Evenfall Woodworks

C.Perez Photo

It became the Evenfall Studios Shooting Board. It continues to evolve.

I like ideas. I like creativity. I like to consider possibilities. I made the original shooting board with the capability of being set to six different angles, because who am I to say what will come to the artisan, what will they face, how will they need to plan? So I made the shooting board capable of setting six angles: 90, 15, 22.5, 30,45, and 60. Today, it is known as the ‘Deluxe Shooter” and I make it in either left or right hand versions.

Shortly after I began making these, Ron Brese of Brese Plane contacted me about one. He had some Hand Tool Shows he would be attending, and wanted a shooting board to display his 10-238 Shooting Board Plane. I got his board finished and it began touring around the Mid West on top of Jameel Abraham of Benchcrafted.com’s fantastic Roubo Bench complete with Benchcrafted’s “Glide” Leg and Wagon/Tail Vises, along with Ron’s Plane on top.

Occasionally, Ron and Jameel were accompanied by Bob Zajicek’s Czeck Edge Marking Knives as well. It was a real honor for me to have my shooting board along for the ride amongst such fine tool making craftsmen. It helped a lot to have so many people get the opportunity to see the shooting board and use it a bit. All three of those guys are great guys and toolmakers. If you haven’t seen their work yet, please do follow those links and look in on what they do, it is all great stuff!

Then Mike Wenzloff of Wenzloff and Sons Saw Makers sent one of my shooting boards to Christopher Schwarz, the editor of Woodworking and Popular Woodworking Magazines for review. Mike’s a great guy. He didn’t tell me he was having me Schwarzed, and so I get this phone call on the morning of the 6th of July from Mike… He asks me how my email box was doing. It was a great laugh and Jeeze Mike! It was really nice of him to do that for me. Please have a look at his great website as well!

I really can’t thank any of these guys enough for the support and representation they have offered me this year. Guys really, it’s been great, and thanks!

Chris Schwarz is an accomplished woodworker and familiar with just about any kind of woodworking tool you can imagine. (He is also a really witty writer and really fun to read.) He strongly advocates the use of shooting boards, and has a couple of his own. He had Mike’s board a while and put it through its paces before

he did a really nice review of it on his Woodworking Magazine Blog, and the word was out. I had no idea how many people read Chris’s Blog everyday, but I have a better sense now. Thanks Chris!

Along about this time I was listening to some good ideas and feedback coming from both customers, and Chris Schwarz. Budgets are tight for many right now, and this isn’t lost on me. Some woodworkers really wanted a shooting board but were having trouble spending more than $100.00. Chris reasoned in his review that having six angles on a shooting board is more than most woodworkers need. That became the birth of several new shooting boards, and the shooting boards got names.

I wanted to be able to offer a shooting board for under $100 and so using my design, I made it available in three different configurations and those three configurations are available in both left and right-handed models.

The ‘Basic Shooter’ is a two-position board for under $100. It has every other feature any board I make has, but the fence can be only be positioned at 90 and 45 degrees.

The ‘Basic Plus Shooter’ is a three-position board that adds 22.5 degrees to the options.

The original board has become the ‘Deluxe Shooter’ and still has all six of the angles it always has.

I also had a request to make a shooting board model to work with Japanese hand planes, (Kanna) where the plane is pulled instead of pushed. It isn’t traditional, but these days many often mix and match both tooling and methods to suit their workflow. The Kanna board has some other subtle differences that help it work better with Kanna when shooting ends. It too is available in all three configurations and both left and right handed models.

Then as you know, my last post was about the Long Grain Shooter, for those who are looking for a shooting board to be a safe, accurate alternative to shop machines for small and delicate boards, as well as when truing for book matched boards and veneers; veneers in the general sense, and in specialty shaped glue ups, and tone woods used in stringed instruments. It can be very useful to the small jewelry box maker, the Luthier, the woodworkers who enjoy using veneers in their work, as well as the general woodworker who needs a safe accurate way to true up both small and thin boards on fine work. It shoots straight edges, whether they needs to be square, or not.

Having more products in the lineup is fun for me, I needed a way to show you all the options I have available, So I developed the Evenfall Woodworks Store to help you make those shooting board and accessory choices. It details all the information about each tool or accessory as well as links to each tool on it’s own page, and lets you know how to order what you may like.

I haven’t had a chance to announce that the store is there and really running as it was meant to yet, though many people have found it. It was one of those things I worked on after the day in the shop was done. It has been a nice way to show you what all I have available. I’ve been busy and meaning to get to this, I needed to take the time to invite you to take a look at the Store if you haven’t already.

I also developed a page that outlines the

Features and Specifications I include in every product I make. I want you to know that when you are shooting for accuracy, fit and finish, it is about your desire for fine craftsmanship, and I want the tool you get from me to be up to the task. These Shooting Boards are artisan built, nothing is farmed out. I have identified what needs paid attention to on a shooting board and I do it for you. It takes a little longer than you might think, and it isn’t something you see at first glance, but you would know in a second if it isn’t there.

Raney Nelson at Daedtoolworks.com uses a ‘Deluxe Shooter’ to help him trim the infill pieces on the infill planes he makes. Raney is a really fine craftsman who constantly pushes the envelope, and one heck of a writer. He recently said about my shooting boards on his blog:

“–a fantastic design, perfectly executed. It’s a much better board than I would have ever bothered to make for myself- and there’s something to be said for that”.

Thank you Raney!

I’d really like to thank all the friends I’ve made and all my clients for their support. I appreciate your patronage, it has been really great!

If you would like a nice shooting board, I make them and I’d be happy to make one for you! I hope you would find them worthy of any plane you set on the chute. With care they will give you results as accurate as you can hope for, and do it for years. I also have some new things coming to the line up soon so stay tuned, good things are coming!

Please be sure to check out some of the really cool stuff that Ron, Jameel, Bob, Mike and Raney’s sites, if you haven’t yet, and have a look in the Evenfall Studios Woodworks Store. If you see something that interests you, I’m always taking orders. Please feel free to Contact Me.

They’ll trim an edge,
or shoot a miter,
boards fit tight,
‘can’t get much finer.

Evenfall Studios Shooting Boards.

Happy Woodworking!