shooting board material

[ken werner]

for miters I use a miter jack:

[Bill Satko]

We are talking the same thing; miter jack or mitre block. Is that the design out Fine Woodworking?

[Mark Kosmowski]

I'll be shooting with my LN #62 LA Jack. As with most of my tool purchases, it was a good deal for a really good tool before I knew anything about planes. I'd be sure to screw up a purchase if I buy more as I learn about them though.

The reason I was asking about particle board is that I have some 3/4" particle board bits that used to be the DC cabinet for my router table. That space got taken up by bowl blank storage before I got around to rebuilding the router table DC cabinet after moving into the house here though, leaving me with a pile of particle board that I was hoping to retask.

Regarding the possibility of premature sole wear from the engineered materials, would laminating the edges of the material with a little bit of hardwood do the trick?

Having asked this, I suspect that Ken does a lot more handplane shooting than I anticipate doing, so maybe this whole thing will be a non-issue for me. I suppose I could also start with an engineered board to get me going and then make a hardwood board later and see which one I prefer.

Many of you have posted pics of shooting boards with an integral plane-sliding-support (the ramp, whether or not actually ramped). Is this so that you know your plane is perpendicular to the board as opposed to referencing the plane off the bench the board rests on?

Thanks for the discussion so far!

Hmmm... you know, if I get cracking on this, maybe I can have it done before Larry gets home. If that happens, maybe I could surprise him with some pics of shavings from the wood he delivered to me as the first shavings made from the board.

[Al killian]

qswo or qs sycamore are real stable and look really good to.

[Mark Kosmowski]

Ok, I'm going forward with my original ash plan. Mostly because I want to use it for my walnut desk to true up the ends and I was already using the planer for some apron pieces and tossed the already face jointed ash board through too.

No pic yet because I need to go to the store and get a 2" galvanised steel coupler (I think 1/2" diameter) that I use as spacers for my RAS table tensioner knobs. A knob loosened off while I was using the RAS table to support the desk table top on while using the ROS and I can't find it from the floor. Found the knob and the SAE washer, but no coupler.

I should predrill in ash for trim head screws, right? Is there any reason to glue the fence to the shooting board?

Thanks!

[Mark Kosmowski]

Well, we went to Lowes, I picked up the 2" long 3/8" iron pipe nipple I needed for a RAS table tensioner knob spacer and I'm back in business. I cut off the knotty portion of the ash board that gave some planer tearout. As seen below this still left about 22" of shooting board length.

There was a bit of ash left on the offcut before the knot proper, so I cut off another two pieces - the first will be the fence and the second a cleat on the underside. My planer has suddenly decided to start sniping on me, so the sniped side of the shooting board is on the bottom. My planer blades have seen more than there fair share of hard knots and are leaving stripes on the board surface. Should I hit the surface of my shooting board with the ROS to smooth these stripes out?

I measured the fence piece for uniformity (parallel ends) with my Mitotoyu calipers and the difference across the fence was 0.02 mm. I'm satisfied with that. The fence is being glued ad screwed to the shooting board. It's long enough that if I don't like it I could just cut off the fence. I also don't want the fence to loosen over time if just screwed on.

The next step will be to use my EZ Smart 32" rail and square to rip the sides, using the fence as a reference. Note that the fence is a bit proud of the shooting board. These rip cuts will ensure that the edges of the shooting board are square to the fence.



My immediate plans for this shooting board are to true up the edges of the walnut desk table top that I am working on. I'll be using my LN #62 low angle jack plane for this task. After that project is complete, I will add miter and bevel (45 degree each) attachments to my shooting board.

[Tony Baideme]

Mark,

Just my opinion, but you should change the fence to a piece with the grain running perpendicular to the shooting board. I know you already glued it on, but when I saw your picture, it reminded me of the description of you using a cutoff from the top board for the fence, and I thought I'd comment on that.

I'd make the change. Looking at the link Rob gave us and at Dominic's board, I believe I would follow that design and have the fence grain run crossways to the top board.

You are doing good Sir. Much better than me right now. I want one too, so I got a lot of catching up to do.

Aloha, Tony

[Mark Kosmowski]

Well, I read the site Rob linked to and there wasn't mention of which way the grain should run, so I'm just gonna use it as is. Don't want to lose any time right now on my desk project anyhow - I hear the nasty hot weather is on the way in.

I just ripped the first side using the EZ Smart system. A friend had accidentally ripped part of his EZ rail and gave me the ripped part. I've finally gotten around to rigging things up to hook up that ripped piece of extrusion to the square to act as a square side clamp.





I'm using a DeWalt 369 7 1/4" saw with my EZ system. At full depth of cut I'm only getting just shy of 1 1/4" depth of cut. Is this normal?

[Mark Kosmowski]

Made the second rip. Since my CS didn't clear the whole depth of cut I have some cleaning up to do. Flush trim bit in router setting the bearing to follow the part that the saw did cut all the way through?

Careful use of chisels?

I think a larger CS has just been bumped up in priority for new tools. Still need to invest in a PAPR system for health first, but then the larger blade CS will be next major purchase. Time for a 10" CS.

[Tony Baideme]

Hey Mark,

I just happen to have one of those (10" circ. saw).

Pictures coming later.

Aloha, Tony