It’s our Deluxe, Basic Plus and Basic Shooters made available in “Chute Style” for the LN 51 shooting board planes.

While we have mentioned similar news of this recently, and have been offering chute adapter kits to be used as an upgrade to our shooting board line, it just made sense to give this series it’s own identity, and make it easier to order.

The LN 51 is a premier plane when it comes to shooting, and many woodworkers are selecting it as their choice for the shooting board. It made perfect sense to give the 51 a great Chute Board for it’s purpose. This shooting board is a precision tool.

The ’51’ Shooter is Artisan Made like all our tools, sharing all the features and specifications of our other shooting boards and tools. It can be ordered from The ’51′ Shooter Page in the Evenfall Studios Woodworks Store.

If you already have a Shooting Board of ours and would like to retrofit it to work with the LN 51, we still offer a Chute Adapter Kit that will turn your Deluxe, Basic Plus, or Basic Shooter into a ‘51’ Shooter. It can be ordered from the Shooting Board Accessory section in our Store. Once you receive it, simply install the kit, adjust it to fit, and wax both the chute and your plane. Welcome to shooting heaven.

It is also important to note that this chute rail is not only adjustable, but reversible with two sides flattened on certified granite. It’s removable as well, so you can still use nearly any plane with our shooting boards, if that is what you wish or need. And if you ever damage or wear out the rail, we offer replacements in the Shooting Board Accessory Section in our store.

We welcome the ‘51’Shooter to our Shooting Board line up. We now offer seven different styles of shooting board in all.

More good things are coming!

Happy Woodworking!

We are happy to share with you that the LN 51 is already a perfect fit on all Evenfall Studios right hand shooting board models, and if it is a Chute Board you really want, we offer a both a shooting board model called the ’51′ Shooter and a ‘Chute Adapter Kit’ that creates a true “chute board” out of many of our existing shooting board models for the LN 51. This kit fits ALL our shooting board models except the long grain shooter, and the LN 51 will work just fine on a long grain shooter without the chute as well. Most planes that are commonly used for shooting will fit within the enclosed chute of our boards, even with the LN-51 kit rail installed.

Our LN 51 chute adapter is reversible. It consists of one precision-milled baltic birch rail that is flattened to 0.001 on each side, and the three adjustable mounting slots allow adjustment for the nominal 2-1/8th inch width of the LN-51. This means no matter the nominal width of your 51 or if wood should move, the chute can be “zeroed” for a tight clearance fit in the chute.

One reversible chute rail is provided with both sides flattened, creating two wear surfaces for use with the LN-51. Three 1/4-20 stainless steel button head cap screws are included to mount the rail to the chute. This means you can configure our shooting boards for use with or without the chute adapter; it isn’t a permanent fixture.

Specifically, this kit can be fitted to the right chute of the Basic Shooter, the Basic Plus Shooter, the Deluxe Shooter, and the Picture Frame Shooter’s right chute, adding flexibility to the high accuracy, adjustable angle shooting boards we offer. These are top quality adjustable angle shooting boards built to meticulous specifications.

You can read about these specifications here.

There are two ordering options:

If what you want is a “Chute Board” for your LN 51, and you do not yet own one of our shooting boards, our shooting board for the LN 51 is called the ’51′ Shooter. Just navigate to that store page, read up on the details, click to place one in the shopping cart and check out. It’s simple as that.

If you already own one of our shooting boards and would like to upgrade it for use with the LN 51 with this kit, we can supply the kit rail and mounting hardware, and you can either drill and tap the chute mounting points for the machine screw mounting hardware yourself, (recommended) or mount with wood screws instead. We supply complete instructions for the retrofit of your existing board with the kit. The LN 51 Chute Adapter Kit page is here. Even if you don’t know when you’ll have an LN 51, it may be convenient to have your shooting board prepared to work with one in the future.

If Lie-Neilsen releases a left hand version of this plane, this chute kit will have that covered as well.

Again, ordering is super easy. Simply navigate to the appropriate link posted above, add it to your shopping cart along with your order of the shooting board of your choice. Remember this option is not currently available for the Long Grain Shooter. The LN 51 adapter is found in the Shooting Board Accessory Section, where all the other shooting board upgrades are kept.

If you have any questions at all, please Contact Us and we’ll be happy to flesh out any of the details.

Happy Woodworking!

Our new Planing Stop is the jointer planes helper, engineered to be a complete planing stop, meant to be easy to set up and use. When you wanna plane, you wanna plane! When you are done planing, simply lower the screws and it’s flush to the bench top. Always ready.

Why would we want to use a planing stop?

The main reason to use a stop when planing is that it offers no cramp to the board. By cramp, I mean clamping the uncorrected board so that some of the wind and twist may become compressed. When you clamp a board that isn’t flat before you attempt to true it, you can flex the wood fibers against a natural wind and actually plane more problems into it than out.

This means that clamping boards between the end vise and bench dogs can make it harder to flatten a board if we wrench things into more wind than is already there, and that is all too easy to do. What works best is a stop to plane against and a few wedges under the board to keep it from rocking. This way the board is flattened while all it’s fibers are at rest.

Flatten the top, flip and thickness the other side flat to match. Once faces are flat, chuck in the vise and chase the edges. Then saw the ends to length and shoot. No need to worry about marks in the end grain from the stop because you’ll shoot the ends after. Of course if you are too late, this stop will work with a board between the stop and the work just as well.

The cool thing is that this design looks tough on the bench, and is tough on the bench because it eliminates the short grain breakage issues that are common with the sliding stops most commonly used.

Kari Hultman, from the Village Carpenter Blog outlines some of the limitations of traditional planing stop variations, Here. Our hope was to see if we could overcome them, and we think we have. The screws have excellent holding power, better than planing into a vice or a bench dog, and this offers variable width and height versatility.

What it is.

It’s a fixture that usually mounts on the left end of the bench nearest the edge the face vise is on. Of course if you’re using a left hand bench this would be opposite. It is always 12″ long 1-3/4 thick. Depth or width, depending on how you look at it is optional in three sizes. Small: 1-3/4, Medium: 2-3/4, or Large: 3-3/4 inches.

It mounts firmly with two or three 3 x 5/16th lag bolts, which are recessed flush into counterbores, and has a series of six 1/4-20 flat head cap screws spread over a 10 inch range in 2-1/2 inch intervals that have 82 degree countersink tops which can be quickly and easily raised and lowered to stop any board you would like to plane. Just mount the top of the stop on plane with the bench top or alternatively slightly below the bench top surface.

The tops and sides have a small chamfer on them, so there are no sharp edges where people will usually contact it. The bottom edge has a decorative cove cut into it to help dress up the stop and it’s appearance on the bench. We finish it with Teak Oil. Teak Oil is an amber finish that pops grain and it wears like iron.

We make these planing stops available in three different sizes and four different woods; Ash, (shown) Cherry, Hard Maple and Walnut.

How is it installed?

This is a pretty straightforward install. There are two to three 5/16 holes in these depending on the model. There are counterbores for the bolt heads so everything is recessed into the stop. Nothing protrudes from the fixture to catch on your clothes.

Layout for mounting is optional. As mentioned, the stop can be mounted on plane with the bench top, or slightly below to compensate for future bench flattenings. It can be positioned right on the corner or inset a bit, as based on personal preference.

Once it is positioned where you like, take one of the supplied lag bolts and use it to punch the center points for the 1/4 inch diameter mounting holes. Then drill the holes squarely to edge of the bench approximately 1-1/2 inches deep. If you need help squaring up this drill hole, our Medium Drill Squaring Guide works great for this.

Your favorite socket and ratchet fit right in the counterbore for a straightforward install. It goes on the left end of the bench and near the edge with the face vise. Simply drill two or three 1/4-inch holes (again, depending on the model) into the end of the bench about 1-1/2 inches deep and bolt it on.

How it works.

Lay your board up on the bench as you usually would, inspecting for twist and wind. Prepare to shim the board so it won’t rock as you flatten it.

You can choose any two or three of the flat head cap screws, which are spaced from 1-10 inches apart. Raise them between 1/8th to 3/16th above the bench top with the hex key that stows in its holder on the end of the stop.

Position the board against the stop and plane away, planing the high spots first and work your way down to flatness. The stop is tough, so push as you would with usual planing force. It can handle the pressures of planing. It is equally adept at working with both thick and thin stock because it doesn’t take much height for the stop to hold the work and the cap screws always remain below the plane iron. No damaged blades here!

Adjustments are quick and easy! Simply grab the hex key out of it’s keeper on the lower right side of the stop and use it to quickly raise a couple of the cap screws that seem appropriate for the width of the board and the stop is ready. We find 2-1/2 to 3 full turns on the screws is all that is needed for stopping any board.

It’s an affordably priced upgrade to any bench, that works great and offers planing versatility that a vice often can’t match when jointing and flattening is the task. Please see the Planing Stop product page in our Store to order.

Happy Woodworking!

During this same time, we have developed other jigs for helping take woodworkers further in other aspects of the craft. We listen to what woodworkers talk about when they discuss what they feel is difficult for them, or could be more efficient, and what they wished were easier.

Many woodworkers say they want to spend less time making jigs. Some say that they don’t have enough spare time, others don’t have the tools. We listened. Free time these days for most people is limited and precious, so when there is time for woodworking, most people want to maximize their outcomes making great cabinetry and furnishings.

One might wonder why we would develop tools over a period of time and not release them. It was a tough decision but a good one. It seemed odd to us to have a line of shooting boards and one widget. So we continued to develop more tools as time permitted. The original store on our website had no way to branch into categories, nor any shopping cart. Our clients had to email us to place an order and in all, it was neither a good showcase nor purchasing system. We had to upgrade it.

We developed the Evenfall Studios Woodworks Store into a new store with Shopping Cart Capabilities and Product Pages for every product. It’s easy to see, navigate, and place orders. It was exactly what we needed to showcase all the new categories in our product line. Our growing line of artisan made woodworking tools and jigs are designed to bring capability, ease and speed to the woodworker, helping them make their woodworking dreams happen, by making the most of the tooling they already have. So without further adieu…

First, we introduced the ‘Picture Frame Shooter’ late last year.

This shooting board is specialized for accurate flat mitering where a distinct profile will prohibit turning the work piece over to shoot angles for either direction. Twin Chutes right and left, two calibratable 45 degree fences for dead accurate miters, and a 90 degree fence which can be made either left or right-handed. These also have a detachable fence face for backing both short and tall materials and moldings. It is as accurate and versatile as we can make it.

Please see the ‘Picture Frame Shooter’ page for more details.

Second, we have developed the ’Lie-Nielsen 51 Chute Adapter Kit’.

The Lie-Nielsen 51 has been released and is a dedicated chute board plane. We checked into the nominal dimensions of the 51 and found that our Basic and Deluxe right hand model shooting boards can be adapted to create a ‘Chute’ in much the same way as the Stanley and upcoming LN 52 Chute Board has.

Our kit consists of two precision made rails, and stainless steel mounting hardware. The Rails are reversible; precision cut and drilled, flattened to 0.001 on each side for smooth glide, and are adjustable to compensate for manufacturing width differences. We provide two reversible rails, used one side at a time to compensate for wear which could occur over time. Store the spare for future use.

There are two ways to order. We can make this kit mount to your board with Stainless button head cap screws when you order. If you already own one of our ‘Basic’ or ‘Deluxe’ shooting boards and would like to upgrade, we can supply you to retrofit mount the rail kit similarly with machine screws, or with #10 wood screws depending on how you prefer.

If you need a very versatile and highly accurate chute style shooting board for your LN 51 shooting board plane, we have you covered.

Please see the ’Lie-Nielsen 51 Chute Adapter Kit’ page for more details.

Third, we developed the ‘Shooting Board Planing Stop’.

Safe ways of dimensioning thin stock and short stock are at a premium, and we believe hand planes are the king in this arena. As a bench hook goes, our shooting board is as strong as they come.

The shooting board planing stop was developed to help overcome the difficulties experienced when dimensioning short or thin stock. This is a 1/4-inch thick stop supplied with a pair of 1/4-20 flat head mounting screws. Simply remove the shooting board fence on any of our shooting board models and replace it with this stop. The mounting screws are countersunk and won’t interfere with your plane iron.

For dimensioning stock thinner than 1/4 inch, we recommend placing a piece of 1/8 hardboard on the shooting board base to lift the work up, allowing thicknessing from the 3/16th to 1/8th inch range.

Please see the ‘Shooting Board Planing Stop’ page for more details.

Fourth, we developed the ‘Bench End Planing Stop’.

We are really excited about this fixture! Traditionally, many woodworkers have fashioned a 3/4 – inch thick planing stop that bolts to the end of the bench, and raises into place when needed by sliding the stop up a pair of slots and tightening the mounting bolts. It works, but often fails because the slots create a weak, short grain situation in the stop that breaks due to forces applied from planing. This style of stop often looks less than attractive too, but the concept is handy, and convenient.

Our Planing Stop design approaches this challenge differently. It is a base made from 7/4 material that mounts to the end of the bench, with two to three lag bolts (depending on the model). It has a series of flat head cap screws that are spread over a set distance that can be raised as any pair, to match the width of most any board. They only need be raised a little to hold back even the largest boards. They work great on thin stock as well. You never need raise them higher than the thinnest stock, and your plane irons stay safe.

They come in three sizes and four different woods, offer higher strength, work well on both thick and thin stock and look great! The hex key adjuster stows right in the end of the fixture.

Please see the ‘Bench End Planing Stop’ page for more details.

Fifth we would like to introduce the ‘Rasping Fixture’.

The Rasping Fixture is a bench fixture that is meant to help fixture the work being shaped with rasps and files, improve ergonomics for this process, and protect the bench from damage.

It is simple to use. Just slip it over the left front corner on the bench (if you are right handed) and either clamp it in place or use a hold fast. It extends out past the edge and end of the bench.

Once in place, simply lay the object you wish to rasp over the semicircular cut out in the corner of the fixture. Gravity and finger pressure will hold the work, and then go to shaping. The angle is wonderful for the wrist and arm, and there are a lot of areas one can reach easily from this position.

The other important thing about the Rasping Fixture is that it protects the bench from slips that can cause damage. There are cleats under the edge and end of the fixture that not only help to locate it, but also protect the bench from damage. It is a wonderful accessory, particularly if you want to do work on saw handles, cabriole legs, or other work with compound curves.

Please see the ‘Rasping Fixture’ page for more details.

Sixth, we developed the ‘Disc Sander Shooter’.

The Disc Sander Shooter is a precision angle jig meant to be fitted to the tilt table of the 12 inch disc sander, enabling the sander to work 90’s 45’s and the 22.5 angles to both the right and left of center.

It allows non-square objects to lay on their flat side and be sanded on either side of 90 degrees. We increased the size of the table and the jig is calibrated with plastic drafting squares. Tilt the table down to whatever angle you need for creating compound angles.

The base measures 8 x 20 x 3/4 inches and is fixtured to the table with a miter bar and thumbscrew. It can be slid back and forth to distribute wear across the sanding disc. Like our shooting boards, all the fence mounting points are steel threaded, the fence faces are flattened to 0.001, and the thumbscrews, all three, are from Stainless and Brass.

Please see the ‘Disc Sander Shooter’ page for more details.

Seventh, We developed another jig for the 12 inch disc sander. The ‘Speedlathe’.

A lathe for a disc sander? Well yes, sort of. It is an old Patternmaker’s jig. I have spoken to several of the old patternmakers and they all agree this jig is something they all made and used the heck out of. Some of them referred to it as the Speedlathe.

What it does is make perfect circles on a disc sander. Yes a circle maker. Our speed lathe has 32, 3/16 diameter radius positions and a fine adjust lead screw that can make circles from 5/8ths to 16-5/8th in diameter.

Overall size is 8 x 17 and is also mounted in the miter slot for a pivot point. It is the fastest circle maker I have ever seen. Once you have the circles, you can use them for wheels, custom curve layout, router jigs, or wherever your imagination takes you.

Please see the ‘Speedlathe’ page for more details.

Items eight through eleven are all a series of drilling guides targeted at drilling squarely, when there is no drill press or one isn’t an option.

Often times drilling a hole that is square to the work is important. But many times the hole is located where a drill press wouldn’t help, or we need to be a bit quicker with the task than a drill press would allow. Other times there is just no easy way to jig up.

Sure, there are jigs that help us drill dowel holes, and there are jigs we can mount to a drill, but they are not always the answer either. Our drilling jigs are designed to accommodate the situation where a hole drilled squarely and quickly is needed and most of these jigs will work with either egg beater drills, braces, or hand drills.

Number Eight, The ‘Dog Hole Square Drilling Guide’.

Designed for auger bits, this is two inches of squarely drilled guide that can get the auger started properly. It comes with a nine-inch tang so you can fixture it while drilling. Bench dogs come with a sloped face, so the hole needs be drilled straight for best results. This jig is the squaring device hitting the mark with your brace.

Please see the ‘Dog Hole Square Drilling Guide’ page for more details.

Number Nine, The ‘Forstner Bit Square Drilling Guide’.

For all the same reasons we’ve gone over, even Forstner bits need help getting started squarely. The odd shape of the shanks and their many diameters make guiding these bits a challenge. Fortunately this odd looking jig will trap the bit’s shaft on three side to help keep it square and steady your hand. Accommodates Forstners to 2-1/4 in Diameter.

Please see the ‘Forstner Bit Square Drilling Guide’ page for more details.

Number Ten, The ‘Medium Drill Squaring Guide’.

This guide is targeted at twist drills and brad points, providing 3/4 of an inch of squarely drilled guide that help the bits off to a square start. You can remove the guide quickly once a square hole is started to aid drilling a deeper hole.

This jig is shown as a prototype in Baltic Birch, but will be supplied in Aluminum. The five hole sizes are 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, and 1/2.

Please see the ‘Medium Drill Squaring Guide’ page for more details.

And Finally Eleventh, the ‘Screw Pre-drill Squaring Guide’.

This guide is targeted at twist drills and the bits that came with Egg Beater Drills, and is primarily meant for pre-drilling holes for woodscrews, but there are many other adaptable uses. This jig provides 3/4 of an inch of squarely drilled guide that help the bits off to a square start. You can remove the guide quickly once a square hole is started to aid drilling a deeper hole.

This jig is shown as a prototype in Baltic Birch, but will be supplied in Aluminum. The eleven hole sizes run from 5/64 – 15/64 inch, in 1/64th inch diameter increments.

Please see the ‘Screw Pre-drill Squaring Guide’ page for more details.

That’s what’s new for now, but rest assured there are more ideas in the queue that we hope to be able to release in the near future.

Please feel free to go and have a look around in the new store on our website, and see if there isn’t something in there that might be useful to helping you woodwork better and easier!

Happy Woodworking!

Working with picture frames and moldings in general presents a special set of circumstances when mitering. Often, the bottom and back of the molding are the only surfaces that can be registered flat and square, and so they have to be the ones used when registering them against fences for cutting and shooting.

So it goes that if you can only orient a molding one way, which is on it’s back, a single chute shooting board will only be able to shoot half of the miter. The right hand board will only shoot the left side of the miter, and the left chute will only shoot the right side. A problem if you only have one chute. There are workarounds, but ehhh… They are often rife with as many problems as they hope to solve.

Enter our newest shooting board, the ‘Picture Frame Shooter’. A shooting board with twin chutes, independent, calibratable left and right hand 45-degree miter fences, with tall, removable fence faces to prevent breakout to the top of most plane blades.

Not all moldings are tall, so both the fence base and fence face are flattened to 0.001 when we make them. If the high fence face is in the way for a low molding or workpiece, simply remove it, as it is just held in place by two 1/4-20 flat head cap screws, and use the base for low moldings. The base is the same basic fence we use for the Standard Fence on our other shooting boards. You can remove and replace the fence face as you need.

Baltic Birch Construction. Solid, Hefty, Stable. The best material we can obtain for shooting boards, and hearty in any environment. We figure if old woodies are still alive and kicking after 100 plus years, our shooting boards should enjoy a good run as well. We build them to last. Like any fine tool, this one is precision and will appreciate being kept safe and dry when not in use.

Twin chutes, 2-3/4 inches wide by 14-3/4 inches long. Complete with dust grooves and will accommodate any plane, same as our other shooting boards.

A roomy board lift to place your moldings for shooting.

Individual, and fully calibratable 45-degree left and right fences, offering 5-1/4 inches of molding registration and breakout protection nearly 1-3/4 inches high.

A 90-degree fence, 11-3/4 inches long for right angle work like our Deluxe Shooters, and this fence can be made right or left handed depending on your preference for no additional cost.

Fence faces and bases flattened on a granite surface plate to 0.001.

Stainless Steel and Brass custom made thumbscrews to add durability and corrosion resistance. These mount into steel threads.

The same fence angle calibration system employed on all our shooting boards, which will transfer the accuracy of your finest layout tools to this board as well. We recommend plastic drafting squares. An 8-inch drafting square can be had for less than $5.00 in any office supply, however, if you like Starrett accuracy, these boards can work with that as well.

We recommend that you calibrate before each use for total shooting accuracy. No test shots, no shimming and taping or bumping and fudging. Just calibrate and shoot your miters with confidence.

The rest of the details on the new ‘Shooter’ borrow heavily from it’s older brothers, and you are welcome to have a look at the Features and Specifications page for more details.

As always, the boards are finished to 150 grit smoothness, and offer plenty of traction for the work. The chutes are made square to the work and polished to 400 grit.

Then the boards and fences are given a saturation of Watco Teak Oil, which we have found to offer stove bolt protection in tough conditions, and is easily field repairable should the need ever arise.

Finally the chutes are waxed with paste wax and buffed. The wax is as easy to renew as it is to wax your planes. We find that this is as slick as UHMW and far squarer to the work, because there are no screws to deflect a slick plastic material. We feel it is the accuracy that is wanted most, and the final result in your project is what really matters.

Make no mistake about this board. It is a pure shooting board, every bit as capable as our ‘Basic Shooter’ and then some. It is not sole and only for moldings, You can shoot any rectangular dimensional board.

The ‘Picture Frame Shooter’ is also equipped to address most any board that has a distinct front and back like moldings do. The 90 degree fence is similar, flattened to .001 on both the base and face, both 45 degree fences are treated the same. The big difference is only that when a board has a non flat front, the miters must be addressed from either side.

It’s a fully tricked out workhorse and ready for service whether you build picture frames commercially, or enjoy doing them for yourself, friends and family. If you are looking for high accuracy and durability for fine framing or 45-degree miters of any kind, this is the ultimate shooting board.

If you are interested in a ‘Picture Frame Shooter’, we are taking orders for this and all our products. Please visit the ‘Picture Frame Shooter’ product page, and have a look at the rest of our tooling in the Evenfall Studios Woodworks Store.

As always, your questions and comments are always welcome. Contact Us.

Happy Woodworking!

As many woodworkers have learned, shooting boards are one of the magical epiphanies of woodworking, along with sharpening, planing, good layout tools and good technique! I have been amazed with them ever since my granddad showed me how to use his when I was a kid. After all these years, they are still really cool! Many woodworkers have learned that I take no shortcuts when I make shooting boards, I pay attention to every detail. Every board I make must live up to the rigors of quality woodworking, delivering high craftsmanship, to any woodworker, using any plane. It’s built to last.

There will be two vendors, both Infill Plane Makers exhibiting in the WIA marketplace, who will be using Evenfall Studios ‘Deluxe Shooters’ under their infill miters.

Daed Toolworks Photo

Raney Nelson of Daed Toolworks, an Infill Plane Maker from New Jersey, will be exhibiting his infill planes along with Matt Bickford of M.S. Bickford, maker of 18th Century British Molding Planes. This will be Raney’s and Matt’s first WIA conference as vendors, and I wish them both the very best of success.

Raney has been using my ‘Deluxe Shooter’ shooting board in the manufacture of infills as well as other woodworking projects for a long time now. He will be bringing his “Deluxe Shooter” along to demo his miter planes on.

Raney is a huge advocate of shooting boards and has made some very specialized boards for various projects he has built. As such, in his infill making, it has been important for him to flesh out some important infill miter designs. Please feel free to ask Raney any shooting board questions you may have.

Marcou Photo

Phillip Marcou of Marcou Planes, an Infill Planemaker from New Zealand will be coming to WIA to exhibit his planes with Fred West. Phillip has been an Infill plane maker for many years now, and this will be his first trip to WIA.

Many people already know Fred West as one of the Admin Staff over at talkFestool, a woodworking forum for Festool users and including, believe it or not, Hand Tools! Fred is a very enthusiastic woodworker and supporter of many toolmakers. He is a great guy, and we all thank him for helping to get Phillip to WIA this year! Fred will be bringing his Evenfall Studios ‘Deluxe Shooter’ along to demonstrate the Marcou M12 Mitre Plane.

All of these guys are absolutely great people and are very happy to let anyone try out anything they like including the Shooting Boards. Please feel free to ask them any questions you may have!

I also want to thank Ron Brese of Brese Plane, and Jameel Abraham of Benchcrafted for their support of my Shooting Boards at many past woodworking events. Both Ron and Jameel have used my Shooting Board extensively and I am sure if you ask them, they would also be more than happy to field any questions about them that you may have. Unfortunately this year, Ron was unable to get one of his great Shooting Board Planes ready for exhibit in time for WIA this year, but he will have some amazing new Stainless Steel Planes along that you’ll want to check out!

Jameel will be exhibiting two of the finest woodworking vises ever devised, as well as plans for Roubo style Benches. Jameel’s must-see this year is the new “Shaker Bench”, a collaborative design that Ron and Jameel worked up earlier this year. Photos are on Jameel’s Benchcrafted blog. Jameel tells me that complete plans and scale drawings for making this new Shaker bench are forthcoming, but will not be ready for WIA. Be sure to ask him to get on the list for plans to this breathtakingly awesome bench!

For those who want to do a little more homework on my shooting boards, the Features and Specifications page will flesh out a lot of the details that explain my passion for high quality, longevity, and high accuracy. You can read what Chris Schwarz had to say when he took a ‘Deluxe Shooter’ for a test drive. If you like, my current line up complete with pricing and links to detailed descriptions of each item is available in the Woodworks Store.

Please feel free to Contact Me if you have any questions at all about my Shooting Boards and Accessories, or if you would like to buy one and need a quote for purchase. If you are reading this after the date of the event, It is never too late to place an order, 24/7-365. I’d be happy to get a quote to you and make you a shooting board. For those of you going to WIA, have a great time! For those unable to attend, you can still make any weekend a skill building weekend. Check out a few books in the Evenfall Studios Woodworks Library.

Happy Woodworking!

There are a number of things a woodworker can classify as delicate work. It can of course mean short in length or width, thin stock, veneer, inlays, book matched pieces, and even working with tone woods. Luthiers commonly join book matched boards for stringed instruments, and these boards are very fragile.

There are also the occasions where using a power tool or a shop machine may not be the safest way, or the most accurate way to accomplish a task and so we are left trying to come up with an alternative method for accomplishing the fine work we need done.

Often even the finest blades of a shop machine can leave some tear out, or small nicks on a cut edge, and due to the rotational force and unequal loadings on rotating blades, the attempt to trim just a little can often result in too little or too much. At best, it isn’t often predictable.

Jointers too, are not without issue. Handling small or thin stock on a Jointer can be dangerous due to the size of the piece and the lack of structural integrity the materials can have when they are thin. If we try to joint them we risk damage to both the stock and ourselves, and this is never good either way. There is never a good reason to have the fingers in harm’s way.

Another happening with cutting and jointing thin stock is that if you are not using high tooth count blades on your Table Saw or super thin settings on the jointer, what you get is a bunch of chatter and snipe. You can joint with the router table if your fence will allow this, but in my experience, there are times on small work that I would prefer to remove less that 1/32nd or even 1/64th, yes .008… It is really hard to get most fences to dial this, but a plane will do this easily, and still with power tools some boards will require you to have your fingers way too close to a dangerous area.

Sometimes it is safer, or more desirable to resort to hand tool methods. Yes, this is the Saw Stop method of jointing edges. Fixture the work and use a sharp plane. Planes have none of the characteristics of the rotating oscillator. They simply shear off a layer one thin bit at a time. This is particularly useful on boards that are too fragile or small to safely size with power tools.

Jointing edges of thin stock and short stock is just as important as the larger stuff. Fit and finish are often even more crucial because the small items may be picked up and closely examined. At the same time, gluing and clamping still requires the same tolerances of larger boards. A straight edge, matched in the joints is still important as always.

Often, many Luthiers feel jointing book matched instrument tops and backs with a plane is both preferable and desirable with tone woods, as this prevents any damage to the wood fibers that could interfere with instrument resonance. The rotary cutters involved in shop machines often make them wonder and give them some concern if making a beautiful sounding instrument is possible if wood fibers should suffer bruising. Certainly good, even great sounding instruments are made, but, the question is, can they be even better? Perhaps shooting these edges manually is part of what takes good to great.

So we have established that it is important to joint and shoot the edges of small boards, tone woods and veneers. We may find it less than easy to balance a #7 or #8 jointer on top of a thin board. Doable sure, but it is tricky work, and easier if it is something you are used to doing frequently. Shorter planes can work but there is still balancing the plane for side-to-side squareness. Of course there is a need for truing any stock, and when you build small boxes and drawers, maybe even cleaning up inlays and virtually any board less than 24 inches long or 3/8’s of an inch thick or less, the need is still obvious, but the size tends to change the dynamics of how.

Edge Jointing veneer while balancing a plane on the edge isn’t going to happen, because there is no way to balance a plane on veneer, and this won’t give you the accuracy needed should you want to create a sunburst pattern or well, even book matching of stock that thin.

Enter the long grain shooting board.

A long grain shooting board can be very effective for handling all the difficulties that shop machines, or trying to plane without one can have.

Several woodworkers have approached me about adding a long grain shooting board to my product line this year, and after discussing with them what features would be most desirable in a shooting board purpose designed for long grain shooting, I am now offering a long grain shooting board. It uses a lot of the same Features and Specifications that I offer in my end grain shooting boards.

The major differences are that it is nearly 30 inches long, and offers at least 24 inches of shooting run, a fence that is a 90-degree fence only, but is user calibratable to confirm it is accurately set to 90 degrees.

I have also included a couple anchor points for a caul that is used without the fence that helps fixture the materials you are shooting along the chute at any angle or shape you choose, as long as you are trying to shoot an edge that is parallel to the chute. This way you can fixture materials to be jointed squarely to 90 degrees, or any arbitrary angle you desire.

So whether you work with veneers, or small boxes, or even are interested in Luthery and need a way to joint edges in a damage free way, a long grain shooting board can be a help to you. It is also just handy for general purposes, allowing you to joint the edges of any board and any thickness straight and square, with the safety of knowing a board too short or two thin will not stop you from safely bringing that board to the dimensions needed for your project.

If you are interested in a long grain shooting board, I make them for the left or right-handed woodworker. Please have a look in the Woodworks Store, or at the Long Grain Shooter’s page. If you are interested in a fixturing caul for it, please be sure to mention one when you contact me.

I am always open to discussing shooting devices, accessories and other jig suggestions. Good things are coming, Stay Tuned!

Happy Woodworking!

Here’s a photo of a pair to draw to. The shooting boards, shown here in left and right-handed models. You could almost call them V-Twins, but darn it, somebody already thought of that…

Back in late March 2009 I revealed I was going to be making a shooting board with an accurately calibratable fence, which can be fixtured in six positions. Woodworkers found this very interesting! I want to take a moment to say thank you to all who have purchased one. It has been a warm and well-received response from the woodworking community. I plan to continue making them, and even have a few ideas to accessorize them as well.

If you are a left handed woodworker, No Problem! I can make a shooting board that works for you. Same price as right handed, just let me know.

The first weekend of May, woodworker and furniture maker Jeff Miller sponsored a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at his shop in Chicago. From what I understand, it was quite the event.

Infill Plane Maker Ron Brese, www.breseplane.com and Toolmaker Jameel Abraham, www.benchcrafted.com/ were both in attendance as exhibitors.

Jameel and Ron with Angie of Lie-Nielsen
Cian Perez Photo

Ron and Jameel have been working together on Infill Plane designs and other cool tools in collaboration with other toolmakers. Ron approached me about a shooting board for his beautiful infill miter plane, which he is soon going to be adding to his infill offerings.

The Brese Infill Miter
Cian Perez Photo

The Brese infil miter on the Evenfall Studios Shooting Board
Cian Perez Photo

Those who made it to the event were able to see Jameel’s bench, featuring the Bench Crafted “wagon style” Tail Vise and the New, soon to be released Bench Crafted Leg Vise Hardware, as well and Ron had the full offering of his Infill Line, and featured his prototype Infill Miter on one of my shooting boards.

Ron’s planes, Jameel’s bench and bench accessories
Cian Perez Photo

Cian Perez was at the event and offered me the use of his stellar photos, showing the shooting board, Ron’s Beautiful Planes and Jameel’s great bench and bench hardware. Some of you may know Cian from his wonderful and super useful How-To Guide, woodworking link sites: The Neanderthal Braintrust, and The Power Index. Thank you very much for offering me the use of your great photos Cian!

I can’t thank Ron and Jameel enough for taking my board along to the show, and if you follow the link to Benchcrafted’s website above. While you are looking at all the cool things Benchcrafted offers, Jameel has a schedule of where he and Ron are exhibiting. They are both great guys, and top craftsmen who are always willing to answer questions and offer great insights. Get out and meet them if you can! Be sure to visit Ron’s website as well!

Jameel demonstrates Ron’s Infill Miter
Cian Perez Photo

The ‘Deluxe Shooter’ Shooting Board with six fence positions, and there are two shooting boards that are completely similar to this design, with fewer, but the most needed settings for most woodworking requirements.

If you would like to place an order, it is pretty simple to get started. Just navigate to the Evenfall Studios Woodworks Store, either here or at the top of the page, and use the shopping cart. Checkout is easy and your order comes straight to us. Shooting Boards in either Left or Right hand models are the same price. We also sell extra fences, and a Board Lift Bench Hook that matches the lift of the shooting board for when you shoot long boards. Just let me know what you would be interested in.

The product line continues to evolve, just peek into the Store from time to time and see what’s new.

Also while you are here, remember it is woodworkers safety time.

So much has been said, all of it is good. For my part, I just want to remind you of this one important batch of thoughts.

Mindfulness is everything. Your brain is the most important safety device you have. Keep your mind in the work. Watch what you are doing. Think about how you do it. Know where your flesh and clothing is in relation to the cutters and tooling. Short cuts are throat cuts. A clean work area is a much safer work area, so clean up frequently and often. If it seems unsafe or risky, trust your instincts, it probably is. If you are working with a hand tool, fixture the work piece. If you are using a power tool or shop machine, jigs, guides and guards are important.

The one time you bypass a safe practice, you invite the perfect storm to find you.

ACHTUNG

Alles touristen und non-technoschen lookens peepers! Das machinen
control ist nicht fur der fingerpoken und mitten grabben. Oderwise
ist easy schnappen der springenworks, blowen den fuses, und
poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Der machine ist diggen by experten
only. Er ist nicht fur geverken by das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken
sightseenen: keepen des cottonpicken hands in das pockets. Relaxen
und watchen des blinkenlights!

Thanks for everything, and please work safe!

Happy Woodworking!

Yes, I am talking about shooting boards.

Shooting boards are one of the gateways to fine woodworking. Sure, there are many gateways, but the shooting board, in its different configurations guide the cleanest edges and end grain cuts to the finest accuracies, the most spectacular fit and finish, and it puts this capability in the hands of any woodworker.

I have always enjoyed woodworking jigs, and have made a number of shooting boards over the years. I have thought about many different designs for a long time. I’d have one that did this, but not that, and wish I had one that did that too, but then, that method can become a stack of shooting boards, and most of us don’t have the space for that. It’s true; there are some very specific types that are meant to cover specific uses. Others are great for general work, but the worry over wood movement and long-term accuracy causes some folks to question how much energy to put into the making of their own.

I decided to try designing a shooting board, using a design that encompasses the many qualities that I felt most woodworkers would most desire and need in a basic shooting board. Reinforcing as many strengths as I could, while diminishing the weaknesses where possible, and offer it for sale to woodworkers who may be interested in a shooting board that can cover a lot of fine woodworking situations, yet may not want to build one of their own. If you are interested in purchasing a shooting board, I’d be happy to build one for you. Please see the details at the end of this article.

My design is a shooting board with pivot fence. Made from Baltic Birch for durability, and stability in most any climate. It’s adjustable and calibratable for square as well as the 15, 22-1/2, 30, 45, and 60-degree radials. The base measures approximately 14-3/4 inches square. The plane chute is 14-3/4 x 2-3/4, and 1/2 inch below the base to assure a firm squaring registration with most any maker’s planes. The fence, 11-1/2 long by 1-1/4 wide, is positioned 3 inches from the back edge for planing stability in the chute, leaving a full 11-1/2 inch surface for the work piece. The base has been sanded to 150 grit overall to improve traction on the bench and work piece. The Chute has been sanded to 400 grit. The Shooting Board has been finished with Watco Teak Oil, a user repairable finish, and the Plane Chute has been waxed to aid smooth shooting operations.

Steel T-Nuts, counter bored, pressed and epoxied into the base provide 5/8 inches of steel threading to assure accuracy and lasting structural integrity through years of adjustable use. The cleat hooks the unit to the bench with four 1/4-20 flat head socket cap screws tapped directly into the base, and countersunk into the cleat for a very sturdy connection.

A dust groove runs along the left side of the chute to help assure that dust and shavings don’t foul the shooting plane’s accuracy during use. The chute is checked to assure it is coplanar with the top of the jig, and corrected before it leaves here.

Steel Button Head Cap Screws with Brass Knurled Knobs assure a long lasting, secure, comfortable way of adjusting and fixturing the fence. Under both knurled knobs, a brass washer protects the fence from wear. The fence has a small-elongated slot machined on the calibration side that matches the pivot radius, so the fence can be calibrated to the drafting squares accuracy in any climate or wood moisture condition.

Fence calibration is easy and inexpensive with $4.00 Drafting Triangles available from nearly any good office supply store in their drafting supplies section. The 8-inch 45-45-90 square and 12-inch 30-60-90 drafting triangles assure the best registration. Other angle finders such as adjustable drafting triangles and various styles of protractors and protractor squares can be employed to find the other angles as well.

Here the fence is being calibrated to shoot in the square position. Simply loosen the fence fixturing knobs. A 45-45-90 Drafting Triangle is positioned between the fence and the sole of the shooting plane. The shooting plane is positioned with the toe end at the fence, and the plane sole is pulled firmly against the left side of the plane chute. The fence is then positioned so that there is a tight fit of the triangle between the sole of the plane and the fence, and the fixturing knobs re-tightened. You can also use machinist squares, combination squares, and vernier protractors with rulers from the edge of the chute. THe accuracy of your set up tooling is transfered to the jig. It just takes a few seconds. This assures total shooting accuracy every time you use the Shooting Board, any season of the year.

Here the fence is being calibrated to shoot in the 30 degree radial position. A 30-60-90 Drafting Triangle is positioned between the fence and the sole of the shooting plane. The same procedures for squaring the fence are repeated.

Here the fence is being calibrated to shoot in the 45 degree radial position. A 45-45-90 Drafting Triangle is positioned between the fence and the sole of the shooting plane. The same procedures for squaring the fence are repeated. This is the woodworking secret to perfect mitered corners, perfectly squared ends, perfected dimensional accuracy in layout.

Here a Lie-Nielsen 62 is engaged in shooting square the end of a board, the angle cut on the fence near the knurled knob is used to shoot at any angle other than square. Simply flip the fence over so this angled portion faces the work piece and recalibrate.

Here is a look at the fence, sole, chute relationship, where the wood if engaged would be being pared square by the shooting plane. A fine adjustment and a sharp blade is desirable.

This is a look at the hand position, fixturing the board to the hook portion of the Shooting Board. A firm grip on the side of the plane body near the blade bed pushes the plane forward while holding the plane against the left edge of the chute.

The Stanley #4 is a viable shooter when sharp. Here is it shooting the end grain of Panamanian Rosewood Veneer. Veneer can be trimmed long grain and on any miter angle using this method. Starburst or mitered veneers anyone?

The Shooting Board can shoot Long Grain to 11-3/4 inches.

As shown, the Plane Chute measures 14-3/4 by 2-3/4, which will accommodate Lie-Nielsen’s #9 Iron Miter Plane and 62 Low Angle Jack, the Veritas Low Angle Jacks, as well as other Infill and wooden miter and non-miter planes. Any of the Stanley Bailey and Bedrock planes are suitable for use, and a even a block plane, particularly a low angle one can also be employed if the wood isn’t too thick.

For the best results when using a plane for shooting, the soles should be square to the sides of the plane body, the iron sharpened to the equivalent of an 8000 grit waterstone and stropped. The side and sole of the plane waxed and the iron set for a thin shaving of .001 or less.

When shooting, a firm right hand grip on the plane on the side of the sole positioned near the plane bed at mid-plane, with the shooting board firmly hooked against the bench or fixtured in the face vise. The left hand fixtures the work piece against the fence.

In order to reduce the possibility of tearout, consider making your first cuts to the work with the index finger only of your left hand between the work piece and the fence near the plane chute, so as to skew the work towards you at a slight angle. Take a few passes with the plane here, so as to relieve a slight amount of material at the back of the area being squared. Then place the work piece full against the fence and shoot the edge, stopping when you have planed to the area you relieved. With experience, you will be able to determine for yourself when this method will be most helpful.

When shooting angles other than square, it may occasionally be helpful to fold an eleven inch strip of 320 grit sandpaper cut 1-1/4 inches wide in half, lengthwise, and place it between the work piece and the fence to help resist slipping. This is particularly helpful when working steep angles.

I am offering this shooting board (the deluxe shooter model is shown) for sale in right or left handed versions at $130.00 plus shipping and handling. There are Shooting Boards available starting at $100.00, please have a look in the Evenfall Studios Online Store. These jigs are craftsman made by me, built for accuracy and longevity. Meant to be a durable, serviceable tool that helps promote the ability for any woodworker to work at the finest levels of woodworking accuracy.

Custom offerings are possibilities! Please feel free to email me and discuss your needs. We also have some accessories available for the boards, such as taller fences, and a bench hook board lift that matches the shooting board height, as an aid for leveling long work is also optional and made only if ordered. Please feel free to inquire about these and other custom options.

To place an order, have a look in the store at the various models we have available, and simply click to order. Your order will be placed via a Paypal Shopping Cart System. We’ll reply with an invoice for shipping soon after. For purchases, we accept PayPal which also handles most major credit cards, and United States Postal Service (USPS) Money Orders. Online ordering is preferred.

To contact us via email, just click this “Contact Me” link, which will take you to the contact page, or use the “Contact” navigation button at the top of this page, to email me and place your order.

I hope you enjoyed a look at the shooting board, and as always, your comments are welcome as well!

Happy Woodworking!