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Nice solution Bob.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Sometimes I have "off fall" from another project and wind up with a number of pieces which are all the same dimension but too short to work with in a conventional manner. The "sandwich method" looks like a good solution.

"I’m wondering if there are any tricky traditional methods for jointing/planing short pieces of wood, like tthe 90-110mm long pieces I use for guitars and uke neck heels. When gluing neck heel blocks to the neck shaft, I usually am able to joint or plane long pieces and then cut them into the shorter heel pieces that I use. However, as it goes with processing wood, I often end up with some short, unjointed pieces that I would like to use. Hard to plane a 90mm long piece for joining to the neck shaft. The woods involved are Spanish cedar, Honduras mahogany, and Australian red cedar. Thanks, Bob"

I do it with hand tools. In the foreground of the attached picture, you can see my shooting board. It uses the Veritas shooting plane and track. I recently build a much smaller shooting board with the same type of track. Right behind the shooting board is my planing board. The stop is slightly wedged, so I can easily replace it. I use the shooting board several times a day. I plane things that are very small, such as rosette logs, all the way up to the joint on a top or back. It was just the length of the shooting board, where I had to lean over so far, that resulted in a smaller one. The track and shooting plane is very easy and accurate and ready to go. I recently bought the Veritas sanding tool that rides in the same track as the shooting plane. It is very effective as well. Now, when I get close with a rosette log, I use the sander.

In the background, just to the right of, and slightly behind the drill press, is a granite plate (it has a wooden cover, and my mini table saw is on it right now), on which I put PSA sandpaper. When I stack a heel, I sand the blocks on the granite plate. One stroke, turn 90 degrees, one stroke, turn 90 degrees . . . It does not take long to get a very flat surface. I got rid of my jointer a few years ago. When everything is set up to go, a shooting board is very convenient, safe, and relaxing. I built the cradle on which the granite plate sits, so I could clamp a fence on it. The angle of the picture makes the workbenches look very close together, but they are 3-4 feet apart, so it is very comfortable to go back and forth.

Quite a few years ago I bought that Veritas shooting plane. Veritas was at the GAL in Tacoma showing off their tools. The exhibitor was calling that a shooting plane for jointing things like tops and backs. I did end up buying one. It did not measure up to my old Bailey jointer plane with a Hock blade. I tried very hard to make it work, and it did kind of, but took too much fidgeting around. It liked to slightly dish the center of the cut.I called Veritas about it and they told me it was actually designed for shooting end grain, like for doing miters. I sold it on eBay. Guess I'm hard o please because I also bought a Lie Nielsen jointer plane, but sold it too. The side shoulder on the LN was much shorter than my Bailey and not nearly as stable. A good old Bailey with a Hock blade is hard to beat. I do use LN planes for other things and they work great for the purposes for which they are designed.

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Ah, I never noticed the track for that shooting plane. I was always puzzled by the photos showing the guy pushing it one handed, which doesn't look like it would give much control at all. I always use both hands on my Krenov style plane when jointing tops and backs, which gives precise control of the pressure throughout the stroke (doesn't work very well on small things though).

...but looking at the price for both the plane and the shooting board, I don't think I'll ever find out how well it works.

"It did not measure up to my old Bailey jointer plane with a Hock blade. I tried very hard to make it work, and it did kind of, but took too much fidgeting around. It liked to slightly dish the center of the cut.I called Veritas about it and they told me it was actually designed for shooting end grain, like for doing miters. I sold it on eBay."

I have Hock blades in my bevel-down planes, and they are much easier to sharpen. So a few years ago, when I got the shooting plane, I felt the same way. The A2 steel in my Veritas planes is another kettle of fish. I spent some time on Neanderthal forum, and got better at sharpening, and the A2 blades now easily sharpen like my Hock plane blades. Prior to the Veritas, I used a regular No. 5 plane, on which I had the right side and bottom surface ground, as a shooting plane. The shape and heft of the Veritas is so much more stable. Because the shooting board/plane is more stable, it is easier, at least for me, to get the little bit of light showing in the middle of the join, because I just put more pressure on the wood (pushing it into or toward the plane. My shooting board can easily shoot a 30" long board that is under 2 1/8" high.

That is a real head-scratcher - the shooting plane has the same bed angle and everything as their smoother (see attached picture). So, what Veritas is saying then, is their smoother is not a smoother, but an end grain plane! Who knew? The low bed angle is conducive to planing grain, but the honed angle of a blade itself is quite important. The blades of the shooting plane and smoother are interchangeable, and so I have several different angled blades and their toothing blade, which was more sensible when the use is not limited to one plane.

I find the track to be very helpful. I hold/push the wood with my left hand, and push the plane with my right - very effective. The one thing is that after a while, the low friction tape begins to come off. I plan on trying a solid piece of UHMW plastic. In the attached pictures, you can see how I lengthened the effective length of the track to 30" and I could get more length if needed. The total length of the track, including my additions, is 36", but there has to be track on both ends to support the plane. It took me a while to get used to the whole set-up, but now, it is an integral part of my building and I would be hard-pressed to get along without it. But of course, what works for one, may not work or be worth it for another.