Shooting board.. What am I doing wrong?

[TomP]

Yesterday i thought i would give making a shooting board a go. it seemed a good idea to make one as keeping my mitre saw accurate is a bit of a pain.

i used a 22mm mdf with a piece of 9mm on top that I had lying about then a block at the end.

I was trying to use my No.5 but I either couldn't take a shaving or it would just tear or not cut through. Is this a question of my plane not being sharp enough or could there be another reason for this?

Tom

 

[MusicMan]

No. 5 should be good. You should have a batten underneath to hook it against the bench and allow more force on the plane. And before cutting a workpiece, you need to plane the side of the 9 mm piece so that it has a small step rebate (where the plane projects), and the stop block should be planed flush with this.

Yes, blade needs to be sharp, square ground and not cambered. The action is to take a slice, retract plane, push the work up against the plane sole, then take another thin slice.

It's useful to chamfer the stop block at 45 from about half way back to stop it splitting.

 

[ED65]

Presume you're shooting end grain and not doing an edge Tom?

End grain puts up lots of resistance and the harder the wood the greater the resistance (a good reason to prefer a plane at least the size of a no. 5 in the first place for shooting) but regardless of the plane size the iron should be as sharp as you can make it.

 

[David C]

I wonder how thick the timber you are working on is?

No 5 is a fairly light plane and I doubt it will be happy with stuff much over 1/2" thick. (5 1/2 or 6 would be better).

The other thoughts are not sharp enough and too thick a shaving.

best wishes,
David

 

[AndyT]

Could you show us a picture of the whole thing as you've got it set up? Maybe there's something else that you're not aware of, so haven't mentioned.

 

[bridger]

A picture would help a lot. For instance, are you cutting end grain or long grain?

 

[Stanleymonkey]

+1 for a photo and maybe a photo of the sole and blade of the plane would help.

 

[TomP]

sorry just been able to log onto my laptop again,

I'm trying to shoot end grain ash, its 20mm thick. I think it maybe to do with my plane. I sharpened the blade relatively sharp (it could shave hair off my arm) however maybe its the finer set up the plane I'm lacking in.

I have used a shooting board once before but it was someone else and I think was using a 6 or a 7 and only using it on pine mouldings and it seemed to glide through it with a nice constant sound of shavings. maybe the additional weight is what carried it through

 

[Dovetaildave]

Hi Tom,

Without a photo we can really decide whether its the shooting board or the plane at fault.

Shooting board; The shooting board must have its initial shaving (leaving a rebate) removed from the 9mm, has this been done, is it firmly fixed to the bench, has it been waxed for smooth sliding of the plane?

I would suggest trying the thinnest shaving possible, If the problem is still there it could signify its the plane at fault.
If the surface of the endgrain has ripples or waves in it, then it could be the blade or blade assembly moving.

Plane; If so, tighten blade to chip breaker, tighten the two blots holding frog to main body, fit it to the frog so its sitting flat with good contact, make sure there is enough pressure when the lever cap is pressing it all onto the frog.

There are some fantastic previous posts regarding shooting boards and plane set up, search them, and follow their advice.

If you are able to post a photo.........

Regards,
Dave

 

[thetyreman]

mass definitely helps, I use my 5 1/2 on the shooting board, the extra weight makes it just glide though, but my blades are always insanely sharp, set up the plane for a very fine set.

 

[matthewwh]

Dave just pipped me to it.

When a new shooting board is commissioned you need to take a couple of full length passes to establish the bearing surface for the sole on the edge of the runway. Periodically this can be refreshed by running a shoulder plane along it to cut away the shoulder and establish a new one.

Hope this helps.