shooting boards

[engineer one]

these seem to be the latest must have accessory, so i have tried to make one too.

bits of mdf i had lying around plus a bit of cherry for the stop.

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the base plate is screwed and glued, but the rest are screwed, whilst the lump of cherry is bashed in with my mallet, since it has a slight taper.

seems to work ok, but .

as you can see i have an LN no 9 mitre plane, which is bevel up in format.
1/ so how do you ensure that there is no break out at the rear where it hits the stop, ie the cherry/
2/ what sort of shavings do you get, or is it just a kind of sawdust.

3/ do you find that with hard wood, say oak, you need to give it a good push, or do i need to change the blade angle??

4/ in softwood i can get decent small shavings, and a good finish, but with the hardwood although the finish is fine, it is a bit difficult to get started.

one thing for sure i am getting it square vertically, but not quite as square as i hoped at the end.

anyway first time round seems quite decent.

paul :wink:

 

[Steve Maskery]

Paul,
You shouldn't get any breakout. My SB has an adjustable backing strip, which gets used up on each job, but ensures a clean cut every time.

If you don't get on with your plane, can I have it please?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

What's that wierd plane about? I've never seen one like that before. Is the side handle attached or just left in the shot for no reason? Is this another bad case of catalogomania?
With a shooting board I'd use a jack because it's handy to hold with one hand whilst you hold the workpiece with the other. You can avoid breakout a bit by taking off the far corner first, or by putting in a bit of scrap of the same thickness. If the blade is cambered (as it should be) you get a square cut by tilting it as necessary.

cheers
Jacob

 

[engineer one]

what part of nfw don't you understand steve :lol:

actually, i will persevere with it a little longer :roll: :twisted:

since it was my first attempt, i have to check all the possibilities.
actually the no 6 seemed to work better, so i must try and improve my technique.

of course the advantage of the number 7 is that it is easier to hold it properly, whereas the number 6 is much more difficult to hold.

paul :wink:

 

[mr]

Paul where is your breakout? If its on the back of the cherry stop block does that matter? If it bothers you you could always take a chisel to the rear edge and chamfer it off.
I haven't tried a plane as small as that on a shooting board Ive only ever used the LV jack and a no 7, both have quite a bit of heft and it's quite easy to get them going. Not sure which of these I prefer. The 7 is easiest but possibly too easy.
As for shavings or sawdust you should definitely be getting shavings.

Why not as square as you hoped at the end ? Your finished result should be square all the way through if the board and its bits are all true etc.

cheers Mike

 

[engineer one]

interesting and thought provoking as normal jacob,
since you are lying the plane on its side, why a cambered blade?

i understand the basics of cambered blades, but this seems a more complex idea. the plane is apparantly based on a stanley number 9
presumable american and discontinued in 1943.

given that i have a dodgy pinkie finger, ie broken a couple of times,
i find it easier to hold than a jack on its side.

mike, the break out is at the end of the wood i am cutting, not much, just a little. mainly it seems to be pushing the wood out a little rather than cutting cleanly. i think i might need to resharpen the blade at a more beneficial angle. kind of getting a mix between dust and small shavings.

actually is there a special way to cut end grain, in which direction?

as for the squareness, i will re-check in the morning and maybe massage that. think it is in the way in which the cherry stop is working.

thanks for the interest

paul :wink:

 

[Philly]

Paul
Your stop - it needs to project out into the path of the plane slightly. Then, when you use it for the first time the plane cuts the stop back to the optimum position. You should then have zero tear-out. The stop completely backs up the cut.
If you tilt your plane accidentally in use you need to re-do the stop. But as you have a #9...... :lol:
As for shavings - they should be full, solid shavings. Take a deeper cut if you are only getting saw dust. And of course, a sharp iron makes all the difference in the world. But I don't have to mention that, do I? :wink:
If your board isn't giving truly square cuts make shims from tape and add to the fence to ensure they are perfect. And obviously the lateral adjustment of the blade trues things vertically.
Hope this helps,
Philly

 

[mr]

i understand the basics of cambered blades, but this seems a more complex idea. the plane is apparantly based on a stanley number 9
presumable american and discontinued in 1943.

No idea why the cambered blade. I have straight irons in all my planes and have no problems getting flat / straight edges. In fact I seem to recall Rob Cosman saying in his "rough to ready" video that the iron mitre plane should have a straight edge. I could be wrong though. Personally I would keep the iron straight edged you shouldn't have to be tilting a plane on a shooting board to get a straight edge but what do I know.

mike, the break out is at the end of the wood i am cutting, not much, just a little. mainly it seems to be pushing the wood out a little rather than cutting cleanly.
paul :wink:

I would have thought any breakout is a result of not having the workpiece supported sufficiently ie sticking out across the face of the stop block too far. Try drawing it back a little you're only trying to take off the minutest of shaving after all.

Cheers Mike

 

[engineer one]

hi philly, thanks too,

as someone who once trained as an engineer, the bit about the stop sticking out confuses me, because particularly with the N0 7/9
the front is quite long, and surely is tilted, or are you talking about only a little bit :lol:

the blade is sharp, but being a coward, i tried to use the smallest projection i could get away with, will resharpen, and try for a bigger cut to see.

thought about tape and sticking plaster :lol:

paul :wink:

 

[Paul Chapman]

Never used one of those planes, but they are reckoned to be the ultimate shooting board plane. Possible reasons why you are not getting very nice, thin shavings on oak and other hard woods is that you need to sharpen the blade and/or you have it set for too coarse a cut. Also your technique might be at fault. Slide the wood up till it is just touching the sole. Take a shaving. Slide it up till it is just touching the sole. Take a shaving. Carry on like that, slowly, until you get the knack. Also rub a bit of wax candle on the sole and side of the plane. You shouldn't need to mess around with blade honing angles - normal 30 degrees should be OK - just make sure it's really sharp and set for a very fine cut.

If all else fails, buy DC's shooting board DVD. He takes you through it step by step. But it's really not that difficult. Have another look at Alf's page.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[engineer one]

thanks paul, that is useful too.

like everybody with a new toy, i expect it to be perfect from the get go, so :?

but the other thing is that learning new techniques sometimes is difficult until you get all the i 's and t 's dotted and crossed.

interestingly , the recommended angle for the blade as a bu is 25 degrees not 30, but in view of other comments, i may well try 30 instead.

i understand the concept, it is just i had hoped it would be a pretty immediate success and obviously it was not so i must look more carefully at the combination of circumstances to make it better.

paul :wink:

 

[Steve Maskery]

Just an extra - I keep a separate (Holtey) blade honed square specifically for shooting, rather than trying to get a square end with a curved blade. Cambers are great for shooting edges but not my preferred way of shooting ends.
S

 

[Bainzy]

Thanks for sharing, building a shooting board is a task I really need to get sorted soon at some point. I keep thinking about how I can make it perfectly adapted to what I'd do with one (building guitars) but then realise I'm probably trying to reinvent the wheel. :lol:

 

[Benchwayze]

What's that wierd plane about? I've never seen one like that before. Is the side handle attached or just left in the shot for no reason? Is this another bad case of catalogomania?
With a shooting board I'd use a jack because it's handy to hold with one hand whilst you hold the workpiece with the other. You can avoid breakout a bit by taking off the far corner first, or by putting in a bit of scrap of the same thickness. If the blade is cambered (as it should be) you get a square cut by tilting it as necessary.

cheers
Jacob

Hi Jacob,

Looks like a re-design of the Record 'T5 plane' They fetch good prices on eBay. It was a No. 5 with the addition of a side handle, as far as I know, to use for shooting end-grain. Never used one, but I would imagine the side handle nestles in the crook of your thumb and forefinger.

There's a good pic of one on the 'Old Tools' site,
http://www.oldtools.co.uk/tools/record/ ... pl605.php#

I have an old No 5 I could soon adapt and a nice piece of lead wood for a handle. Now there's an idea!


John

 

[Smudger]

The T5 was one of Record's few original planes: the T is for Technical, as in Technical School - the handle makes it easier for boys to use, apparently, and the bigger cheeks make using it on a shooting board more certain.

"On the shooting board the T5 settles down steadily and easily to its work, and pupils need but the slightest demonstration to master the operation... The T5 is used in so many schools and kindred establishments throughout the world that it may be considered the standard jack plane for this purpose."

CJ Hampton - Planecraft

I'm still trying to get into the old planes cupboard to find one!

If you want to convert an 05 there's a bloke on eBay selling replica side handles.

 

[Paul Chapman]

They also do what they call a "hot-dog" handle for that plane, which some say is better http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=9#

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Smudger]

A number of the Records show up minus the handle, so replacements are good all round.

 

[Anonymous]

.
1/ so how do you ensure that there is no break out at the rear where it hits the stop, ie the cherry/
2/ what sort of shavings do you get, or is it just a kind of sawdust.

3/ do you find that with hard wood, say oak, you need to give it a good push, or do i need to change the blade angle??

4/ in softwood i can get decent small shavings, and a good finish, but with the hardwood although the finish is fine, it is a bit difficult to get started.

one thing for sure i am getting it square vertically, but not quite as square as i hoped at the end.

paul :wink:

1 Make the end of the fence lwvel with he plane guidepiece = no tearout (you ca raids the exit corner slightly)

2 Should get complete end shavings with the #9 - definitely not sawdust

3 No hard pushing reqired - you might be taking too thick a shaving. I found that regrinding the blade to 38 degrees made it cut a lot more nicely

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks for sharing, building a shooting board is a task I really need to get sorted soon at some point. I keep thinking about how I can make it perfectly adapted to what I'd do with one (building guitars) but then realise I'm probably trying to reinvent the wheel. :lol:

For your kind of work Bainzy, I suppose it would be a good thing to do.
I cheat and use a Wood-trimming guillotine for squaring smallish stock. For wide boards I stick the work in the vice and plane end-grain square.
When I am particularly lazy (tired), I use the Leigh-Jig and a 177e, for trimming up to 23.5 " end grain!
But I have the excuse of old bones. ( )

John

 

[Benchwayze]

If you want to convert an 05 there's a bloke on eBay selling replica side handles.

Thanks for the info Smudger. Yes, I believe you are right, about the 'schools' use, come to think of it. As for the repro-handles, I bet he doesn't make them out of lead-wood!
Cheers m'man.
John