Replies

1. 
   GregB126 | May 10, 2003 08:18am | #1

   Ben,

   I have had great success with 3/4 in. mdf with a maple fence.  Not only is it flat and stable, but a smooth surface against which the plane can track.  For an excellent description of shooting board making and use, see vol. II of David Charlesworth's Furniture Making Techniques, which can be found on Amazon, from Lie-Nielsen or at his own website.

   Cheers,

   Greg

1. 
   bjpearce | May 11, 2003 03:30am | #2

   Thanks for the advice GregB.

2. 
   bjpearce | May 12, 2003 04:35pm | #3

   Hello??

   Anyone else?

   Helloooooooooooooooo.

1. 
   SgianDubh | May 12, 2003 05:11pm | #4

   I spotted your question, Ben, but the link you supplied and Gregs response seemed to cover the subject pretty well. Shooting boards can be made of any material that's reasonably flat and stable. The more stable the material is, the more likely it is that the tool will remain accurate. But in my experience, shooting boards are made, used, and discarded as they become inaccurate, and new ones made as required.

   I consider them as a jig, guide or fixture, with some I've made being for use in one specific job, after which they are often disposable. They tend to hang around the workshop and they sometimes find a second use. However, unlike most woodworkers, I'm not a hoarder, and most of that kind of stuff finds its way into the round file, where it should have gone six months earlier, ha, ha.

   So to respond to your particular question about which ply to use? I've found that any type of ply will do (or other materials) as long as it's flat to start with. With heavy usage, the shooting board it will get worn and inaccurate. Also, they sometimes just go out of whack because they sit in intermittently heated and cooled workshops where humidity ranges can vary quite a bit. I've made shooting boards that started out perfect, as far as I could tell, and gone on to use them when they are past their best. In the latter circumstance, you 'read' the tool as it wears and make adjustments in your technique to suit.

   One trick you can get up to to increase the longevity of a shooting board is to apply a piece of plastic laminate to both faces of your plywood parts-- balanced construction, hard, and resists wear as the sides or base of the plane rub along it. Slainte.Website                                   The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.

2. 
   GregB126 | May 12, 2003 09:27pm | #5

   Ben,

   Pretty easy to agree with Richard. 

   Here are some other considerations.  Obviously, you'll try to make your board as accurate as possible.  As you check your test piece, however, you may discover it's off in one plane or another by a degree or so.  It could happen.  You can correct for this with a piece of paper or card placed either against the fence (if the error is in that plane) or on the bed itself, if the error is there.  You can even do mitred work by using wedges you've cut to your own desired angle.  (I like to use sleds/carriages on top of my flat shooting board, rather than making a classic donkey's ear.) 

   The point is, throughout its use, you will still be checking your results with a square or sliding bevel or something.  You can make small corrections as you go.  One won't last your lifetime, but you can compensate for inaccuracies and perhaps extend its life a little.  I like mdf because it is very flat and stable, making for a predictable, smooth ride.  I also put a little wax on the (plane) bearing surface of the board, as well as a little swipe on the plane's sole.  As you first use it, don't project the blade very much.  You'll find it really doesn't take much.  With too much projection, you'll tear the fence up more than you wanted and remove more of its value as a backing material.  (You may also be tempted to muscle it through, which won't lead to good results in any context.)  It won't affect the path of the plane, though, as it will always ride along the same path dictated by the edge of the board and the portion of the sole between the mouth and the outside edge of the sole.

   Now, that's more info than you asked for!  I hope it helps.  It's really an extremely useful tool, which will open up a whole new phase in accuracy.

   Cheers,

   Greg

1. 
   MarkRoderick | May 12, 2003 09:36pm | #6

   I apologize for being such a dullard, but I have always had this question about shooting boards: namely, if the plane is riding against the shooting board, why isn't the plane cutting the shooting board at the same time it's cutting the board intended to be cut? If it is cutting the shooting board, doesn't this screw up the whole process and ruin the shooting board quickly?

1. 
   SgianDubh | May 13, 2003 01:08am | #7

   Oooh, a sharp bleedin' question, Mark. You're on the ball, ha, ha-- are solicitors supposed to be that smart outside their normal line of work?!!! ( I am pulling his chain by the way for those that don't know.)

    Make a shooting board where the plane always follows the same track-- never varies from it, and it'll work its own groove. Once the 'groove' is fixed, the only variable is the part that holds, guides, and presents the piece of wood to the blade, and the sharpness and set of the blade. It's easy to shim a piece of wood to the fence with a cigarette paper, perhaps folded, to adjust the angle of attack to suit the job in hand. And if you don't mess too much with the cigarette paper, you can still roll a satisfying smoke with it later, ha, ha.

   You can make a shooting board designed for trimming mitres-- and a whole host of other jobs, such as trimming ends for drawer parts, etc.. You make it in such a way that the sole of the plane that is not open, i.e., the bit either side of the blade in the sole, adjacent to the perpendicular(?) return of the sides, tracks much as a railway line guides the carriages-- this is where a wee strip of plastic laminate can come in handy. The base of the shooting board provides a place for the side of the plane to run on. You can tweak the angles a bit by adjusting the protrusion of the blade, but the plane body itself always remorselly follows the same path, until general wear and tear of the shooting board takes its toll.

   Shooting boards are generally plane specific. The sole of the plane may not be square to the side, so you build a shooting board suited to that plane. Slainte.    Website                                   The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.

1. 
   GregB126 | May 13, 2003 01:23am | #9

   Sorry, Richard,

   I was yacking away in response to Mark's question, not aware you'd responded too.  Noticed yours after touching the "continue" button.  Have we got it surrounded?

   Cheers,

   Greg

2. 
   MarkRoderick | May 13, 2003 02:34pm | #12

   Thank you both for your replies. I've got to get that book to see what it looks like - sort of hard to understand unless you're looking at one, I think.

2. 
   GregB126 | May 13, 2003 01:20am | #8

   Mark,

   You're not a dullard at all.  The answer is "yes", the board's fence (and maybe a bit of its upper edge) does get shaved a little bit, but only where the iron projects.  Unless you try and use a rebate plane, though, you won't cut into the portion against which the plane rides near the bottom of the board's edge.  The plane travels along the same path, staying in contact with the board on two of its surfaces.  First, and most obvious, is the part of the plane (it's side) riding back and forth on the horizontal axis.  Second, the part you're asking about, is the portion of the sole below the projected blade; this portion of the sole mates with the lower edge of the shooting board and slides back and forth along the vertical axis.  This won't work using a rebate plane, which allows the iron to project all the way to the side of the plane's body.  Great for rebating; disasterous for shooting.

   Is there a consequence of shaving the fence away a little as you use the board?  I think so, which is why I try and take very fine shavings each time.  I want as much of the fence there to support my workpiece as possible, in order to counter tearout on the back side.  Can this be avoided by scribing a knife line around the piece and shooting down to it?  Sometimes, but its easier said than done in, for example, fitting a drawer to its opening.

   Does this make any sense?  A far better description, with diagrams and photos, are in David Charlesworth's vol. II.

   Cheers,

   Greg

2. 
   bjpearce | May 13, 2003 03:22am | #10

   Thanks to GregB (again) and RichardJ for your tips. Didn't mean to be rude (GregB) when asking for more input, I just felt that your reply looked so lonely, and I like to get at least two or three answers.

   So it's agreed then, MDF is the best. But could anyone tell me if marine ply is more stable than normal ply?

   Ben.

1. 
   SgianDubh | May 13, 2003 05:56am | #11

   Ben, It's often said that flat and plywood are two words that don't belong in the same sentence-- you've got all those perpendicularly orientated grains working against each other, so it seems it's always likely that there will be a bit of warping, etc..

   As to marine ply versus a 'normal' ply, as far as I recall the primary difference between the two is that marine ply is bonded with waterproof glue, whereas other plywoods aren't. As I've never had much use for plywood able to withstand exterior and other difficult locations-- such as submerged in water. I'm working off long forgotten memory, but apart from the glue, the selection of wood species used in marine ply might be somewhat different.

   I can't think that marine ply has any particular benefits regarding the fabrication of shooting boards-- but I'd be happy for someone to tell me that I'm wrong, and why. Flat is important for making shooting boards, of course, and MDF tends to be flat, but it's not always so-- I've seen some banana shaped MDF pass through workshops I've worked in over the last twenty odd years.

   MDF can be used successfully for that kind of tool, but the edge can deform under repeated regular usage, and the face, once the hard tightly packed outer layer is broken can deteriorate rapidly, hence my earlier mention of adding plastic laminate as sometimes being a useful trick. Also MDF has a bit of a habit of reacting unfavourably under sustained humid conditions-- it swells and distorts. As ever, you have to make your best judgement for each project, decide on your compromise, and build accordingly, whether it be a piece of furniture, or an aid such as a shooting board. Slainte.Website                                   The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.