Hi all!

It’s a busy world, many people traveling and working everywhere. Many people are using their phones to stay connected, messaging, emailing, and for viewing web content wherever they are.

I have had a few inquiries and requests for the Woodworks to become more mobile phone friendly. What this means for those who may not be aware, is that web content needs to format a bit differently in order for it to be seen readably on a mobile phone with internet capabilities. The problem is one of viewing in the proper scale.

I have added this function and from what I understand, it should autodetect the mobile phone browser you use and format properly for you directly. This way, no matter the phone you are using, Evenfall Woodworks will format in the best way for your phone’s web browser to utilize it. For those on the Computer, you should continue to see the website in the same way you always have.

Use the same URL to get here as you always would: http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks/ and the site should be user friendly for your Blackberry, Android, and other web capable phones. This could be handy in the shop if there is something here you need and you need it.

To be certain, I cannot test this on every phone out there, so please, if you have issues, or even if you think it works great, please let me know by leaving a comment, so I can see what I can do to improve it or if you are liking the outcome. If you do, if you could please let me know what phone you use to view the woodworks, that would be great!

There are a couple ways to do this mobile web capability and I have chosen the plugin with the best success rate. It is always good to know if it is working well or not. Please enjoy!

It started out as just one model. I wanted a shooting board that would provide calibration, accuracy, overcome wood movement, and allow the user a choice between more than one shooting angle. It took some consideration. I wanted a platform that was durable and stable, big enough to support the usual work most commonly accomplished by most woodworkers, and have a chute wide enough to substantially support any plane they wanted to use. I worked out a design and sorted out the necessary hardware for my design.

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!

Shooting boards are very handy for fine trims that clean the rough sawn edges left by saws, power tools and shop machines, so the wood is looking it’s very best, and even made as accurate fitting as can be. But even as we do this most commonly on end grain, end grain is not the only place on a board that can benefit from the use of a shooting board.

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!