A Ramped Shooting Board in Walnut and Maple – Part 2

In my last post, I started the construction of a ramped shooting board for my newly acquired Veritas Shooting Plane.  The board is designed to work with the Veritas 24-inch shooting track that I purchased at the same time.  As this post grew to be rather lengthy, I decided to break it into two.  I really must learn to be more discerning with my photographs as this project has ended up with over 130.  As in the previous post, I am going to let the image captions tell most of the story and fill in where needed.

You can read the first installment here:  A Ramped Shooting Board in Walnut and Maple – Part 1

The last post ended with the shooting board glued up and in clamps.  I removed the clamps and then went to the table saw to flush cut the off side of the board.

Flush cutting the off side at the table saw.

I smoothed the table saw cut with a hand plane.

The glue line came out nice and tight.

I flushed up the front of the shooting board at the cross-cut sled.  Only about 1/32″ cut off.

I couldn’t use the cross-cut sled to flush cut the back edge, as the blade would not lift up high enough.  I made this cut against the fence making sure to keep constant pressure against the fence and prevent kickback.  I would not make this cut without a riving knife.

And then flushed up the back edge.

It was at this point that I noticed my first mistake.  In the front of the shooting board, the track was tight against the ramp (and sitting nicely in its intended rabbet).  However, at the back of the board, there was a gap between the ramp and the track.  I had paid special attention to getting this right at the time of glue-up, or at least I thought I had.  The ramp must have shifted as I tightened the clamps. Damn!

The track was tight against the ramp at the front.

The ramp must have shifted during glue up. This won’t work!

I knew that I would not be satisfied with the end project if I left things as they were, and resolved to try to fix it.  I removed the screws from the track and then pushed it up tight against the ramp.  This showed that the screw holes were only half-a-hole misaligned and so close that I couldn’t just move the track over and re-install the screws.  The screws would have only gone back into the original holes and pulled the track back out.  The holes would have to be filled and new pilot holes drilled.

The misalignment is slight and too close to just try drilling a new pilot hole.

I removed the track from the base board and carved some walnut “nails”.

I glued them in and let them dry.

I flush cut the “nails” and them paired them perfectly flush with a sharp chisel.

I took my time reinstalling the track. I clamped it tightly in place and then re-created the pilot holes with an awl and drill bit.

That’s better.

With the board ramp and track more or less done, I turned my attention to the fence.  In the previous post, I glued up a length of walnut to use for both the fence and the hook.  A shooting board will work better (and reduce back edge blow out) if it has a fence that fits very close to the cutting edge of the plane.  As the end of the fence might get cut by the plane and slowly eroded, it make sense to have an adjustable and replaceable zero clearance face on the fence.  Since I used maple for the wedges of the board, I went back to my lumber rack to see if I had any small pieces of maple that I could use to make the zero clearance fence face.  I found this:

Back to the lumber rack to look for something to make a sacrificial fence from. I settled on this.

Ripped on the bandsaw, jointed, and planed. I squared the opposing edge on the table saw.

Here’s where I made my second mistake.  I have a router table that I picked up on Craigslist a couple of years ago.  It is a Grizzly G0528.  I must confess, I have actually never used it.  However, it has seen plenty of use as a table; it’s covered in protective paper and stacked with all assortment of objects.  It came with a very old router that I have also never used.  The table has a cast iron top and because of this can’t make use of a router lift.   My plan has always been to build a router table with a plate insert and put a Triton router in it.  My current table would take so long to set up that I have never bothered.   If I had a large routing job to do, I would take the time, but for the past two years the need has not arisen as I’ve only needed a router for small odd jobs.

I wanted to route two slots in the maple fence to accept the washer and head of the brass screws that will use to secure it.  I put a ⅝-inch straight bit in my laminate trim router and clamped it in my vise.  I set up the fence on the router and tried to make the first slot.  The fence shifted and the workpiece was chewed up.  Perhaps, on second thought, this was not the safest way to proceed, so I scrapped the idea.

Bad idea. It jumped all around and chewed up the slot.

I had to go back to the lumber pile and rip and mill another fence from the piece of maple.  I figured that a series of stopped holes on the drill press cleaned up with a chisel would work.

I used my WoodOwl Overdrive bit at the drill press.

I drilled a series of overlapping holes and then cleaned up the bottom with a small router plane.

With the fence set in the same position, I drilled a series of through holes with a ¼-inch bit to create the slot.

I’m not really happy with this. It looks a little rough. I did clean up the slots with a file after this photo.

I taped the sacrificial maple fence to the main walnut fence and drilled very shallow holes at the left side of each slot (just enough to mark the location) .

I’m going to use brass threaded inserts to attach the fence to the board and the sacrificial fence to the main fence. These require a ⅜-inch pilot hole and so I set up my drill press accordingly.

Using a ⅜-inch brad point bit, I enlarged these two holes to accept the brass threaded inserts.

Brass threaded inserts can be tricky to install with a screwdriver, but using your drill press is a great way to put them in straight with no fuss.  I should point out here, DO NOT TURN ON YOUR DRILL PRESS.  In fact, unplug it in case of a brain fart!  The chuck gets turned manually.

I jammed two nuts together on a ¼-20 threaded shaft and mounted it in the drill press. The threaded insert then screws on for installation.

I installed the threaded insert by using slight downward pressure on the drill press handle, while I used an allen key to turn the chuck manually.

Here you can see one partially threaded in.

The slots on the sacrificial maple fence look a little better after filing.

I drilled stopped holes for the bolt heads that will hold the fence assembly to the board.

The left through hole was done with a ¼-inch bit (the same thickness as the bolt).

The right through hole was drilled with a 5/16-inch bit. This will intentionally create a little slop and allow for fine adjustment of the fence.

I clamped the fence assembly to the board after squaring it. I then used the same two brad point drill bits to prick the board.

The small prick marks left on the board show where to center the ⅜-inch holes for the threaded inserts.

The ramp of the shooting board is at approximately a 5° angle relative to the base.  This meant that I needed to tilt my drill press table to the same angle.  The ⅜-inch holes for the threaded inserts in the board had to be drilled at a 5° angle relative to the base board.  This was so that they would be perpendicular to the ramp.

I stood the shooting board up on the bench and set a sliding bevel to the match the angle.

I tilted the drill press table to the same angle and drilled ⅜-inch holes for the treaded inserts.

After installing the inserts.

I did a quick dry assembly to test that it all fit together as intended.

I installed the fence to make sure everything fit as it should.

So far, so good.

Now that the board does not have to be put onto any more power tools, I can finally install the hook that I made in Part 1.  This is a cross grain joint and I need to allow for wood movement.  The hook will be glued and screwed in the center only.  This way the ends can float, expanding and contracting as needed.

To attach the hook, I used a small amount of glue, and then only at the center.

I then installed and tightened the screw.

At this point my earlier screw-up with the router paid big dividends. The piece of maple that was going to be my 1st fence was still sitting on my bench.  I picked it up, and as dumb luck would have it, it was a near perfect fit for the gap at the back of the shooting board.  If I install it with the chewed up slot facing inwards, no-one will ever know (other than you of course).

This piece was my failed first attempt at a sacrificial fence.

As luck would have it, its a near perfect fit for the gap at the back of the shooting board.

I cut it to length, planed it for a tight fit, and then glued it in place.

Trimming the excess from the hook.

At this point, I was done…. But….  I had these two off-cuts left on the bench from when I trimmed the wedges.  I noticed one of them really had some fantastic grain.  I thought I might try my hand at a little basic inlay.

These are the ends of the wedges that were trimmed off a little earlier.

At the bandsaw, I cut off four slices.

I experimented with where to place them on the board and decided on this:

I cut these four slices down into squares, capturing the best of the curly grain in the parts that I kept.

I traced the maple with a marking knife and then chiseled inside.

I cleaned up with my small router plane.

I excavated all four squares and then glued the curly maple in place.

None of my clamps could reach the fourth inlay, so I put some blocks under the ramp and used a hold down for clamping pressure.

After the glue dried, the inlays were a little proud.

I used a freshly sharpened plane to flush up the inlay.

I went over the ramp with 240 grit paper in the random orbit sander.

I sharpened the iron in my block plane, and then chamfered all the edges.

That softened things nicely.

The wood looked amazing when the Danish Oil went on. I was very pleasantly surprised.

I kept applying it until the wood would soak up no more.

I then dried all the surfaces as thoroughly as possible and left the finish to cure for a week.

Again, I could have stopped at this point, but I thought that a coat or two of shellac would protect the board and also enhance the grain a little.

I made a 50/50 mix of seal coat and alcohol. This should be about a 1lb. cut?

A couple of coats on the bottom before flipping to over to do the top.

Using a foam brush, I put on about three light coats about 20-30 minutes apart.  This left the surface uneven and rough.  I was decidedly not happy with the results.  I’ve never used shellac on a large surface before, only on plane totes and knobs.  I wasn’t expecting the glass smooth sheen of french polish, but I suppose I was expecting better results than I achieved.  I sanded back the finish with 320 grit paper hoping to remove the high spots and flatten things out.

A couple of coats on the top left things looking a little rough and un-even.

I’ll sand this back and add another coat or two.

Sanding shellac proved to be difficult even after allowing it to dry for 24 hours.  Little balls of finish form on the surface of the sandpaper and either mark the surface of the work piece or prohibit the sandpaper from cutting.  I persevered, cleaning the sandpaper with a brass bristled brush every minute or so.  I flattened the finish as best I could and then brushed on two more light coats. This improved things, but I still felt that it could have been better.

Next time, I think that I will keep the Danish Oil first to bring out the color and grain, follow it with a coat or two of shellac (to seal off the oil finish), sand, but finish up with a few coats of water based poly.  I’d be interested to see how different this looks.

I think the back and edges came out looking good.

I now need to attach the fence, but don’t want it to slip while in use. Sandpaper on the bottom of the fence should work.

I cut some strips of self-adhesive sandpaper.

I stuck them to the bottom of the fence.

I installed and squared the fence, then tightened the screws.

The remaining parts of the shooting board kit; the track guide bar, low friction tape, and hardware.

The plane now glides beautifully on the low friction tape.

Here you can clearly see the two strips of low friction tape.

Making some test cuts.

At this point I realized that I accidentally chamfered the left front edge of the adjustable fence when I was softening all the edges.  Oppps!  It will wear away.

Nice and square.

That’s it.  It’s all done.  Time for some glamour shots.

The finished project.

A beautifully designed plane now has a (hopefully) worthy base.

I’m very happy with how this turned out.

The inlays really weren’t needed, but I think that add a nice visual pop.

The “hook” on the back edge of the board also allows the shooting board to be held securely in the face vise.

Clamping in the vise prevents any movement while in use.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this one.   I know that it has been a long post.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or comments.

Also, am I using too many images?  These two posts felt strained (perhaps that’s not the best choice of word) to write.  Editing and captioning 130+ images made it a bit of a chore.  I think that writing such long posts is certainly reducing the frequency of my posts.  I’m down to about 1 or two a month.  I don’t mind this if the quality of the post is good.  I’d rather publish two good things than eight that were mediocre.  However, my other concern is that people may see how long the post is and decide it’s too much effort to read.

The next one will not be an epic.  Stay tuned for my take on end grain cutting boards.

– Jonathan White