After seeing the neat job that MOT/ Tom did with his shooting board I was enticed to make one of my own.
I am in the middle of milling some wood for small boxes so I will needed something to handle these small gauge materials.
I am a pack rat and wood hoarder by genetic make up so when I dug through one of my precious piles of scrap I found an old poplar plywood shelf, a piece of arborite (Tom’s idea) and a piece of 3/4” fir flooring plywood.
The rest were off cuts of oak walnut etc that would have been firewood.
Once I milled the stops to dead flat and square the rest went fairly quickly.
You have to get the stop lined up with the shooting edge at or very near 90 degrees and the shooting edge should be almost perfect in length and vertical as possible.
The reason I split the stop in two pieces was to allow for an alignment should the need occur.
I can shim the walnut piece on either end to shift the workpiece to plumb.
Once the board was assembled I could use my plane to flush trim the stop block and align the guide edge up to the stop block. Tom was right about the arborite under the plane ,it really reduced the drag, I had to cut a 1/2” relief under the top board to let the arborite slip under for a good fit.
Next I tested with my low angle block plane. Not a really good one but it does the trick.
It cut the African black wood like a butter knife and gave me a nice sharp 90 degree angle.
Next I made the 45 degree attachment for lining up flat boards as per picture frames and box corners etc.
These have to be dead on so take your time if you are making one of these.
The final shot was a jig to get 45’s on the bevels . I have always had a problem with this cut and spent many moons sanding the wood until it was too short. I’m hoping this jig will eliminate a lot of that.
The next step is to get some decent plane irons so Mr. Hock will be getting a call soon.
Here are references for the plans I used
Enjoy
Bob
-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner
12 comments so far
WayneC
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6079 posts in 997 days
posted 663 days ago
Very nice Bob. Looks like a great addition. You will have to make a miter plane to go with it.
-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov
mot
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4904 posts in 936 days
posted 663 days ago
Looks like a worthy beast!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Scott Bryan
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20805 posts in 722 days
posted 663 days ago
This looks like a nice jig to add to your shop.
Thanks for sharing.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
jcees
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553 posts in 699 days
posted 663 days ago
Sweet! I’ve just made this one a keeper. Thanks.
I am assuming that arborite is a phenolic laminate product like Wilsonart or Formica?
always,
J.C.
-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
Bob #2
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3056 posts in 921 days
posted 663 days ago
jcees, you are right, forgive the parochail dialect. We are what they tell us we are.
I shall stay with “phenolic laminate product ” in future.
Bob
-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner
Karson
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25871 posts in 1300 days
posted 663 days ago
Looks nice a nice tool there Bob.
I would have thought that the bevel attachment would be higher to give you more support on the workpiece.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
GaryK
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9555 posts in 888 days
posted 663 days ago
Looks great Bob! I like the attachments.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Eric
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784 posts in 684 days
posted 663 days ago
Very nice!
-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com
Dorje
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1767 posts in 897 days
posted 663 days ago
How did you ever function without it? I recently made one too…what a treat to have.
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
rikkor
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11335 posts in 774 days
posted 663 days ago
Great shooting board.
Tony
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814 posts in 930 days
posted 662 days ago
NIce one Bob! – I still have not made one of these yet, I do not ever seem to need it – one day!
-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)
Bob #2
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3056 posts in 921 days
posted 662 days ago
Karson: ” I would have thought that the bevel attachment would be higher to give you more support on the workpiece.”
It can be modified to suit the occasion. I built this one for small boxes but making it taller is not too difficult.
Bob
-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner