Carcase Mitres - if you don't have a donkey's ear shooting board

How to prepare perfect carcase mitres when you don't have a donkey's ear shooting board or similar.
I show you a technique to use, and also a simple aid which can easily be made and used to help.
For FREE Plans of my Mitre Shooting Board, that makes light work of this, go to my website:
www.womadeod.co.uk/p/blog-page...
Check out the website for further information: www.WOmadeOD.co.uk

[@Toby94]

Very helpful tutorial! On the last part with the jig to ride your plane on, maybe add a little fence on the 45 degree slope so that it is not a guess work wether the plane will cut into the jig or not

[@GuysShop]

Thanks for sharing your process to do the miters. Great info!

[@mitchwoodwork]

GuysWoodshop Thank you Guy. I will cover the donkey's ear later, building one from scratch and demonstrating it's use.

[@738polarbear]

This guy knows his stuff if you have watched his vids.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers!

[@robertbrunston5406]

Never seen a miter cut like this before! Thanks.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers Robert!

[@wolfa5151]

Excellent Work, very useful! Thanks Mitch!

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers Joe

[@mikemeara]

It was refreshing to see you had the nerve to do this demonstration in oak. I notice most vids show techniques like this with less fussy species. Glad I found your channel.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Michael Meara Thanks Michael. You'll find my demo's are in whatever off-cuts I have handy!

[@Boomers_Bud]

A great demonstration Mitch and I hope you willmake a video on a Donkey's Ear. Thank you for sharing Mitch. Derek

[@mitchwoodwork]

Thanks Derek, I shall be making a new donkey's ear shooting board for a video this year, with plans and instructions for use.

[@orbodman]

"I'll be taking this plane to the stones after this". I have always wanted to see the Rolling Stones. Can I come too? I really do enjoy your film clips.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers!

[@5150Rstapleton]

Personally I'd saw the bulk of the waste off and then plane it to the lines which I feel is quicker and saves the plane's edge. More than one way to skin a cat though! Thanks for all the great videos.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers! Indeed there are.

[@738polarbear]

Planing is as fast as what you are proposing.You would have to saw a 1/16 th in from the edge .His way is more accurate than what you propose.

[@suetr1]

Thank you -- that was helpful -- and I'll start working on making a guide of my own. Thanks for this useful demonstration!

[@mitchwoodwork]

Sue Tolleson-Rinehart Thank you Sue. You may like to watch the video on my mitre shooting board, of you have many carcass mitres to prepare. Happy woodworking, Mitch

[@Christopher-pf8qt]

Trolls song

[@desarrollojava]

Great and clever work.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Thanks Marcelo!

[@JamesCrandallPainting]

Fantastic! This would work great for certain types of picture frames as well, I need to try this

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers. Indeed, you can shoot both ways which helps protect the mouldings of picture frame material.

[@fishbonealice]

This is excellent. Been looking for a way to cut 60 degree mitres for a hexagonal box project without having to make a complicated jig. Can adapt this method to do it. Thanks!

[@mitchwoodwork]

That's great! Love to see the box once you've made it.

[@Damienjking]

Mitch, Very nice video and handy technique that I'm sure many will benefit from. Thanks so much. If I could offer a friendly suggestion to you and one to your viewers, I would say, when planing the bulk of the miter, try pointing the toe of the plane skyward over the end of the workpiece at a 45 degree angle so that its pointing toward the 10 o'clock position. You can think of this as decapitating the endgrain if you will, rather than plowing into it horizontally or on a downward angle which causes you to plane into the endgrain. It can seem a bit tricky to hold the plane at a 45 on the x-axis while simultaneously holding a 45 on the y-axis, but it greatly reduces friction and tear out. You will find that you don't even need that whole sequence of planing off the trailing edge before you get started. I picked this up from Paul Sellers when he teaches how to plane a roundover on box bottoms. Its not necessary to do this when planing longgrain, but doing it on endgrain saves lots of work and heartache. The second thing I would offer, this to your viewers, is when you find yourself thinking (or in this case saying at 12:41), "It's just starting to lose its edge" this is the exact moment when you want to stop and take your iron or edge to the stone. If the edge is noticeably dull, then its noticably in need of sharpening. I know when I first started woodworking and before I learned to sharpened freehand, I often delayed and pushed my edges past the point that was good for my projects which resulted in poor results. Since my sharpening takes no set up, I can now get a surgically sharp edge on planes and chisels in less than a minute. This allows me to never compromise on sharpness and produces superb results. As soon as I notice any degradation on my edge, its off to my diamond plates. Do this, and you will never be sorry. The key part of this is learning to sharpen freehand so sharpening doesn't take you off task for 10-15 minutes. If you trade jigs for acquired skill, you can sharpen very quickly and without the hassle of wasted time. Since Mitch seems to be a skilled woodworker, I'm sure he knows this and normally sharpens as soon as he detects the slightest dullness in his edges. I suspect he only pushed his edge beyond this point because he was in the process of filming a video. This is no great secret and I think nearly every woodworker figures this out eventually, so my hope is to help those of you who are newer to the craft and who have simply not figured this out yet. Happy woodworking and thanks again Mitch. Keep up the great work.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Thanks for those points Damien, A quick strop might have been advisable here. It's an interesting point actually, as I do feel the dulling of an iron at a very early stage. Often the blade will still cut hairs on my arm, and take wafer thin shavings. Clearly there must be an optimal point at which to strop or re-hone. Even at just half a minute to de-iron, strop, and re-iron, doing it every couple of shavings would be overkill. Deciding that point has to be a gut feeling, and it will surely improve with experience. What I feel is most important to get over to beginners in this respect is how to sharpen quickly and effectively, so that they don't put off the job. Skewing the plane is always worth a shot, but just be careful you keep enough sole on the work to register well. Personally I use a mitre shooting board, which protects against tear out. Thanks, Mitch

[@Damienjking]

+Mitch Peacock - WOmadeOD-Point taken and I agree totally. There is definitely a possibility of sharpening too often, but I think you would agree that this is far less common that waiting too long. I think most people want to keep planing as long as they can because its far more enjoyable than sharpening. I don't mind sharpening, but I'd rather work wood than steel. When I made the sharpening comment I was hoping to benefit the novice woodworkers that watch your fine video based on my personal experience. I know when I first started woodworking I developed a bad habit of pushing my edges way past the point of being good for a sharpening. I was sharing my learned lesson hoping current novice woodworkers might learn vicariously from my mistake. Of course someone as experienced as you certainly learned that lesson long ago. Thanks again for a quality videos, keep up the great work.

[@mitchwoodwork]

+Damien King Being self taught, it took me longer to realise what a properly sharp edge was! kicked myself when I did 😉 Sharpening is very difficult to teach by video alone. I recently taught sharpening in person and it was so much better. Cheers, Mitch

[@JamesSmith-eg4xf]

Thank you! I have been looking for something like this or a jig for a while. My mitres are horrible.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Cheers James, I hope this improves things for you. I shall be making a new donkey's ear shooting board for a video this year, so watch out for that too.

[@eddyflynn213]

great demo thanks for sharing Mitch

[@mitchwoodwork]

Eddy Flynn Cheers Eddy

[@blmeflmm66]

Nice technique. What the heck is a donkey's ear shooting board. I just recently heard of the donkey jawbone percussion instrument. Who knew? I didn't think Lie Nielsen planes were capable of getting dull....... Haha! Nice work, once again.

[@mitchwoodwork]

blmeflmm66 yeah, stupid name I guess. It's a device to hold the plane and work at 45° to each other, making the mitre a piece of cake. I plan to build one in a future video. The old Lie Nielsen's A2 steel does hold an edge quite well, but every so often it does still need a good hone. I was at the stones today, but I forgot that little devil - oh well, there's always tomorrow.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Thnaks! I'll try it

[@mitchwoodwork]

Offshoreorganbuilder cheers, let me know how you get on.

[@corwind3888]

I do enjoy watching your videos very much! I'm sure I've watched this one several years ago. Watching this time, I am wondering which model of Lie Nielsen block plane you show in use here? Looks to be smaller than my 60-1/2 and yet maybe slightly larger than my 102?

[@mitchwoodwork]

Thanks. Maybe my hands are larger than yours, because it is a 601/2. Lovely plane

[@jamescole5658]

My festool kapex does this job in about 2 seconds :) great video i really should use more hand tools looks very relaxing and rewarding

[@mitchwoodwork]

James Cole nice saw, but what do you do if your mitre is longer than it's capacity! Break out some hand tools and give your ears a rest 😉

[@farfazzi]

very informative, can i ask how would i do it if without having the mitred scrap wood you use at 10:30 ? Thanks

[@mitchwoodwork]

Faz Fazzi Hi Faz, Thanks, and yes of course. You can simply plane to the gauged line (inside of mitre), producing a slight bump across the joint. Then carefully plane the bump away. Taking shavings from the top of the bump, which will get progressively wider, until they just reach the edges. This takes more care and time than using the mitred guide, but it is the way to produce such a guide in the first place. Theoretically, you could make the guide like this first, then never have to use that method again.Happy woodworking, Mitch

[@farfazzi]

Very clear.. thank you again!

[@sachem54]

What is the rebate for? I have a donkey ear jig and it's off just a bit - the bed moved on me just enough to throw it off a degree.

[@mitchwoodwork]

The rebate was part of a much earlier project, from which this section ended up surplus to requirements. I like to use up leftovers :) Your jig problem is quite common. You should be able to shim the error out. I shall be making a new donkey's ear shooting board for a video this year, and I will cover correcting errors in accuracy.

[@Diozark]

Would it be possible to show where you would use this piece ? What kind of Joinery would you use ?

[@mitchwoodwork]

Very common for making boxes and light cabinets, where the poor glue bond on the mitre is augmented by the addition of splines, biscuits, etc.

[@Diozark]

Mitch Peacock - WOmadeOD ah, ok thank you

[@josephschaecher6094]

I shot myself twice just watching you do this. Props!

[@mitchwoodwork]

Haha cheers

[@lionrnnow6030]

I find it hard to get the angle right .

[@mitchwoodwork]

It isn't easy! But if you build one of these kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHKwaKh4ndd4Z8k then you needn't worry again!

[@keyhanmasoumi6357]

I'm trying to do this from scratch, the first thing I need is the miter "aid",how do I cut that to be accurate enough to use as an aid.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Keyhan Masoumi good question! Making the aid is a similar process. Use a mitre square and try square to lay out a 45 degree mitre on a flat, straight, board. Saw close to the lines, on the waste side. Plane, chisel, file, or any combination, a flat mitre surface that meets all the layout lines, and double check using the mitre square and a flat surface. I hope that helps.

[@keyhanmasoumi6357]

Mitch Peacock - WOmadeOD I'll do it like you said,thank you for your quick reply.

[@Fabilousist]

I should have watched this 4 days ago….

[@mitchwoodwork]

Always the way

[@dontbeasheeple5883]

There's much quicker ways to ensure perfect mitres

[@marrano10]

why dont you use a 45* guide and just use chisels like the Japanese do?

[@mitchwoodwork]

Sebastian Hanhausen No technical reason, just personal preference.

[@edwardcharles9764]

Take your wedding ring off! It's quite a loose fit and it wouldn't take much to trap something under it and probably rip your finger off.

[@mitchwoodwork]

Thanks - very good advice!

[@matthewmasail8724]

yeah you could do it that way but it's very inefficient. build yourself one of these, it's quick and will solve you much work on miters www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/wwmitreshootingboard.html

[@mitchwoodwork]

+Matthew Masail Cheers Matthew. I followed up this video with the build of just such a shooting board, kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHKwaKh4ndd4Z8k which is great if you intend doing more than a few carcase mitres.