Tenon Turning Tool

[Whit AndersonIL]

A friend lent me a tool to turn a tenon to a specified size (a cylinder with the same diameter along its length). The tool has a rectangular shaft with a bend roughly an inch and a half from the tip. There is a sharpened piece of steel mounted on the top of the shaft which can be adjusted in and out over the bent portion of the shaft. The workpiece rides on top of the bent portion of the shaft and the sharpened steel cuts a tenon on the workpiece. When size of the tenon is equal to the space between the cutting edge and the bent shaft directly below the cutting edge, the tenon slides past the cutting edge and no longer gets cut.

Here is a link to a picture:

http://www.whitanderson.com/temp/tenon.jpg

I'd like to get one for myself. I can't see any brand/marking on the tool that tells me who made the tool. Is this tool (or something like it) for sale anywhere?

--Whit

[Jim Burr]

I'm at the bottom of the SMC food chain, but that looks like a custom tool.

[Ron Wessels]

It looks similar in concept to the Sorby Sizing Tool (http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=20257&cat=1,330,49237&ap=1) available from Lee Valley (and undoubtedly others).

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I have one. It's made by a production turner named Rick Reeves. He's been a member of our turning club for a number of years. However Rick just moved last week, I believe to Waverly Iowa. Rick made a living turning Spinning Wheels. If my memory is correct hes made around 10,000 spinning wheels. He was making so many spindles that had to have accurate tenons made quickly,he designed it for his own use.
He had a bunch of people asking him to make them so he did a few small production runs of the tool. He made them in a couple of different sizes. he had hoped to try to get tool companies to try to carry them but none of them were interested so he quit making them a number of years ago.
Long story short you'll have a hard time trying to find one.
Now with that said we have another member of our turning club who is making a very similar tool, with Ricks OK. I could probably get you his contact info if your interested. Might take me a couple of day though.

[Whit AndersonIL]

Joe--

Thanks for all the information. I was afraid it was made by someone (as opposed to by a factory). Your location makes sense as I'm located (as is the friend who lent me this tool) in Chicago's western suburbs. So Rick was not all that far away.

I would be interested in contact information for your friend. I've sent you a pm with my email address.

--Whit