amyb54•22d ago

Noticed a huge difference in my joinery after switching to a shooting board

I've been doing basic dovetails for about 3 years but they always had tiny gaps I'd have to hide with glue and sawdust. Finally built a simple shooting board and sharpened my block plane to a mirror edge about 2 months ago. The difference in fit is night and day, I can actually slide joints together by hand now with no gaps. Has anyone else noticed that kind of improvement just from better edge prep?

2 comments

2 Comments

seth_allen22d ago

Man that's exactly what happened to me. Spent years struggling with gaps and feeling like I just wasn't good enough at cutting straight. Built a shooting board last winter and spent a weekend getting my block plane scary sharp. First time I took a pass on a tail board and it came out perfectly square I just sat there staring at it for a minute. Those tiny gaps that needed glue and sawdust just vanished. It's almost embarrassing how long I waited to do it.

the_avery22d ago

Oh man, sharpening was a total game changer for me too... I spent years fighting with dull tools thinking "eh, it's good enough." Getting that mirror edge on my plane made everything just click into place way easier.