Donkey's Ear

[Jerry Thompson]

I am interested in making a Donkey's Ear. I plan on using it to fine tune 45d miters on jewelery boxes and such.
The plans I have seen show the miter to be planed sticking upward @ 45d. This seems akward to me. Would it not be just as effective with the end pointing down?
Secondly. How does one ensure that the items that need to be the same length are? Does one count the number of passes made with the plane?
Thank you.

[Michael Faurot]

I am interested in making a Donkey's Ear. I plan on using it to fine tune 45d miters on jewelery boxes and such.


I was just out in the shop using my donkey's ear to adjust the miters for a small box. How serendipitous. :)


The plans I have seen show the miter to be planed sticking upward @ 45d. This seems akward to me. Would it not be just as effective with the end pointing down?


I'm not sure what you mean with regard to up and down orientation. Mine is a detachable component to my shooting board. So I have it oriented like what you see below:

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Secondly. How does one ensure that the items that need to be the same length are? Does one count the number of passes made with the plane?
I do it by feel. If you're doing a box, that's rectangular, then what you'll want to do is shoot the ends on the two long sides, now flip them over so they look something like this:
90253
Press the two pieces together and get them lined up, sort of like you might with a stack of papers, and then use your fingers to feel if they're the same size. If one is a bit bigger, take it back to the shooting board, make a few swipes, and then compare again. When they feel the same, you're done with the long sides. Now do the same things with the shorter sides.

[Derek Cohen]

Jerry

I have a couple of examples, with details, in an articleon my website:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Setting%20Up%20and%20Using%20a%20Shooting%20Board4 .html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Stephen Shepherd]

Here is a traditional example, it is number 3 in this illustration.

http://www.fullchisel.com/image030.jpg

Stephen

[Chuck Nickerson]

Is that from your book by any chance? I'm anxiously waiting for them to show up on Joel's website.