# Freehand shooting jig inquiry



## groland (Jan 21, 2009)

In David Charlesworth's informative video on precision shooting there is a section on shooting the edges of rather thin timbers or veneer where the thinness of the edge makes it very difficult to balance a plane on it.

He uses two pieces of 3/4" MDF, sandwiching the board to be planed in between them with its edge to be planed sticking out from the MDF edges. The whole is clamped down to the workbench from behind with F-clamps. The plane runs on the workbench on its side and the board's edge is planed. Note that the plane is not touching the MDF-that is merely holding the board at a useful height. So he refers to it as "freehand shooting."

Now my question. My workbench is 30" wide, far too wide for any clamp to reach, so I need an alternative "jig" to do this job. Since this is a planing issue many woodworkers have undoubtedly faced, I am wondering if anyone knows of a jig that would solve this problem?

Many thanks,

George


----------



## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

Do you have a couple of wood handscrews? If so you can sandwich as you would and then clamp together w/ the handscrews so that they are flush w/ the bottom of the sandwich boards. Then set the whole thing on top of your work bench and then clamp them to the top of your work bench with f clamps or hold them down w/ holdfasts.


----------



## lepelerin (Jan 13, 2012)

+1 for bondogaposis,
holdfast might help in this situation.


----------



## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

As Bondo said or put a cleat on the jig and clamp that in a face or end vise. Wouldn't work well with MDF probably, but would with ply. Also I can't see any difference from what you described to what is usually called a shooting board, except the extra top piece to flatten out the veneer.


----------



## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

I shoot veneer this way all the time. I use Gramercy holdfasts. They are very powerful and fast to set up and knock down. I do however let the plane sole ride on the jig, just like a normal shooting board.


----------

