Supply chain issues and a homemade tapered tenon cutter

[Jason Buresh]

So I have been patiently waiting for a tapered tenon cutter that is backordered due to supply chain issues. This is no fault of the company I ordered it from, so this is not a post bashing them. But, I decided to try something tonight to see if I can move forward with my chair project.

I took a scrap 4x4 and cut of a roughly 12" piece. I then bored a 5/8" hole.
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I then used my Veritas tapered reamer to team the hole. I went all the way flush to the face of the board.
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I then cut away a 90 degree chunk so there is an opening in the reamed hole. I then clamped an extra iron from a junk no 5 to the block and set the depth very very light.
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I didn't want to drill holes and attach the iron with carriage bolts and washers right away as I want to experiment with different depths and settings. But we're I to find a winning combination I would definitely use carriage bolts and fender washers for a Rick solid attachment.

I couldn't find any dowel cut offs in the shop, but I did have a piece of maple to play with. I used a hatchet, drawknife, and spokeshave to get it to a rough size. I then took light cuts while turning and slowly advancing the stock into the cutter. There were times I had to stop and adjust the rough size because it was taking too big of a bite, but in the end I did end up with a serviceable tenon.
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While it certainly won't win any beauty contests, for something that gets stuck in a chair seat and never seen I would say it's good enough. And it's tight.

[Derek Cohen]

Jason, the quality of the tenon surface will improve when your blade is sharper ...




Regards from Perth

Derek

[Alan Schwabacher]

It looks as if it works for you, though the blade looks to be scraping rather than cutting. If you make the plane of the cutter tangent to the surface of the cone, it may slice more cleanly.

Edit: look at how Derek mounted his blade.

[Jim Koepke]

I then clamped an extra iron from a junk no 5 to the block and set the depth very very light.
Click image for larger version.

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It looks as if it works for you, though the blade looks to be scraping rather than cutting. If you make the plane of the cutter tangent to the surface of the cone, it may slice more cleanly.

Edit: look at how Derek mounted his blade.

As Alan said, it looks as if you are scraping instead of shaving. The blade has to be mounted a bit higher on the work:

Dowel Cutter.jpg

Also you may want to have the cut out waste angled in line with the edge of the taper and not the axis of the piece being cut.

jtk

[Jason Buresh]

Thanks everyone for the tips! I still have extra 4x4 left in the shop so I will try a new and improved version

[Jason Buresh]

So I made a new block and moved the cutter up higher, and I definitely get a cut rather than a scrape.

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Much better. Thanks for the advice!

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[Jason Buresh]

I did a mock up joint just for fun. A nice tight fit 👍

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