Tenon Cutters for Rustic Furniture - experience?

[Bill Fleming]

I am trying my hand at making some Thomas Moser style stools. Lots of small areas that require new "brain wrinkles" anyway I am trying to find a way to efficiently make accurate round tenons on legs and stretchers.

Some tenon cutters that mount in a drillpress require lots of setup and adjusting since table must be turned 90 degrees to hold stock and then difficult to hold round stock.

The Woodsmith way of cutting the tenons on a router table works well for legs and stretchers that are not tapered.

Anyway - it looks like some of the tenon cutters intended for rustic log type furniture might be just the ticket. Since these cutters in a 1" size are expensive I would to know if anyone has any experience with them, especially in "finished" furniture and not just rough and rustic? The ones that seem of very high quality are from Woodcraft.

[Gary Keedwell]

Bill... a recent magazine (not sure which one) had a fixture you can use on your table saw to make tenons. It is a simple fixture you can make yourself. I think all you need is a stacked dado set.

Gary K.;)

[Bill Fleming]

Yeah Gary I think I saw that - it was a fixture to turn round tenons on a square leg - interesting but like the Woodsmith method really works best on straight legs rather than either tapered or barrel shaped.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Bill,

I haven't tried mine out yet but I was going to try it with my slow speed right angle drill with the piece clamped. I think this will make working with irregular shapes pieces easier. Maybe I should do it this week so I can give you a more complete report. I bought it at Woodcraft.

[David Martino]

I haven't tried them but did you look at Lee Valley? Seem to remember they have a fairly serious catalog page or two devoted to this.

[Alan Turner]

Bill,
I cut a lot of round tenons on square stock using the drill press. I used to just flip the table to 90 degrees, but of late I have made a right angle jig, where one leg is on the flat of the horiz table, and the other leg is down, well short of the floor. Install a strip of wood parallel to the edge of the down leg, and this will register the leg stock. Then take a rough measurement, and cut a block of wood that is the correct length from the bottom of the leg to the floor. That way you are not relying on a clamp to hold the height of the stock against the pressure of the chuck. This will only work if you can rotate the DP table around the column.

I always cut the tenon on the stock before shaping the stock. That way, the set up is easy and reliable. I use tenon cutters, from about 1/2" up to 1 3/8", and the results are good. For making several of these, make some relief cuts so that air can get to the bit as quite a bit of head develops. When we are doing 20 or 30 of these sequentially, one person shoots compressed air at the bit at all times to help with cooling.