Early Access Video: The Historical Shooting Board
Added 2022-10-29 11:00:08 +0000 UTCFriends:
We’re finally back to projects!
This week, I’m looking at the humble shooting board. The modern ones have gotten….a little overwhelming. All those fancy materials and adjustable fences are intimidating. What were shooting boards like before plywood and table-saws?
Join me as I research and build an old-school, preindustrial shooting board from solid wood. It’s a fun project and an easy addition to your shop.
It’s been a while since we’ve had plans, but they’re being drawn right now and they’ll be up next week, both here and on the plans archive. (If you haven’t been on the forum yet, we’ve streamlined the sign-in process. It’s easier than ever!)
Happy Saturday!
--Rex
Comments
No worries, I just hadn't run into that wrinkle before. Timing is everything!
Brian Schwarz
2022-11-03 22:04:03 +0000 UTCIt does that on premiere day (Wednesday). For early access, you need to watch it Sat-Tuesday.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-03 20:10:55 +0000 UTCRegardless of whether they are following the sun, turning clockwise or anticlockwise, there is certainly strength to be gained in the structural geometry of having a twist. For a simple example, think about rope, or even yarn. Straight parallel fibers do not convey anywhere near the same level of structural strength as when they are twisted together. The interlocking of the different fibers form a complex web of tension and compression, and an overall strengthening. I guess all that time learning how to spin yarn and fiber overlaps with the woodworking. (Well, that and my long term goal of turning parts for making a spinning wheel, which I'm rapidly closing in on. 🧶🤓)
Patrick Salsbury
2022-11-02 17:34:58 +0000 UTCthat's a fun video! thanks for sharing that.
Brian Schwarz
2022-11-02 16:36:10 +0000 UTCThank you
Larry W Thayer
2022-11-02 16:06:17 +0000 UTCJust FYI, the "early access" doesn't seem to be working, the video seems to have shifted to "premieres in x hours" mode. Not sure if that's as designed or a bug, and it will no doubt resolve itself, but thought it might be worth mentioning.
Brian Schwarz
2022-11-02 13:13:11 +0000 UTCThis is great work, thanks Rex. I previously thought only chinese carpenters use shooting boards for edges to compensate for not having a vise (til this day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hNIu_UXOIU), but now I see it is something much more common. I'm really happy to know. Also, why not just rip the battens after rabbiting?
Luke Lyu
2022-11-02 02:10:29 +0000 UTCMaking that joint with a well-tuned plane I have the opposite problem, losing the center seam that is the critical landmark to lay out the sound hole, and bridge, and to orient the plates I glue them up slightly offset longitudinally so I can find and mark the seam after thicknessing the plates. Working on number 3, Hope to honestly call myself a luthier one of these days;)
John Griswold
2022-11-01 14:30:57 +0000 UTCI don't have anything to add re: twisting & such, but I want to say this is what I most enjoy about hanging out on the forum (or here in the video comments). There is a ton of knowledge and experience in this crowd. I learn stuff all the time.
John Shufelt
2022-11-01 13:09:28 +0000 UTCThank you! I appreciate that.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:51:04 +0000 UTCI've been reading his books recently. They're really great.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:50:56 +0000 UTCThat's a pro-tip!
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:36:55 +0000 UTCThere are so many creators out there who really deserve the mention. They're wonderful and deserve more recognition. It benefits me, too, because it builds trust in the community and helps me build relationships with valued colleagues.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:36:27 +0000 UTCMe too! I think we actually LOST some functionality when we started to see the shooting board as a purely end-grain device.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:35:10 +0000 UTCI think luthiers know the most about this. If you're making a guitar back, then there's really no where to hide. If it's not perfect, everyone will know.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:34:23 +0000 UTCI hope it does! I'm a little surprised at how well this jig works.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:33:38 +0000 UTCI do often wonder about twist....mostly, I wonder how I can avoid planing it out!
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:33:15 +0000 UTCIndeed!
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:32:22 +0000 UTCRight you are! My planes are all square (enough) so I don't always remember that this can be a factor.
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:32:14 +0000 UTCI feel that this craft demands research. If you're working by hand, you've just got to read. Thanks!
Rex Krueger
2022-11-01 12:31:35 +0000 UTCI'm probably never going to build a shooting board, yet I'm sure that I'll be using many tips and tricks shown in the video. Keep up the great work!
LiraNuna
2022-10-31 15:05:14 +0000 UTCanother great vid, and also, i already follow graham. love his vids!
Jared Leff
2022-10-30 02:22:26 +0000 UTCMade my Saturday afternoon Rex. Like both designs of shooting board and have the material to make them both. A quick note: If your adjustable metal plane is not exactly square bottom to side, you can use the side to side adjuster to square the blade to the shooting board. Just don't for get to square the blade back up before you use it to plane a surface.
Matt Evans-Koch
2022-10-29 23:12:21 +0000 UTCShoutout to you, Rex, for being one of only few creators who regularly shout out/uplift/recommend other creators. Even when it´s not part of an active collab. Love to see it.
Helge
2022-10-29 19:43:04 +0000 UTCThat's very cool. Learned to identify conifers at a distance from a salty old fart about 45 years ago, can add this to my bag of tricks;)
John Griswold
2022-10-29 18:09:20 +0000 UTCThat's always been my theory, but sometimes I just have to tune up one piece or the other alone, not sure why. I have taken to making a "hollow" joint...when I "candle" them up against a window I want the ends tight and the slightest bit of light showing in the middle to compensate for the swelling of the wood from the water-based glue, which was a fairly common traditional practice for gluing up panels. Supposedly if you start w a perfect joint the swelling will drive the ends apart, has worked pretty well;)
John Griswold
2022-10-29 18:06:51 +0000 UTCIf you’re using a metallic plane it’s simple enough to compensate with the lateral adjuster. Or match plane for edge jointing, and then it doesn’t matter.
Austin V Papp
2022-10-29 16:18:14 +0000 UTCDoing the sides together, as you describe, makes a great joint. When you unfold the plate any deviation from square in your plane blade will cancel out, whereas if you were to plane the edges individually with the show side up any inaccuracies in your plane setup would double.
Fred Gosbee
2022-10-29 15:53:35 +0000 UTCAn interesting bit about hemlock trees: the tip of the tree almost always points east. Handy to know if you're lost in the woods.
Fred Gosbee
2022-10-29 15:50:07 +0000 UTCIt's true that the amount of twist varies, but in the northern hemisphere it is highly unusual to find a tree that twist anti-clockwise. It does happen but very rarely.
Fred Gosbee
2022-10-29 15:47:31 +0000 UTCEchoing the appreciation for your historical research on the shooting board, this is a really interesting video on the humble shooting board. It caused me to cross the line into the need for one. It has lots more versatilely than I realized.
Richard C von Brecht
2022-10-29 15:44:37 +0000 UTCI use a long and simple shooting board to edge join the top and back plates for a guitar. They are around 3/16" thick and 20" long. I usually start with them sandwiched as they come out of the tree, butted up against the cross fence and held with hand pressure...sometimes I make passes on the individual halves. I also use a short and simple bench hook for end shooting, run the plane on the bench top, which squares up the plane to the hook. I usually mark the square end w a marking knife, particularly when length is important.
John Griswold
2022-10-29 15:33:29 +0000 UTCGiven that the sun travels the same ecliptic path, only changing from lower across the sky to higher and then back down with the seasons, one orientation for the crown would seem to be most efficient. I suspect that there are other considerations, possibly genetic, possibly situational, as neighbor trees occlude or fall to unveil the sun. If you walk through a grove of trees with some dead standing and bark peeled off you can see the cracks that reveal the degree and direction of twist, and usually they will be different...food for thought;)
John Griswold
2022-10-29 15:25:37 +0000 UTCThis is far from settled science. If radiate pines, from the northern hemisphere are grown in the Southern Hemisphere, they still spiral the same way. This suggests that genetics are at least partially responsible. Meanwhile the idea that pine needles “follow the sun” seems a bit whimsical to me. Now it is true that pine trees tend to have more branches and needles on the side that gets the most sun, and in the northern hemisphere, all other things being equal, is the south side.
Todd Maurer
2022-10-29 13:19:11 +0000 UTCThanks for the research! I have been purchasing S2S hardwood and having to true up the sides. This will make it so much easier.
Marc Barash
2022-10-29 12:47:26 +0000 UTCDid you ever wonder why boards tend to twist as they dry? As they grow the top follows the sun. If you were a bird looking down from the top of the tree would be clockwise. When logs are sawn into boards the straight cut of the mill will inevitably cross the twist. This is also a cause of runout. I learnt a lot about twist working with whole logs.
Fred Gosbee
2022-10-29 12:23:36 +0000 UTCWhen you have to shoot, shoot...
Pierre-Olivier Fineltin
2022-10-29 11:57:52 +0000 UTCAs always, a great video. It bears mentioning that for effective jointing with a shooting board the cheek of your plane needs to be absolutely square to the sole. For a couple of my planes that is not the case.
Brian Taylor
2022-10-29 11:27:42 +0000 UTCI appreciate your historical research, which makes everything more meaningful. Thanks, Rex!
John Shufelt
2022-10-29 11:14:47 +0000 UTC
