Sawing a perfect tenon

[Derek Cohen]

I designed this guide about 4 or 5 years ago and offered it to Lee Valley, who looked into producing it. In the end, however, LV decided that they could not find a way to manufacture it cheaply enough as a commercial proposition. So finally I now have the design back and I am passing to the public to build for private use. I just hate to see a great design not get used.


http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/TenonGuide_html_29c40e46.jpg


Link: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/TenonGuide.html


Regards from Perth


Derek

[george wilson]

Surprising that they could not make this economically.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Thanks Derek, this looks very interesting.

[Sean Hughto]

At the time LV came out with their magnetic dovetail guide, I was unsatisfied enough with my DT efforts that I bought it to try. It worked okay, but dreadfully slow in both set up for each cut and too fine a saw (slow cutting). Also, the tolerances are so close for good fitting DTs that you had to be super vigilant in your set up of the jig. I used it for maybe two projects and its been in a drawer ever since. The good thing about it was that the jig made a few things clear to me about the process generally that helped me in making them free hand. So, do you know whether LV has considered its magnetic DT jig a success and good seller?

[Pat Barry]

I designed this guide about 4 or 5 years ago and offered it to Lee Valley, who looked into producing it. In the end, however, LV decided that they could not find a way to manufacture it cheaply enough as a commercial proposition. So finally I now have the design back
So you are saying that they held on to the design for 5 years before getting back to you? That's a bit strange. I would have thought they would disposition this pretty quickly. Why just give it to them anyway? That's awful generous.

[Jim Matthews]

I think Derek and our Man in Ottawa are pretty tight, already.

Thanks to Derek for passing on this jig.
It's a winner, with plenty of adjustment built in.

It's particularly clever, that it can be used
for both rip and crosscuts.

kudos

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Pat and George

Over this time, LV have been busy with and produced a lot of tools for the woodworking market. The market is really very small, and LV take a big risk every time they invest in a new tool design. I had the idea for this Guide when I was evaluating a saw fence for them, and sent it back along with my evaluation. The reception of the idea was good, and they did some work on it, even built a working model. In the end it just was not economical to produce.

I must admit that I held my breath a couple of times over the past few years when I heard someone had designed and built a tenon guide. However none of them were similar.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

At the time LV came out with their magnetic dovetail guide, I was unsatisfied enough with my DT efforts that I bought it to try. It worked okay, but dreadfully slow in both set up for each cut and too fine a saw (slow cutting). Also, the tolerances are so close for good fitting DTs that you had to be super vigilant in your set up of the jig. I used it for maybe two projects and its been in a drawer ever since. The good thing about it was that the jig made a few things clear to me about the process generally that helped me in making them free hand. So, do you know whether LV has considered its magnetic DT jig a success and good seller?

Hi Sean

I also bought one of the dovetail guides when starting down this path. It did not get used much as it removed some of the complexity from this joint gave me the confidence to go without it. I think that it is an excellent jig, and imagine it had sold well enough as it is still being manufactured.

My thought was that the Tenon Guide would have been a natural "family" member. The mortice-and-tenon is actually the more difficult joint, and it is certainly more commonly used in traditional joinery. Perhaps this one may inspire more to use the joint in the furniture they build, for the same reasons we have found.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[paul cottingham]

What a great little jig. Thanks for this, Derek. I know what I'm building this week while I recover from surgery. Small light parts!

[Jim Matthews]

You could get Terry to make something,
brass and Ironwood, I reckon.

I'll be making one of these,
for my own self.

Where do I send the royalty check?

[Derek Cohen]

Where do I send the royalty check?

:D

Jim, enjoy!

Regards from Perth

[Zach Dillinger]

Derek, I like this guide. Simple enough to make, simple to use. It will surely help some folks with their tenon work. Well done, and good on you for just putting this out there for public consumption.

Zach

[Derek Cohen]

Thank you Zach.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Prashun Patel]

thanks for posting. Very timely for me. Thanks.

[Sean Hughto]

Your guide looks good, by the way. And it is certainly very generous to share it with the world!

I was just trying to think about whether LV had passed because the magnetic DT saw guide was not a big seller? I guess it's more complicated than that. By the way, yours is more appealing to my mind because it uses a real saw among other things.