I'm convinced that the best shooting board out there is the latest one made by Tico Vogt. Any care to disagree?
[OP]
Contributor
I'm convinced that the best shooting board out there is the latest one made by Tico Vogt. Any care to disagree?
Member
I think the one designed by John Ten Eyck is the nicest and most versatile I have seen. I know he did a write up about on this site in the last year or so.
Contributor
Mine is a minor disagreement. IMO, the best one is made by the user.Any care to disagree?
My reasoning is based on the learning one receives in building a shooting board that can not be learned by buying one.
For my own use, my shooting boards are made to accommodate the different sizes of material I will use.
Many of the apprentice level projects that some see as a waste of time, not only teach some important skills they provide an understanding of different aspects of woodworking.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
Emphatic +1. John incorporated my suggestions to add Veritas shooting board tracks and the ability to shoot miters on either side to give me my perfect shooting board.Originally Posted by Michael Todrin
Cliff
Last edited by Cliff Polubinsky; 12-15-2023 at 5:26 PM.
The problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Charles Bukowski
Contributor
Steve, Tico makes (made?) good quality boards. His first design was acknowledged by Tico to have been a copy of mine, along with the accessories. He later changed the construction details, but the designs remained essentially the same. To be clear, all strength to his elbow, as I have never been interested in manufacturing and Tico put together a package at a reasonable price. I speak of Tico in the past tense as I was under the impression that he stopped building shooting boards. The only manufactured shooting board I am aware if is from Lee Valley (which looks good).
Rule of Thumb: ramped boards best for planes with square blades, and flat boards best for skewed blades. Of course, all work with each other.
I built my first ramped shooting board 20 years ago, and this was heavily influenced by Michael Connor, an Australian woodworker, whom I believe was responsible for the concept and must be credited. This is the last design I made, one of several I developed along the way ...
Along with a strike block plane I built ...
.. with Donkey's Ear ..
Regards from Perth
Derek
Member
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but did Tico Vogt not go out of business as the result of the devasting fires in California, where he was located?
Contributor
Perhaps, but i think it was Rob Hansen, dba Evenfall Studios, that was located in Paradise, CA at the time of the fire a few years ago.
Best, Patrick
Contributor
Looks like from his website he's located in Northumberland, New York.
https://ticovogt.com/
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the decision." Ben Franklin
Contributor
It was Rob. I have one of his adjustable shooting boards n
Contributor
Hmmm.."Best" shooting board made? Stanley No. 51/52....or, IF you prefer...get a Lion trimmer
A Planer? I'm the Planer, and this is what I use
Contributor
Agree, Steven. Having a #51/52 is the reason I stopped pursueing development of shooting board design. Here is the one I have, built in 1898 (from memory) ...
The original plane has a weakness in it design (poorly attached frog), and when the LN came out, this was the replacement ..
Spectacular and effortless set up. The big take away from the design is the captured runway, which then subsequently ended up on shooting boards.
Regards from Perth
Derek
[OP]
Contributor
The uniqueness and what I would consider an improvement over the 52 besides the ramp is the positioning of the miter fence and Donkey's Ear using locating pins. Also, the 52 does not have an adjustable fence that can be moved close to the cutting surface to prevent tear out. A chamfer on the back side works but it's an additional step. I see what Derek states about square plane blades work best on ramped boards and skewed plane blades work best on flat boards but isn't it better to have yet more of a slicing angle with a skewed blade on a ramped board? I can't see how it would hurt.
Also, Rob Cosman's shooting boards have a slight convex bow to the platform the plane rests on. I forget his reasoning behind it but it's a feature not found in the description with other shooting boards, at least none that I've found. Are there any merits to it?
Contributor
Steve, the #52 shooting board has a cast iron fence, and you would not wish to close it up too much. Nevertheless it is fully adjustable in-and-out as well as for any angle between 0-90 degrees. This is the basic fence ..
You may note that there are slots and holes for bolts. I use mine with a hardwood sub-fence ...
With regard using a chamfer, this is still important, regardless of a zero clearance at the fence. All fence wear and then become non-zero clearance. In addition to preventing spelching, the chamfer also makes it easier to determine where to stop planing.
Siting and attaching a Donkey's Ear is done (on my boards) via an adjustable fence. I always built the fences to have micro adjustability in-and-out as well as angles. This then squares of the Donleys Ear as well ...
The centre bolt attaches ...
Levelling screws under the Donkeys Ear ...
Regarding the skew blade vs square blade, I wrote that both can be used ... just that shooting benefits from a non-square entry to reduce the impact being fatiguing. A ramped board does not impart a skew cut, only a progressive impact.
What is Rob Cosman on about with his bowed design? It is just sales-speak.
Regards from Perth
Derek
[OP]
Contributor
Here are the 3 shooting boards I made. They all get the job done but I'm always looking for something better. I think the Vogt setup is a step in that direction but since they're no longer available I may make another. I thought before about making one using a flat aluminum plate as a base and Tercite for the plane to run on. I have a Bridgeport mill with a DRO that can accurately place pin locations for the miter fence and Donkey's Ear. Might be an interesting project.
Shooting Boards 007.jpgShooting Boards 008.jpg
Contributor
Derek,
It's a bit odd to conclude that the bowed design is sales-speak if you don't understand what it's about in the first place.
The slight bow is intended for shooting boards used with regular bench planes turned on their side. If the track is slightly concave, the plane will only touch at the heel and toe where the reference surface is very narrow and will easily rock side-to-side, ruining squareness in one direction. A bench plane on a slightly convex track will always touch in the middle of the plane where the side is much taller and provides plenty of width to prevent tipping.
Of course, a bench plane will not tip on a perfectly flat track either, but the idea is to make a board that leans towards the convex condition to avoid any chance of a concave condition. And of course this has no use if the board is to be used with a dedicated shooting plane with wide reference surface heel-to-toe.
Last edited by Christopher Wellington; 12-28-2023 at 1:51 PM.
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