How to Shoot a Board Without a Shooting Board

Making The Shooting Board: • How to Make the Ultima...
My Shooting Plane: • My New Favorite Tool S...
You do not need a shooting board to shoot a board.
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[@mikesalmo]

Wow. This is timely. I just threw away my last homemade shooting board out of frustration. I always end up freehanding it. A lot is operator error on the board, getting my blade set vertical, actually holding the board in place, etc. But I didn’t know that this freehand technique was an accepted real thing. I was just doing it to work around my inability, and thought I was doing it “wrong.” I’m going to officially stop feeling guilty about this. I still would like to use a shooting board one day, but think I’ll wait until I’m ready to invest in a setup that is worth setting up, etc.

[@thebulletproofpoet1744]

Wood curls gently fall, Plane whispers, shaping the grain, Craftsman's dance with wood.

[@robertlybarger]

Thanks as always for tips on keeping things simple / approachable. You referenced Paul Sellers ... some few months ago he showed a jig that he uses to plane end-grain while held upright in his face face. Effectively its like a vertically oriented shooting board held in the front/face vice. His reasoning is that he dislikes the usual shooting boards due to the space they can take up on a bench, mid-project, forcing some break in work flow, as compared to a quick in/out in the vise. Not something I've had time to experiment with, personally, but another interesting take.

[@darylthomas4522]

A good skill to know,a lot of knowledge is disappearing due to modern tools,nail guns mean people cannot hit nails straight,mitre saws mean shooting end grain is unnecessary,lasers mean people struggle to get plumb square and parallel manually,I have learnt quite a bit watching you learn the finer in depth nitty gritty details of woodworking that helps me in my everyday job as a wood butcher/ carpenter

[@JackFright]

Thanks for taking the time to make a video to answer my question, James. I really appreciate it. Great engagement with your community!

[@brooklynpaul4003]

I'm so glad to see this video. I made a shooting board and tried to use it, but had very little success with it. So then I just took a Number 4, put the board in the vice, and got as good or better results.But I felt I was doing it WRONG. Thanks for making me feel better!

[@Im-building-stuff]

I wanted to make some tools for ( froe, marking gauge, bevel gauge) and much more and for that i needed a shooting board and now a notification appeared i clicked and you are saying that i don't need a shooting board to shoot a board that's great news,thanks for the info

[@NickLuker]

I made a shooting board to use with a No 5. I didn't like the results. Now, I use a Veritas low angle block plane in the vise. It works tremendously well because I can REALLY control where and how much I'm taking off with great control. I am building 6 tables for my parents' living room out of white oak, and squaring the ends of the 1 3/4" square legs is a breeze. On a side note, I see your family and mine shop at the same place. I received the same shirt for Christmas.👍

[@neilstutely3147]

Just bought a veritas shooting board plane and now I'm saving for the veritas shooting board.

[@omegaflameZ]

I go freehand as I've yet to get around to making a shooting board. I will say I keep a squeeze bottle of water (and a wax and oil rag for after) near the bench and generally wet the end-grain a lil bit to help the planing.

[@knutselaardre1272]

I made my shooting board a few years ago (Rob Cosman style) and I use it for practically every project with my Jack plane 5 1/2. and for small pieces with my low angle block plane. It has become an indispensable tool for me.

[@AhmetCnarOzuneUyans]

I was so frustrated with my shooting board using no:5 Stanley ... Then I bought no:7, and somehow with that, the shooting suddenly becomes so easy and accurate. I think I needed the weight of the plane, or the lenght, or both, I am not sure, but anyhow now it works :) I often made beds or some long stuff, where I am not able to shoot the boards freehand with the front vise.

[@francescopula4642]

I hate my handmade shooting board. It always needs so much time to set up and often it gets out of square 🙈 I will use your method forever (or at least till I get rich enough to buy a shooting set like yours 😂)

[@navret1707]

I made a shooting board out of a couple pieces of scrap wood and use a #4 Stanley. So far, it’s done everything I needed it to do. I’ve been thinking of “upgrading” it a bit so I can shoot at angles other than 90 degrees. Still thinking.

[@dougdavidson175]

Newbie woodworker, sawhorse and scaffold board bench in the backyard. I shoot with a #5 baily style and a chipboard and melamine homemade jig as I don't have a vice, yet. Take care & stay safe.

[@user-kh3qw9jr3g]

James You have pushed not using a shooting board, but using a shooting board can be quick and simple to square up boards for project when their is more than one board

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Very much so. And that's why I use the shooting board now. Before getting the really good shooting board in Planes though I found it to be more difficult than just doing it for hand and I found the free hand to be a little bit faster than using the setup I used to have.

[@laxm8162]

I had built the shooting board as shown by paul sellers a year ago and I got very good results. But it used to tire my wrists and hands if I had to shoot more number of pieces, which most likely could be because of my technique as I am still a beginner. The end grain vice that paul sellers showed a few months ago was something very interesting. I built that and got as good results as I got with the shooting board and with much less effort and quicker. This is because I could put the thrust in the usual way I would do while planing regular boards, so way easier on my hands and works for me like a delight! I have been using that almost always when I have to shoot boards at 90 degree.

[@peterdewitt8585]

Free hand in a vice has been generally easier for me than using a shooting board. In the vice I only have to think about the plane set up. With the shooting board I find myself struggling positioning the board such that I don't try to take to heavy of a cut.

[@corwind3888]

A shooting board was one of the first things I made when I moved to hand tools. I made mine with a runway on either side for both left and right hand use. At first I used my #62, but later I had the chance to try out a shooting plane at a Lie Nielsen event -- however, I ended up getting the Veritas shooting plane due to its lower cost. I added an outer rail to the right-hand runway to fit my new shooting plane. It is a joy to use and I probably use it on every project.

[@edwardleonard9901]

Thank you! Nowadays, I also use the Veritas shooting board with the Lie-Nielsen Shooting Plane. They work great together for 90º and also for 45º (and other degrees). Before having them, I used anything I could, from making my own shooting board (which I never trusted to be accurate), to one board on top of another, to "free-hand" on the vise. The latter I still do depending on the situation: Thick boards (ie the legs for my Saw bench) I scribe the legs around and try to make them flat. I have used #4, #5, #62 low angle jack plane. For Small stock I use Lie-Nielsen's 60 1/2 Adjustable mouth Block plane. I agree with everyone that says that they will all work as long as you have a sharp blade.

[@snellscroft]

I have a simple shooting board and a No. 62, works for me. Good video, will help a lot of woodworkers.

[@DBacaMaker]

Always good to know I'm not the only one who does the marking and shooting. My only low angle plane, though, is a block plane. Still, it works.

[@pettere8429]

With the bevel down plane I usually skew it when doing end grain.

[@BertVanhooff]

Freehand is all good for reasonable wide boards. For small boards you’ll absolutely want some kind of shooting board since you don’t have much reference surface for your plane to run on. But indeed, there is no right way. Just try ALL THE WAYS :).

[@upsidedowndog1256]

Very useful video. Between your and Rex's videos about simple and affordable woodworking my personal collection of tools has gotten huge and I haven't even moved into my woodworking shed yet. It just got delivered yesterday.

[@edm00se]

Shooting boards are great, I have a dedicated 45 degree miter shooting board for picture frames and it took the headache out of what used to be the tough part.

[@scottswineford6714]

You hit the same method I use. One or two or even four I use the vise. A bunch or thin stuff (below 3/8") shooting board and #4. For whatever reason I seem to be in a loop of everything has a bunch of drawers so the shooting board is getting a lot of use.😅

[@Blackys-Boy]

I have a home made shoot board I made about 10 years ago. It was made expressly for a LN No9. But sometime I use my Low Angle Jack. While both those planes work quite nicely in there, I find that I like the mass of my good old well tuned Bedrock 606.

[@redrob6331]

The video I saw where Shannon Rogers was talking about shooting boards, he noted that while he has a bunch, he would rather not use them unless it's for miters.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

yup. if you can go right off the saw it is the best of all worlds.

[@redrob6331]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo Sure, and he talks about that a lot, but the video seemed to imply that he avoids using them. In other videos where he is discussing dovetails, though, he marks them referenced off the end of the board. Maybe he crosscuts them that way or maybe he shoots them, but he doesn't make it clear.

[@johnford7847]

I use a simple shooting board and a Stanley #62, usually. Good video. Thanks for sharing.

[@christopherharrison6724]

I sometimes do it freehand with a scrap piece at the end so I can do it 1 way.

[@B_COOPER]

Thanks James! I was wondering how I would about shooting my pieces square for my shooting board. It’s the same dilemma as “how do you know if your square is square if you don’t even know if the square checking your square is square”

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

You can check the square against itself and then use that to test your shooting board or the end of your board. Here's a video on how to check it and adjust it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHq2hKVjbteBrdUsi=jWBPN1IBvb-zu7je

[@AllanMacMillan]

I often start out trying to use my shooting board, find that I'm not getting much cutting action, and then give up and do it in the vise. This probably means I need to sharpen more often. My method in the vise is slightly different, and yours is probably better. I come in from one end and form a chamfer that just touches my line, then plane in flat from the other end until I just reach the line. The two ideas are similar, but I think yours is less likely to lead to blowout.

[@vincethomrm]

Great, I just made a shooting board. 😶 I guess for wider boards a simple plane would be handy enough but for tiny things and miters, a shooting board rules. Aloha 🤙

[@rawr2u190]

I think I've seen someone using their bench surface to shoot. Plywood under the workpiece to stack it up. Then stop planing before they reach the end of the board.

[@nastytechniquez9685]

You could also get a low angle frog for a jack plane and use that in a diy shooting board

[@gregdeitrick6073]

I have not (yet?) developed the technique to reliably plane an edge true by hand, especially if planing to a line. I've gone the other direction; not only do I use a simple shooting board for squaring/truing ends, I use it also for truing long grain edges of short boards. I think Graham Blackburn suggests this. For longer boards I have a 4 ft shooting board consisting of 1/4" plywood 4 ft long x 2" wide face glued with the bottom edge flush to the bottom edge of 3/4" plywood 4 ft long by 4" wide. This is clamped in my bench vise with the 1/4" plywood against the reference side of the work and its top a bit below the reference line. I then run the plane tote-up with the side of the plane registered against the 3/4" plywood of the shooting board. Whether end or long grain edges I end up making very slight adjustments to the iron angle to get the edge true. For long grain edges my best results are obtained by planing to progressively thinner shavings so that the last few strokes are taking the lightest possible shavings. And in doing this I typically need to adjust the iron angle just a bit most times when I change the depth of cut. BTW, I check the edge for true against the surface the plane side registers against. This can fail if the bench vise is clamping the work to the shooting board mostly at the bottom edge, which is what my vise likes to do because it racks top-to-bottom. I add a long horizontal shim between the vise chop and the work that extends down about 1" from the top of the chop so that when my racked vise chop applies pressure at the bottom of the shim the pressure is approximately centered (in the up/down sense) with respect to the 1/4" plywood, resulting in good registration between the 1/4" plywood and the reference face of the work. I think Graham Blackburn ALSO suggested a long shooting board for truing long grain edges of longer boards. But as I recall these used the plane lying on its side. It is possible that I am mistaken in this, however. BTW, Paul Sellers has a video on a shooting board for squaring/truing end grain used in the bench vise with the work oriented as it is when James Wright shoots free-hand. I might make one since I find it more comfortable and reliable to run my plane tote-up compared to on its side.

[@kencarlile1212]

I use a modified version of Rex's advanced shooting board, with a Veritas track and a Veritas shooting plane. It makes me happy!

[@MCsCreations]

Thanks for all the info and tips, James! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@colinellicott9737]

Nice. I use my self made custom shooting board with low angle jack plane. Works well. Good to see how easy it is free hand too. Thx.

[@vmoutsop]

I like using a simple shooting board with my plane. Yes, free handing it may be quicker but I suck, plus I think the end grain of a board coming off a shooting board looks so much nicer.

[@nodarikirtadze8220]

For small pieces I really like the shooting board. Although with thick board like the one in the video, it wouldn't work, because I wouldn't have enough momentum to go through that amount of material. Plus it's hard to balance a plane on a small stock, while it's quite easy on larger boards.

[@kenny-anjanettehorn7722]

Great video James, really glad you went on about loving the shooting board/plane. Bought one at Handwork’s and I was getting the stink eye from Anjanette before that.

[@jdscally]

I made a basic shooting board and use a Stanley #5. Would love to have a higher end board, with a dedicated shooting plane but $$$$....

[@ricos1497]

It's almost always in the vise for me, I've never got the bench space for my shooting board. Number four too, it works well, never had any problems in any wood.

[@christianhowarth9935]

When I built my table saw sled, I built a shooting board into one side of it. Plus granddad's 5 1/2.

[@douglasmagruder]

Great video, James.

[@user-ht3wt1ew4v]

Morning from Cape Town

[@sal1964]

I shoot with a low angle plane and a home made shooting bord its ok for soft wood. I might have to buy a Veritas shooting board and the plain.

[@ssrattus]

Thanks James!

[@cindyharrison4191]

Thanks for keeping it real for us novices 😊

[@bcargnel]

Hey James, as always a great video. I’ve used a shooting board and 5 1/2 for years and after seeing the “shoot” out with Rex a few years back decided to bite the bullet and build a new one based on your design and the Veritas system with the track. I also bought the Veritas shooting plane and the combination of the track, plane and adjustable fence is a true joy. However, I also make some small boxes ala Rob Cosman’s hidden wood hinge 3/8-1/4 thick and cut these to length on the bench using my sawing bench hook, then going to to the larger shooting board. I realized that for these things a smaller combination sawing bench hook and shooting board that I could use my low angle bevel up smoother from Veritas might be better. And it is. I can go from cutting the boards to squaring them up using the small bench hook. I still use the larger one for full size stuff 1/2 inch and up, but for these small boxes this new setup works really efficiently. The other thing I use the larger shooting board for is picture frame miters and I use the Veritas shooting sander for this as I can really dial in the fit. As always thanks for a well thought out video.

[@marcbarash6045]

Thanks James

[@marshallmurrell4583]

I use a simple shop made shooting board and a #5 Stanley for end grain and for fairly short edges. I was having a real problem getting square edges on longer boards. Rob Cosman advised me in a reply to a comment to put the longer board on top of another board and clamp both to a flat surface. Then run the plane on its side along the flat surface. The result is always a square edge so long as the blade in the plane if evenly protruding (which you have to do in any case). And like any other plane operation, a sharp blade is mandatory for a good result.

[@gregdeitrick6073]

My previous comment describes a shooting board for longer edges that allows you to plane tote-up, which for me is the most comfortable and reliable. Reply to this comment if you can't find it or have questions. +1 on the sharp blade. I also get best results if the final passes are removing the thinnest possible shavings.

[@marshallmurrell4583]

@@gregdeitrick6073 If I understand your prior comment correctly, you glue the two pieces of plywood face to face with the edges even. Does your plane blade not degrade the piece of 1/4" ply?

[@gregdeitrick6073]

​@@marshallmurrell4583 The 1/4" ply is the platform of the shooting board, and like the platform of a conventional shooting board its edge can be used as a reference surface to guide the base of the plane. If so, only a portion of its thickness will ever contact the iron just like a conventional shooting board. But since my shooting board gets clamped to the work I have better success using freehand techniques to achieve straight than trying to use the edge of the 1/4" ply as a reference for my plane sole, and only using the 3/4" ply as a fence to keep the plane running true. Consequently, I always set the top edge of the 1/4" ply a bit below the line that I'm planing to and the plane never contacts the 1/4" ply. If it helps, my long shooting board is exactly like a conventional shooting board except that 1) it has no fence, 2) it is 4ft long, and 3) the platform is only 2inch wide compared to 10inch or so for a conventional shooting board. And in use everything is rotated 90 degrees so that a conventional bench plane is used tote-up / sole-down rather than side-down for a conventional shooting board.

[@hassanal-mosawi4235]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@thatdemmedpimpernel]

I do the permutation missed - fancy shooting plane with the simple Rex shooting board. I got the plane from the Veritas seconds in September so i still cant say how much i use it 😂

[@robertberger8642]

Excellent info!

[@user-td4lc9el5o]

That infill in the background is beautiful. Is that Reed's newest offering?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

no that is one I have been making over the last 3 years. some day it will be done.

[@user-td4lc9el5o]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo That's an extensive makeover. 🤪

[@Pikeandglaive]

1. "Comment down below" 2. For my part, I use a Chinese push-type plane, and a bench hook.

[@davidstout2955]

I like your idea.

[@kennethnielsen3864]

Thanks for sharing.

[@edwinlikeshistractor8521]

Thank you.

[@lweismann]

What are your thoughts about making a sacrificial board or something like that so that you can go off the edge

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

That can work though it is difficult to set up and takes a good bit of time to get right and if it's in the vise it needs to be the same thickness as what you're planing

[@codycoleman7234]

Hi James, thank you for the video. Would shooting in the vice work with softwoods? I always seem to crush the ends making them more ragged looking when I try. Is this just a matter of getting my blades sharper?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

It's the same for softwoods or hardwoods. It just needs to be sharper.

[@codycoleman7234]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo I suppose the next video I'll watch is how to sharpen. Thanks again! :)

[@johnblocher912]

Hi James, how do you “true up” miters for a picture frame? Do you shoot them or do something else?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Generally I just plain the ends down to the mark. Because the grain is running at 45°, you can plain out the end and not have to come at it from both sides.

[@maciej9280]

freehand in a vice with stanley no4 occasionally going too far and blowing the other side ;)

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

If you have a problem with that you can always clamp a board on the other side and have a sacrificial piece.

[@timrothgeb416]

I have been thinking of making a shooting board with a linear bearing and a carriage for a plane. But I am not sure if it will be as beneficial as I think it might be.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I have seen a couple of those. they are a lot of fun. but they do make them a lot bigger and harder to store.

[@timrothgeb416]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo I have seen some flat bearings that are only 12 inches long and allow for a shorter platform. I could put the plane on a wedge giving me a skew blade. Right now I am not convinced it is worth the time or money.

[@lelandallen]

Oh shoot!

[@Martins_Woodshop]

Well, I use a simple shooting board and a no. 4 and… well, I really don‘t like it. Perhaps one day I‘ll by a shooting plane.

[@dpmeyer4867]

thanks

[@magicworldbyjorg]

,a cool video keep up the great content.. Thank you……

[@mizikacibalik]

My problem is i generally work with quite small pieces and those really hard do do in vice Im on the fence if i should make shooting board for those do you think it would help?

[@ricos1497]

Small pieces, small shooting board. Easy! If they're really small (thin), just use a marking knife around the piece with a square and then chisel to the line. Edit: on second thoughts, if you're doing lots of these, build a shooting board. Make a small one that suits your small pieces. I can attest to the fact that the reason I don't use my shooting board is because it's too long and I have to clear everything out of the way to make space for it. The smaller the better and you can always make a bigger one later.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

For small pieces just about any shooting board would work. Sometimes I'll even just use a bench hook and a regular plane.

[@RichardBuckman]

How does a stanley 95 edge trimming plane compare to these?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

It can do the work but it is more difficult as there isn't much mass behind it. So you have to put a lot of force into it and there isn't much of a grip on the plane so it's very hard on your hand. But it can be done

[@anonymousaccordionist3326]

My issue is shooting very small pieces, since my hobby work is usually very small projects.

[@short6691]

I shoot all the book-match center joints on my ukulele fronts and backs. The thin 1/8” or so panels plane easily. Occasionally I have planed end grain when constructing boxes. I use my low angle jack plane and that works well. I have often wished for the “hotdog” handle that Lee Nielsen offered, but alas it has been discontinued. Great info in this video!

[@RYwoodview]

Rob Cosman offers a shaped metal handle you can add to the side of any plane to make it a shooting plane. Check that out.

[@margaretkrantz1469]

I bought a hotdog from Lie Nielsen in person at their shop in Warren, ME, last summer. I was thrilled to get it, because their website hasn't carried it since the pandemic (or before?) It's a beautiful place to visit. :)

[@JoSev813]

I still cannot sharpen my equipment well enough to get the shavings

[@DanielSmith-yu9wq]

I like using my AR.

[@user-ly4so3yg7l]

👍

[@gordonmccall5263]

Aw shoot. Comment down below!

[@uwyphi]

comment down bellow in the comments down bellow :D

[@DetroitSicilian]

Comment down here

[@martingiordano7616]

Cdb

[@spencerjoyce4264]

Comment down below

[@warrenmunn3224]

In America, wouldn't it be more common to get your 9mm/12 Gauge out and just shoot the board?

[@davidlynn7161]

comment down below.

[@jwydubak9673]

Comment down below.

[@alistairdickinson4415]

I built a shooting board following Rob Cosman's design and use it with my standard 5 1/2. It is the most important tool in my shop.

[@michaeldoto4673]

James, have you looked at Paul Sellers vertical shooting board yet? I really like his concept and plan to give it a go, but would love your thoughts on it.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

yes. I have seen it. it is a fun idea!

[@michaelcurry8905]

I use a Veritas shooting plane and a shooting board (or chute board if you're even older than me) with a track and adjustable fence. I use Rob Cosman's method for avoiding blowout by beveling the the distal corner of the workpiece (to my line) before shooting the edge.

[@PedroPereira-ut6pp]

Ofc not James... you just need a gun :D cheers (now to see the video)

[@user-tv7wi6nq9w]

Comment

[@steveshapland8846]

A trick I learned was to chamfer to the line with a chisel. Then shoot with a low angle block plane, either in the vise or with a bench hook.

[@dandelie2067]

I gave up on my shooting board. Freehand is faster.

[@imortaldeadead]

Comments

[@peterturner8766]

I do use my shootingboard with a number 4 plane (or occasionally a number 3). My plane is based on a Paul Sellers' design which has 90º and 45º wedges but has three variations. The first is that, because I have no workbench and have to use a couple of Workmates, it can be clamped into one. This actually means that I can leave it in whilst using the other Workmate for other tasks. The second is that the wedges are the same thickness as the height at which the work sits on the board. That way, the wedge I am not using can be used to support the other end of the work. Credit to Rex Krueger for this as one of his designes inspired the idea. The third is simply that it is left handed. Am I going to pay £430 for a left handed shooting plane? It would be cheaper to drive over to Paul's and pay him to do it for me!

[@ianpearse4480]

I use this method: Vice-held End-grain Guide | Paul Sellers. It's idiot proof, well nearly, I have wrecked a few. LOL.

[@ryanstieglitz8077]

Comment.... Down

[@vince55sanders]

carpal tunnel syndrome board

[@dicksutliff6353]

Paul Sellers has a video of how to build and use a simple vertical, in the vice, shooting board which works quite well. It combines the benefits of your free hand method with the precision of a standard shooting board because you have two hands on the plane and a good registration surface.