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!

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!

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!