Shooting Board

A shooting board is a

jig The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts of ...

for

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...

which is used in combination with a hand plane to trim and square up the edges and ends of boards. It would typically be used on a

workbench A workbench is a sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewellers benches to the huge benches used by ...

. A plank or board with edges planed flat is called a shot edge board. There are two specific purposes to which shooting boards are applied: jointing and

end grain Wood grain is the longitudinal arrangement of wood fibers or the pattern resulting from such an arrangement. Definition and meanings R. Bruce Hoadley wrote that ''grain'' is a "confusingly versatile term" with numerous different uses, including ...

trimming. The design of the shooting board remains fundamentally the same in both cases but the length of the board will vary - with the boards used for jointing being much longer than those intended for end grain trimming. A shooting board consists of a flat board, the ''base'', with a stop at one end, similar to a

bench hook A bench hook is a workbench appliance used in woodworking to hold a workpiece in place while crosscutting with a hand saw. A bench hook is a simple method used to improve accuracy and safety. Construction Bench hooks are simple in constructi ...

, on which the board to be planed is rested. The stop prevents the board from sliding as it is planed. Parallel to the base and slightly lower is a secondary surface, the ''

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

'', which may be a separate board, or may be a

rabbet A rabbet (American English) or rebate (British English) is a recess or groove cut into the edge of a piece of machinable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a rabbet is two-sided and open to the edge or end of the surface in ...

cut into the base. The difference in height between the base and the fence is to allow for the offset of the blade in the hand plane. The purpose of the fence is to guide the plane along the edge of the board being planed such that the blade in the plane is presented at 90 degrees to the base of the shooting board. Assuming that the sides of the hand plane being used are perpendicular to the sole, this ensures an edge that is at 90 degrees to the face of the board. For end grain trimming, the board is placed on the shooting board so that an edge adjacent to the end to be trimmed is hard against the stop. The

woodworker Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

will usually have scribed a line on the end to indicate how far to trim the board. The hand plane is rested on its side on the fence and held firmly against the end of the board whilst being pushed along its length. Jointing is performed the same way except that the board is oriented so that one end is against the stop and the edge to be jointed faces the fence. One problem faced when using shooting boards repetitively is that the blade in the hand plane becomes worn very quickly in one spot. This requires frequent

sharpening Sharpening is the process of creating or refining the edge joining two non-coplanar faces into a converging apex, thereby creating an edge of appropriate shape on a tool or implement designed for cutting. Sharpening is done by removing material ...

to ensure smooth and accurate cutting. The ''ramped shooting board'' addresses this problem by introducing a slope to the fence. As the hand plane moves along the fence, the slope causes the part of the blade in contact with the board to move along the blade's length. This even exposure of wood along the whole blade allows a longer blade life, as sharpening is less frequent. Shooting boards can be made in various sizes and shapes to accommodate different tasks and it would not be uncommon to find a number of them in the

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

. One accessory that may be fitted to a shooting board is an angled stop, most commonly at 45 degrees. This allows mitres to be trimmed. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shooting Board Woodworking hand tools Woodworking appliances