More from your shooting board
Words and photos: Charles Mak
If you spot a shooting board in a woodworker’s workshop, it is reasonable to conclude that they care about precision and quality in their work. If you have never heard of a shooting board before or yours has been collecting dust for some time in the shop, this article is for you. Here we’ll look at how you can make the most out of this indispensable shop fixture.
1. This shooting board has dual runways to shoot with either the right or left hand.
A shooting board has three parts: An upper board for the work to be placed on (the ledge), a lower board for the shooting plane (the runway), and a stop, mounted at a desired angle – usually at 90° – to the ledge (photo 1). You can make a shooting board or buy a commercial one, and for either option, the techniques shared in this article will work.'
2. The shooting board is ideal for trimming thin work by hand.
The shooting jig is mostly commonly used for squaring the end of a workpiece. In each pass, only a tiny amount of material is shaved off, avoiding overcutting, which can happen with a power tool. But the shooting jig also excels in handling thin materials. With the thin board placed on the ledge, the plane – laid on its side – trims on the wood’s edge with ease and precision (photo 2).
The shooting plane
3. Any low-angle plane can be used as a shooting plane.
You use a plane with the shooting board. Some use a dedicated hefty shooting plane, but you can use any low-angle bench plane as a shooting board plane (photo 3).
4. Set the blade to make fine to very fine cuts.
Use a sharp blade with a 25° bevel, ground straight across with no camber on the cutting edge, and set the plane for making fine cuts (photo 4). With the plane now properly set up, you are ready to learn the shooting techniques.
Squaring cuts
5. Start with holding the workpiece against both the stop and the toe of the plane.
By virtue of the stop being square to the edge of the ledge, the plane trims work perfectly square every time. To shoot, place the plane on the runway, and butt the workpiece against the stop as well as the plane’s toe, i.e. the sole ahead of the blade as shown in photo 5.
6. Stop planing when you see a full-width shaving.
7. Line up your dominant arm and torso with the runway before you begin.
Slide the plane away from the work and trim the wood with push strokes, keeping the plane to the ledge (photo 7). A full-width shaving will show the cut is done (photo 6).
8. For extra grip, mount a C-clamp to the body of the plane as a handle.
If you find it hard to hold and push the plane by the side, you could attach a small C-clamp to the plane as a handle for gripping (photo 8).
Mitring work
9. Bolt a grooved wooden strip to the hypotenuse of a rafter square as a mitre stop.
The shooting board can be seen as a building block for other precision jigs. You can, for example, add a 45° stop to shoot mitres. To make a mitre stop, I adopted the rafter square idea of American woodworker Sean Montague, by attaching a strip to the longest side of an aluminium speed square (photo 9).
10. Retract the blade of your plane, and use a trusted square to check the mitre stop for 45°.
Simply clamp the modified speed square to the shooting board stop, and you can shoot accurate mitres all day long (photo 10).
Beveling edges
11. A shim taped to the ledge raises the work while a rebated board is used as a holder-down clamp.
The shooting board can be used not only for truing but also for bevelling. To trim an edge at an angle, raise the piece by placing a shim underneath it (photo 11).
This technique allowed me to make, for example, staves for coopered lids (photo 12).
Chamfering edges
Chamfers are used in furniture pieces to soften the look and protect the edges. Derek Jones, a British woodworker and teacher, came up with a clever way of chamfering small work using the shooting board:
1. Position the work on the ledge for the desired amount of chamfer with an angled block (photo 13).
2. Clamp the angled block to the stop and hold the work against the stop to cut the first edge of one face.
3. Rotate the work to shave the opposite edge (photos 14, 15).
4. Re-position the work to set the proper overhang and follow the same steps above to cut the chamfers on the opposite face (photo 16).
Similarly, ends can be chamfered by standing the piece at an angle and shooting the edges on the end (photos 17, 18).
Rounding ends
Derek Jones also uses the shooting jig to round ends by hand. Here is how to do it:
1. Start by drawing the desired round profile on the end.
2. Hold the work against the stop at an angle so you can shave off one facet of the round (photo 19).
3. Trim one flat close to the line, then slightly alter the work to trim the next flat along the line (photo 20).
4. Continue the series of cuts to make flats along the line until you remove the ridges and form a round profile on the piece (photo 21).
Shooting large work
A typical shooting board can handle small to medium sized pieces. For a large piece such as a door or a long board, you may turn to a shooting benchtop for truing. A shooting benchtop can just be your workbench or an assembly table as long as it is flat and large enough to support the work to be trued.
To shoot a credenza door, as an example, I placed a couple of identical strips on the workbench and rested the door on the strips (photo 22).
After securing the door on the bench with holdfasts, I planed the edge using a low angle jack with its side riding on the bench (photo 23).
The shooting board is a versatile fixture, and it is quite a joy to use, giving instant feedback and consistent results. It may just be the missing link between good work and best work for some of your future endeavours.
Charles Mak enjoys writing articles, authoring tricks of the trade, and teaching workshops. He published WoodworkingTips and Tricks (Algrove Publishing) in 2022, a collection of some of his unorthodox shop wisdom.