Making tenons with Veritas tenon cutters

[Joe Cowan]

Can't believe I am having an issue with this. I am building a Maloof rocker. I bought the Veritas 1/2 and 3/8 tenon cutters and tried the 1/2" out last nite on a piece of walnut. I tried by hand first, then put the cutter into my vise, the square end of the walnut into a ratchet wrench and tried that, with result of splintering the piece of wood. I ended up getting enough of a dowel to do the job I wanted, but am wondering how I will get all the spindles done on this rocker if it remains this hard to cut. At least I will have a more substantial grip with the spindles. There must be some tips to ease things. One thing I noticed was how tight the dowel was coming out the end of the tenon cutter. I had to punch it out with a round piece of metal.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Joe
Just a thought, when I cut treads in wood, I have use some type of lubrication on the wood or the treads splinter. I wipe paint thinner on the wood before taping, woods great. Tom

[Joe Cowan]

The dowel I cut fit very tightly into the hole I had drilled. Just thinking, I coulf adjust the back edge of the cutter to make it slightly smaller. It may be that the finished dowel end is too tight going through the exit hole?

[Prashun Patel]

Joe,

I had the same issue doing my rocker spindles too!

Are you using the tapered or straight cutters? You want to use the tapered ones for this.

Also, you want to skew the blade a little so it's wider on the inlet side.

This will have the result of 'pencil sharpening' the tenon on the incoming side, but as it passes the apex of the tenon cutter, it'll stop making it pointy, and will allow the outgoing side to be cylindrical - not conical.

Also, you really have to shave the corners off your blank so that it's 'almost round' going in.

Finally, try putting the cutter in a vise, then chucking the blank in a drill. Put it thru the cutter at very low speed (it heats up fast which can ruin the blade).

Good luck!

[Joe Cowan]

I just tried one of my spindles with the end I know is too long. The spindle gives me more grip, so it is slightly easier. The new problem is the knife is tearing chunks out of the end. I think the cutter is spaced to produce 1/2 proud tenons. The pressure to push the finished end through is causing me to wobble the spindle, thus tearing the wood.