Shooting board doesn’t work properly.

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
You will have a rebate after the first pass, it only needs to be the depth of your blade projection, so not a lot
 
just checked. There is a rebate approx 1/32 inch
Well there’s your other problem, if your blade was cutting a 32nd of an inch that’s why it’s stopping when it hit the end grain, too much blade projecting. Actually I could see it on the first photo when I looked again, behind the plane there is a thin whitish line. Ian
 
Last edited:
I faced the track on mine with 1mm thick PTFE, stuck down with double sided tape. The plane glides very nicely along that without much friction.

But you need to retract the blade, try a cut - nothing. Advance just a hair - nothing. Repeat until it just starts to cut with a zzk sound and you are there.

You also need to put a very slight chamfer on the opposite edge to the cut to prevent fibers tearing out.
 
First try to plane wide end grain, like a factory made pine panel. If that goes well then there is a chance it will work with shooting board.
 
Stavros Gakos on YT has a new shooting board video.
Nothing really new, but his videos are always worth a look.
 
A low angle blade is usually preferable for end grain and should be razor sharp. A standard angle plane such as your numbed 4 should still work well but you really have to make sure your blade is as sharp as you can get it and aim to take a very thin cut. Make sure the blade is well seated and supported by the plane. Also run a little bees wax on the plane where it rubs the shooting board and the wood being planed.
 
I’ve planed off the original rebate and replaned it, the new one hardly discernible. The bed it waxed and the blade sharpened to within an inch of its life. Still gives a thunk! Is there an expert I could visit to solve the problem?
 
Just a thought, how flat is your plane sole? I don't recognise your plane, if it’s not Lie Nielsen, Veritas or Clifton then you may have a plane sole that is not flat. I run any new bench plane over 100micron 3M finishing film fixed to 15mm float glass (if you order some make sure it is not tempered as the tempering proc will distort the glass) just use a flat pen on the sole so you can track progress, and use some lubricant. Have a look at . This works for me.
 
Last edited:
I’ve planed off the original rebate and replaned it, the new one hardly discernible. The bed it waxed and the blade sharpened to within an inch of its life. Still gives a thunk! Is there an expert I could visit to solve the problem?
What have you sharpened it on? Does it work well down the grain on something hard?
 
Have you planed some end grain without the shooting board ?
If it works on that it should be sharp enough.

Is the sole flat and perpendicular to the side ?
Is the blade set square to the sole?
Is the cap iron right next to the sharp bit and tensioned well?
Does your plane have throat adjustment and if so is it set finely?
Is the frog set nicely to the bed and throat?

Are you planing with enough force to follow through the cut ?
Have you tried another plane on it, like a low angle block plane maybe ?

These are the things that came to mind quickly.

Ollie
 
This may sound daft but it may also help. If you retract the blade such that it is definitely not cutting and try a cut what happens?

I was on my shooting board yesterday after a long time not using and it was my technique causing issues. I had the board protruding too far and the plane was rising up on the board and the corner of the piece dropping into the mouth of the plane.
 
A larger pane is for shooting with.
Should one have a very large stop for whatever reason, they will soon learn that the
smoothing plane is definitely not the tool for the job, and the shooting board can only be used as a stop when large blocks need shearing, not shooting, and one does not have a vice handy.
OUCH! when the delicate part of the hand slams into the fence.
That comes from habit of using the 5 1/2 which fits right, never handled a no.6 to compare.
Can't do that with a no 4 very well, or atall in a practical sense if using a large stop without changing position to a lesser grip of the tool.

Surprised folks are suggesting one gets by with a wee smoother doing this.
Treat yourself to a nice vintage jack or try plane on the bay.
Why one would anyone deny themselves of a suitable tool doesn't make sense to me,
and it would make the process a whole lot simpler.

I'll bet you could get one cheap enough that you couldn't not buy it, if you waited.
 
I have an old woodie that I use on mine. Easy to get a perpendicular edge to run on and the old thick irons seem to resist any chatter.
 
Why doesn’t he just use a specific shooting board plane, or a mitre guillotine?




Because he hasn’t got one, a smoothing plane will do the job for now, surely most of us did at one stage? The piece he’s working on is tiny, a block plane would do it.
 
I used a 5 1/2 for a while but if you have a lot to do the hand gets a bit uncomfortable as its awkward to hold. I had a big old plane iron and a lump of wood so made a miter plane with the blade bevel down at about 37*. The blade was 2 1/2'' and bigger than required but the thing has a nice bit of heft.
Strike block plane 002.JPG


Strike block plane 004.JPG004.JPG
One day if a veritas or LN comes along at a sensible price then I may go that way but this just cost me some shed time.
Regards
John
 

Attachments

  • 010.jpg
    010.jpg
    178.1 KB · Views: 4

Latest posts

Back
Top