A shooting board - quickly

[Chris Knight]

I actually wanted to make a few inserts for my drill press table which uses replaceable inserts made from 9 mm MDF. The only piece of MDF I had to hand was a rectangle measuring about 21 inches by 14 with a piece of 1 1/2 x 3/4 inch oak glued along one long edge (left over from some long-forgotten project). As I took it to the table saw - inspiration struck. My next little job on the todo list was to make a small shooting board and it occurred to me that was exactly what I was about to turn into inserts.

Simply by cutting the MDF, parallel to the short edges, through the oak (at right angles to it) and creating two pieces but one about 3 inches wider than the other I had the top and bottom halves of a shooting board. I used impact adhesive to glue them back to back such that the oak strip on the larger piece served as a bench hook cleat and the narrower upper piece as the platform for the work-piece to be shot and I had my shooting board in about 10 minutes.

With hindsight this seems to be about as obvious as anything can be but in the past I have made shooting boards in a way that required quite a bit of faffing about to get the fence exactly at right angles to the platform. In this case, I used the accuracy of the table saw (OK you have to get that set up but that's always true) to give me a right angle by cutting through a pre-glued fence.

I now await the ignominy of being told that is the way everyone does it...

 

[Scott]

I now await the ignominy of being told that is the way everyone does it...

Sheesh Chris! I thought a man of your experience would have known that we all do it that way! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Waka]

Not me, I do it the long winded way, or did until you posted Chris.

 

[wizer]

yeh sure, I have done it that way millions of times :? :-k

 

[Anonymous]

Obvious now....... :roll:

Thanks Chris

 

[dedee]

Chris, brilliantly simple. Thanks for sharing.

Now what are the chances of me remembering this the next time I want to make one?

Andy

 

[woodbloke]

Ingenious :lol: - Rob

 

[Alf]

You swine! You've just stolen my idea... Oh no, wait, that's another thread... But you may have just single-handedly destroyed the shooting-board-making-article industry in one fell swoop. :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Losos]

Hi Chris,

Yes, quote "as obvious as it can be" so why have I always done it the 'other' way?? (Please don't answer that :lol: )

As it happens I need to make another one soon so Iwill definately be following your method.

 

[Amateurrestorer]

There you go,thinking on your feet like they used to do in the old days (when I was a breadsnapper).Brilliantly simple ( your idea ,not me)

 

[tiler99]

I finally got around to making a shooting board today...just need to get a plane now :roll:

 

[promhandicam]

Any chance of a photo of your creation Chris? It has been a difficult week and I'm having difficulty visualising what exactly you have done.

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[Benchwayze]

I now await the ignominy of being told that is the way everyone does it...

Hi Waterhead,

I might be a lacking in imagination, because I am having trouble visualising what you did.

Did you make a shooting board, or a bench-hook (for sawing)?

I think I'll hie myself off to the workshop and try to do what you did.
Mind you, I have a nice woodtrimmer, so shooting small stuff, is a thing of the past.

ccasion5:
John