ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Shooting board

A shooting board is like a helper for cutting and shaping pieces of wood. Imagine you are playing with building blocks, and you want to make sure they all have straight edges and are the same length. You could use a shooting board to help you do that!

A shooting board is made up of a flat surface and a fence. The flat surface is like a table where you place the wood you want to cut or shape. The fence is like a wall that keeps the wood in place. It's important to have a flat surface and a straight fence, so your pieces of wood come out just right.

When you want to cut a piece of wood, you first take a plane (a special tool) and place it on the shooting board. The plane has a sharp blade at the bottom that shaves off very thin layers of wood. It's sort of like a super-duper sharp cheese grater!

Then, you hold your piece of wood against the fence and push it forward. The plane cuts a little bit of wood off the edge as it slides across the flat surface. By pushing the wood against the fence and sliding it along, you can make sure the edge becomes straight and smooth.

The shooting board helps you cut the wood the same length every time. It's like a magical ruler! When you want all the pieces of wood to be the same length, you use the fence as a guide. You line up the end of the wood with the fence, then push it forward as the plane cuts it. This way, all the pieces come out exactly the same length.

So, the shooting board is like a special table with a wall that helps you cut wood to be straight and the same size. It makes building things with wood much easier and more precise!