best material for shooting board

[mickthetree]

What would be the best material for making a shooting board? Good quality ply? Marine maybe? A grade? Or Mdf? My current one is ply but I need to make a new one and some smaller ones.

If MDF isn't best, where could I source some good quality ply at reasonable prices? Chiltern Timber in Hemel is near me, but I dont necesarily want an 8x4 sheet and they always seem a bit pricy to the man on the street.

 

[Steve Maskery]

ANything hard, flat and stable will do. Ply is good, especially if you can get a bit of that stuff that is hard and shiny - I forget what it is covered in, so doubt someone will remind me. Phenolic, is it? Alternatively, a very good substitute is to line the slidy areas with Formica. I have mine done like this and they are good for years.
Cheers
Steve

 

[mickthetree]

Cheers steve.

I dont supposed MFC is any good? Not consistant in thickness maybe? and more prone to warping?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Well it's not the best, but it will do at a pinch. I fact I made one just a few weeks ago for the COmmunity Workshop where I go occasionally. The biggest problem is fixing the fence securely as glue doesn't adhere very well and the fence takes a lot of shock.
S

 

[promhandicam]

MR MDF works fine for me.

 

[Mike Wingate]

I have made mine from Baltic Birch ply and Tufnol.

 

[Mike Wingate]

Its pair.

 

[mickthetree]

Hi Mike

Is it any particular grade of ply?

 

[Harbo]

I've made mine from old melamine faced kitchen doors, oak veneered MDF and other scrap bits.
For the runners I use pieces of nylon chopping boards.

Rod

 

[Mike Wingate]

Solid birch, no voids. I have laminated up a few parts to stiffen the assembly. K.D. fittings and screws hold them together.

 

[woodbloke]

This is one of three I made a while ago:

Mdf with an acrylic runway. The little ply strip sits below the level of the cutter and prevents the side of the top section being munched away. The fence is fully adjustable by locking off the large hex headed screw on the left hand side (the hole is 2mm oversize) and the biscuited long grain insert on the RHS means that if gets worn away (which it will do over time) it's easy to just glue on another slitherino of material and shoot it back in. Works well with a LN51 :mrgreen: (hammer) - Rob

 

[Mike Wingate]

Improved sliding track.

 

[mickthetree]

I've found a local ply supplier in High Wycombe where I work. Going to pop in next week and see what they have. I need a half sheet for a head board I'm making so might make it up to a full sheet!

 

[rafezetter]

sorry to revive another old post but I've got a few questions on making a SB:

How much better is having a sloped shooting board - compared to flat?
Could one be made to square off longer thicker timbers? my planing skills are poor for doing this even with my recently bought No. 7 as I soon realized. - I'm pretty good at turning a wonky 3x3 into a wonky 2x2 by hand
Could a cheap No.4 smoother be made into an effective shooter? Would grinding the blade at an angle help?

 

[bugbear]

sorry to revive another old post but I've got a few questions on making a SB:

How much better is having a sloped shooting board - compared to flat?
Could one be made to square off longer thicker timbers? my planing skills are poor for doing this even with my recently bought No. 7 as I soon realized. - I'm pretty good at turning a wonky 3x3 into a wonky 2x2 by hand
Could a cheap No.4 smoother be made into an effective shooter? Would grinding the blade at an angle help?

Read this page, incoluding the links.

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/shootingboards.html

Any questions after that - we're here.

BugBear

 

[rafezetter]

Hi ty for the reply - I've just come across this page too which is pretty much what I was thinking of for length, for pretty much the same reasons.

http://lumberjocks.com/Beezle/blog/20758

 

[Jacob]

Any old bits of scrap will do for a shooting board. If it doesn't suit a particular project you just make another one.