Hello fellow Lumberjocks! I wanted to share a shooting board design with you folks before I start cutting. :) I’m a hand tool guy so far (except for drilling and the occasional jigsaw cut on large stuff) so a good shooting board is essential. I already made one, but the fixed (glued) fence was somehow off by 1 degree, and the paste wax that I used on the runway tends to burn, so this time I’m not messing around. :)
Following are a few 3D renders of my intended design. I’m not set on the measurements yet, or the materials, but the renders imply that it’s solid wood. I’m thinking ply for the base and the runway layer though (I have a few small pieces of a beautiful mahogany ply that I have no other use for). The fence would be a solid hardwood. I also may bring the fence away from the end a little to give a bit more room for the plane to travel after the cut. All that momentum can work against you!
The intention is that the fence is bolted on, with one pivot bolt near the runway, and an adjustment mechanism at the far end. This would be used in 2 configurations. With an angle cut on one side of the fence (which would be reversible) the fence also become the mitering jig. There’s a bolt hole placed in the appropriate spot in the center of the board, allowing for rotation of the fence to that location, and the adjustment still works in that configuration. The fence itself could be flipped over so that the miter on one side is exposed to the plane when in miter mode, and a square is exposed when doing right angles.
The hole in the board for the miter mode also becomes a mounting point for the corner jig, which also bolts through the fence. All of this is slightly adjustable using the adjustment on the fence.
So, that’s the plan! :)
6 comments so far
skywalker01
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92 posts in 191 days
posted 104 days ago
Man! nice drawings. Wont the little chamfer on the fence let the wood chip out at the end of your boards if your doing endgrain? I’ve never used one of these but that looks like it might be a problem?
-- LAS
kennethw
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20 posts in 204 days
posted 104 days ago
Thanks! 3D is part of my day job, so it’s a handy tool for me. I have far more designs than actual things built. :)
The fence will be reversible, so that angle will face the opposite direction when shooting edges, and the 90-degree edge can face the plane’s path. I didn’t do all of the tweaks to the 3D that would be required to show that working properly.
Even then, the perfect edge will be planed away in use on any shooting board. You can either carve a tiny chamfer on the far side of the workpiece to counteract this, or use a sacrificial sliver of some kind to provide a solid backing.
Praki
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139 posts in 894 days
posted 104 days ago
Have to agree with the commenter, very nice diagrams. I use a very simple shooting board when I make boxes and such. The idea of making the fence adjustable is very handy. That is what I did with my cross cutting table and other jigs.
I do have a question about the diagrams. What software did you use to render them?
-- Praki, Aspiring Woodworker
kennethw
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20 posts in 204 days
posted 103 days ago
Thanks Praki. I use a professional 3D app called modo. It is used in film and television, architectural and design visualization, etc. http://www.luxology.com/
a1Jim
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16982 posts in 474 days
posted 96 days ago
Those are great well done
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
kennethw
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20 posts in 204 days
posted 91 days ago
Thanks Jim. :) I’m going to build this board in about a week, after the mom-in-law visit…