Best tool for making tenons?

[Jack Gaskins]

What do you guys use to make you tenons. I tried the skew but just kept tearing up the wood, I could figure it out. I see that some use a parting tool to make narrow tenons but what about deep tenons?

[Donny Lawson]

I'm not that educated yet but I would use a parting tool.
Donny

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jack,

For narrow tenons most people use a parting tool or a bedan.


For longer tenons....same tools.


I use nothing but a skew. If your skew is tearing the wood, you have one of few possible problems. 1) You are using it in a scraping mode and not in a shear cutting mode. or 2) Your skew is extremely dull. A sharp skew will leave a surface that requires NO SANDING.

If you don't have Alan Lacer's DVD "The Skew Chisel...The Dark Side- The Sweet Side" buy it. It is incredibly informative about sharpening and using a skew.

While his skew chisels are great, a regular old skew chisel can work very well and in fact, that's what Lacer recommends everyone use at first.

The skew chisel is my favorite tool.

[Harvey Mushman]

.....Bedan.....

(All the extra dots are because the forum software would not allow me to write simply...Bedan. 10 character minimum)

[Steve Schlumpf]

I use a bowl gouge to form the tenon and a parting tool to square up the area where the jaws will seat on the blank.

[Michael Short]

I second Ken's recommendation on Alan Lacer's video. I have a whole new love for the skew after watching the video. The information from the has improved my use of the skew greatly and I have started using it to make tenons and it makes a great tool for planing the work smoothly.
I use the parting tool as well for a tenon.

[David E Keller]

I use the bowl gouge for the rough size and shape then clean it up with a parting tool or scraper.

[Reed Gray]

I use a dove tail scraper. Some times rough with a bowl gouge, but other times a spindle gouge because I can get a straight square corner on the shoulder. I use tenons almost exclusively for end grain turnings.

robo hippy

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dovetail scraper or bedan.

[Ron Bontz]

Bedan then follow it up with a skew. Sometimes just a skew.:)

[Hilel Salomon]

I think that it depends on the chuck jaws you will be using. If you are using a oneway chuck and need straight tenons, then a bedan, parting tool or bowl gouge will do fine. If you are using vicmarc or supernova chucks which require a tapered tenon, a bedan w/a twist, dovetail scraper or-and I generally use this-angled skew does a great job.
Hilel.

[Steve Trauthwein]

Bedan.....

[Ken Glass]

Here's the way I do mine. I use my Easy rougher tool (with the square bit) and just plunge to the proper depth. It can make both straight and tapered tenons and the cut is always square to the chuck jaws. For me it is both fast and accurate.

[Mark Levitski]

Jack,

You're more apt to tear the wood if you attempt to cut directly into any end grain. If you're making a tenon on a faceplate piece, then approach cutting the shoulder from the tailpiece along the lathe axis, not in from the side or 90 degrees to that axis where you will hit endgrain on two sides of the tenon. If it's an endgrain piece, then it's different.

On facegrain I can usually get a good shoulder with just a bowl gouge, but if I need it I sometimes will use a skew, point only and on it's side like a scraper, to detail the tenon/shoulder junction after roughing w/the gouge. If you use just a little of the skew point and take a little at a time, you can finesse the form of the tenon and shoulder. I also use a parting tool in the same manner at times. And I suppose one of those spearpoint scrapers would work as well. Cutting the base or tenon on a facegrain piece is just like cutting the inside bottom of a bowl as far as grain orientation.

If you're like me, the more you turn the easier and more automatic it will get. Good luck..........Mark

[Jack Gaskins]

Well, I guess I will order a bedan tool and see how that goes.

[Matt Hutchinson]

I love the skew too. :D Nothing against a bedan, but you can use a skew just like you would a bedan or parting tool. Bedans and parting tools function by using a peeling cut. They are basically extra narrow and sturdy straight edge skews. Using a skew to peel cut the tenon, no matter if it has a straight or radiused edge, is a great way to rough out tenons. Then it's just a matter of cleaning up the endgrain shoulder, and possibly a few final passes on the tenon, and you're good to go.

Hutch

[Ryan Baker]

A skew peeling cut is fine if you have spindle-oriented grain...

I rough it out with a gouge, since that is almost always the tool in my hand when I am needing to make a tenon. Follow that with a bedan to clean it up either square or dovetailed depending on the chuck.

[Allen Neighbors]

I use my Bedan. Most of the tenons I make are 3/8, and that's the width of my Bedan cutter. Works well for me.

[Sean Hughto]

Jack, reading this thread, I get the impression that there is some confusion as to whether you are asking about forming tenons for bowl type (grain perpendicular to the lathe axis) turning or spindle type (grain parallel to the axis) turning. If you are asking about turning a tenon on a bowl to fit into a chuck so you can then turn the inside, the answer would likely be any number of gouges and scrapers will get you there. If you are asking about turning a tenon on something like a windsor chair leg, a skew etc. may be better alternatives.

[Jack Gaskins]

Jack, reading this thread, I get the impression that there is some confusion as to whether you are asking about forming tenons for bowl type (grain perpendicular to the lathe axis) turning or spindle type (grain parallel to the axis) turning. If you are asking about turning a tenon on a bowl to fit into a chuck so you can then turn the inside, the answer would likely be any number of gouges and scrapers will get you there. If you are asking about turning a tenon on something like a windsor chair leg, a skew etc. may be better alternatives.

I was just asking in general what turners used. Being new to turning I tried using my skew and the results were less than what I liked so I used a shallow gouge. Guess I need to work on how to approach the skew to the wood to get the proper peeling action going. Just didnt know if a skew was easier to use on tenons vs a skew.

[Steve Kubien]

I don't own a bedan. I use a parting tool and then a skew to form the dovetail. Why order another tool you don't have and may not need?