. don't ask me how I know. LOL

cut and shoot the first one before cutting to length.

[harry strasil]

I nailed on a stop and made a holdown piece with the end recessed to hold the little pieces for the second cut shooting, that way they were all the same. it was undercut not quite the thickness of the material being worked so it would hold it in place with out skating out when shooting.

[David Marcus Brown]

If you've got a LN low angle jack, it's an A2 blade. A2 is prone to edge failure at sharpening angles of less than 30 degrees. Because planing end grain is tough, I'd sharpen at 30 degrees.

I use a 5-1/2 on my shooting board and it works fine. The mass of the plane is more important than the cutting angle -- up to a point. A scraper wouldn't make a good shooting plane. ;)

[Mark Roderick]

Thanks. I normally keep it sharpened at 30 degrees so I'll try just keeping it that way.

I'm curious about the edge failure comment. Not at all doubting you, but I've never heard that before. Where did you hear it?

[David Marcus Brown]

Here's an awesome tutorial (http://bladetest.infillplane.com/html/bevel_angles.html)on sharpening angles and edge failure of different plane blade materials. These are bevel down tests but they still show that honing angles of 32 degrees or less are very prone to edge failure.

[David Marcus Brown]

Here are the results from his research:


Ability to Take a Sharp Edge

All of the blades I’ve tested have been able to take extremely sharp edges, but producing a sharp edge on some of the blades is possible only with the right type of abrasive. The alloys containing significant amounts of carbide particles (the Holtey S53 blade, the Academy Saws M2 blade, and my CPM 3V blade) need to be honed with diamond or chromium oxide to reach their greatest level of sharpness. No amount of careful honing on a fine waterstone will bring these blades to the same sharpness that the waterstones will produce on high carbon steel or A2.

Best Abrasive for Each Blade

Fine diamond paste has produced the very sharpest edges I’ve tested on all of the blades. This level of sharpness is almost matched by chromium oxide on most of the blades and by 8000x waterstones on the high carbon steel and A2 blades. I would guess that finer waterstones would be able to produce edges as sharp as I’ve achieved using diamond on these blades, but I haven’t tested any waterstones finer than 8000x.

I’ve done only a little testing of oilstones. A translucent Arkansas stone dating from the 1920s produced an edge less refined than I had expected and I stopped testing oilstones at that time.

Edge Retention

The very best edge retention was found in the Academy Saws M2 blade and the CPM 3V blade. Any difference between these blades is smaller than my experimental error, so I consider them tied.

The Holtey S53 lost its initial sharpness somewhat faster, then remained at a reasonable “working sharpness” for a considerable time.

The A2 blades retained their sharpness longer than the carbon steel blades. I haven’t yet tested all of the blades or tried to find differences between A2 blades from different makers.

Bevel Angle

At this time I’m using a bevel with a total included angle of 34º, formed by a 31½º primary bevel and a back bevel of 2½º. The A2 blades show minor chips after planing cherry, so for harder woods a larger bevel angle may be needed.

The Academy Saws M2 blade and the CPM 3V blade resisted chipping at an angle of 32º and showed only the smallest amount of microchipping at 30º when planing cherry. The Hock A2 blade showed significant chipping at 32º and the other blades have not yet been tested at the more acute angles.

[Michael Fross]

If you've got a LN low angle jack, it's an A2 blade. A2 is prone to edge failure at sharpening angles of less than 30 degrees. Because planing end grain is tough, I'd sharpen at 30 degrees.

I use a 5-1/2 on my shooting board and it works fine. The mass of the plane is more important than the cutting angle -- up to a point. A scraper wouldn't make a good shooting plane. ;)

That's interesting. My A2 and O1 blades I sharpen at 25 degrees with no back bevel. I've never had any issues with chipping on hardwoods....Maybe I've gotten lucky.

Michael

[David Weaver]

If you've got a LN low angle jack, it's an A2 blade. A2 is prone to edge failure at sharpening angles of less than 30 degrees. Because planing end grain is tough, I'd sharpen at 30 degrees.

I use a 5-1/2 on my shooting board and it works fine. The mass of the plane is more important than the cutting angle -- up to a point. A scraper wouldn't make a good shooting plane. ;)

I will second that. Some may say that the edge just needs sharpened, but it does go beyond that. The edge will be damaged or bent slightly if you look closely at it.