tenoning question

[Gene Michael]

I'll be cutting tenons on some shop turned balusters made of red oak. Woodcraft shows two types of cutters. One is listed as a combo plug and tenon cutter and the other just as a tenon cutter. The first type looks a lot like an elongated plug cutter. The second is a dual blade with a tapered opening to help guide the work. This one is considerably more expensive. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? Any comments will be appreciated!

[Rod Sheridan]

I normally cut tenons on the shaper or tablesaw, depending upon their size.

On the tablesaw I normally use a tenoning jig, unless the piece is too large to stand up in the jig. I am presuming that your balusters will be small enough to use this method.

If you don't have a tenoning jig, you can cut them using your mitre gauge and a dado blade.

On the shaper I use a straight cutter and a sled to feed them past the cutter.

regards, Rod.

[Gene Michael]

Ron, thanks for the recommendations. The dado blade on the table saw sounds like a good way to go.

[Bob Feeser]

Although cutting tenons on the table saw with a miter gauge is one way to do it, I would be very careful, with something as long as a ballister. The possibility of the blade getting caught and causing a kickback is there if you start in the middle. You reduce the chance by starting at the outer edge and working toward the center. A ballister is a long piece, trying to control it going past the blade with a free floating face on a miter gauge is my only concern. A miter gauge with a clamping attachment would be better.
If you have a band saw, it may be better to rough out the waste stock first, then do you final edge cutting on the table saw. In order to get your reference all exactly the same, you would need to use an offset from the fence. In order to get one deep enough to equal the depth of your tenon, you may need to make up an L shaped one out of scrap stock, so you could clamp it to the fence.
You could do the whole thing on a band saw, but I find that getting the edges really perfect on making a tenon on the band saw can be tricky.
Their are also a lot of home made tenoning jigs that can be made without too much fuss. A tenoning jig, whether shop made or bought is ideal for the purpose. (No kidding huh?) :p