The Almost Universal Shooting Board

Though primarily a machine based woodworker, I often use a shooting board to fine tune parts, both at 90 degrees and 45 degree miters and bevels. I built a couple of shooting boards over the years, one for miters and one for 45 bevels. They work well, but neither can handle other angles and two take up valuable space. When I looked at shooting boards on the market I was shocked at the price of most of them, especially the very simple, fixed angle ones. Just as shocking, many of those can only be used on the left side or the right side, but not both. So if you want to shoot 90 degrees on both the right and left side, you need to buy two units. If you want to shoot 45 degree miters on both the left and right side, you need to buy two more.

I thought it was time for something new, so I developed what I call The Almost Universal Shooting board. In its simplest form, it can shoot any miter angle from 90 to less than 45 degrees. In its full form, it adds the ability to shoot 45 bevels from 90 to less than 45 degrees. I call it The Almost Universal Shooting Board because it can only bevel at 45 degrees and not any angle from 90 to 45 degrees. When I have that worked out, it truly will be The Universal Shooting Board.

The basic unit has overall dimensions of 15 x 20". The top plate and pivot stop are 10" wide. It looks like this:

You can shoot the ends of parts at 90 degrees on both the left and right side. But what makes it unique is that the stop pivots both left and right, too, allowing you to shoot any miter from 90 to less than 45 degrees. As you see it, it's set up to pivot for miters on the left side.

By moving the pivot guide from the left to the right side, you can just as easily shoot miters on the right side.

Whether set at 90 degrees, 45 degrees, or any angle in between, the end of the pivot stop remains flush with the edge of the shooting board so that the workpiece is fully supported against tearout.

I incorporated adjustable and replaceable wear stops so the workpiece is fully supported to resist tearout on the exit side of the cut.

By changing the pivot stop and adding a 45 deg ramp for the plane the shooting board becomes The Almost Universal Shooting Board.

With these add-ons you can shoot 45 degree bevels on parts from 90 to less than 45 degrees, on both left and right side. Here it is moved to the right side.

And there you have it. The Almost Universal Shooting Board is made of PlumaPly, which has a plywood core with 2 mm HDF faces on both sides. It is very flat and has just the right friction and wear characteristics for a shooting board. The pivot stop and adjustable/replaceable stops are made of hardwood, sometimes maple, sometimes cherry. All parts are easily replaced if ever needed.

I've added a fixed 45 degree plate that allows miters to be cut on both the left and right side without having to adjust the pivot stop. It can be mounted in front of the pivot stop or against the back stop if the pivot stop is removed.

I have developed a 24" long version of the shooting board with wider plane ramps to allow mounting of Lee Valley's shooting plane guides. The guides are attached to the board with machine screws that screw into threaded brass inserts, which allows easy removal for use of the bevel kit.

I developed a length flip stop system for my shooting boards. It's based on a commercial fip stop and a 24" section of T track, but the flipper was too large to use with my shooting boards so I designed a new one. It works equally well with square or mitered parts, and is easily moved from the left to right side of the pivot stop, as needed.