Broken Tenon

[Reginald Burgess]

I seriously need some help. I finished turning and sanding the outside and bottom of a cherry bowl today and turned a 3/8 inch tenon on it to turn the inside. As I was removing the glue block from the outside, I broke the tenon. Has anyone ever recovered from this dilemma? I've epoxied the broken pieces and will try to mount the bowl again in the morning but am not sure that will hold it. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[Al Launier]

Pictures???

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Was your tenon cut out of sap wood.
faust

[Reginald Burgess]

No. It was heartwood.

[John Thorson]

Why not turn the bottom or remnant of the previous tenon flat again and glue on another block?

[Paul Williams]

You might be OK with the glued together tenon. After all that is what a glue block really is. I hope you have a center mark in the tenon in case you have to return it. The other possibility is to turn a recess and mount it in expansion mode. I have had one bowl that I needed to remount after it was basically finished and the tenon had been removed. I jammed it between a plate in my chuck and my live center. Then turned a real shallow recess. Just enough to keep the new tenon centered. Then I turned a piece to fit the recess and glued that in place. It turned out centered and ran smooth. Good luck.

[Thomas Canfield]

It looks like more information is needed. How big is the bowl and what is the size of the tenon? How were you holding the blank to turn the outside and form the tenon? Why can't you use the same method to install a new tenon or true up the reglued tenon? I have had several tenons fail on green bowls due to the sap wood, but still ad my original mounting in tack since I will start the hollowing process on larger (10"+D) with the tail stock and live center to give more support for the piece until some of the interior has been removed. I have broken the tenon also getting over confident when removing the cone in the center and just being too aggressive.

[Reginald Burgess]

Thanks for all your ideas. I'll try some in the morning.