Universal Shooting Board

I used to have threeshooting boards for planing end grain: one for 90° cuts, one for 45° horizontal miters and one for 45° vertical miters. Now I’ve combined them all into one.

The jig’s main body is a typical shooting board for trimming pieces at 90°, except that it has long wedges to tilt the bed. (As a part is planed, the bed’s tilt creates a shearing action that makes the plane easier to push. Tilting the bed also results in a cleaner cut.) A cleat fastened under the shooting board’s front edge allows me to clamp the device in my face vise. Slotted screw holes in the stop block allow me to move the block over when it gets worn. PSA-backed sandpaper helps hold the stock in place. APSA-backed strip of UHMW plasticcreates a slick surface for sliding the plane.

Two 45° attachments go on top of the shooting board, up against the stop block. The horizontal mitering attachment is simply a 45° triangle. The vertical mitering attachment is a 45° ramp with a fence. Each attachment has a small tab that engages in a 1/8″ x 1/4″ slot in the middle of the stop block. The tabs lock the attachments in place, so they won’t slide.–Doug Perlick