Derek Cohen's Tenon Guide

Thanks and all credit goes to Derek for this nifty little tool for those of us looking to gain some accuracy in our tenon cuts. I found this while surfing Derek's blog; In The Woodshop, and as he kindly and sympathetically notes, it's a great tool for those of us challenged by a straight saw cut.

For those interested, please visit his blog, but here's a brief build:


The components (sans hardware)
Attachment 347232

I started by creating the mortise in the sliding top piece:
Attachment 347233 Attachment 347234

I then squared up and glued/screwed together the "L" of the main body:
Attachment 347235

The "tenon" was attached and "through mortise" drilled and filed:
Attachment 347236

Continued....

The "magnet" holder was marked out, drilled, and magnets glued in:
Attachment 347237

Side guides and matching through bolt hole completed:
Attachment 347238

Side guide added to main body:
Attachment 347239

Magnetic piece glued to main body; two part tool now complete:
Attachment 347240

And it works great:
Attachment 347241

This design also helps guide the remaining cuts as well, but my main need was for the cheek cuts.
It was a quick and fun build; just a few scraps and some found hardware.

Again, all credit to Derek, with my thanks!

I should note, that I reversed a few things to make this left handed

Well done Phil!

Regards from Perth

Derek

I'm also made one. The only small improvement I suggest is to put a small rebate or relief at the bottom of the saw guide portion to ensure your saw set doesn't chew it up at the beginning of your cut.

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed reviewing Derek's site (http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...enonGuide.html). I'm curious as to how much the magnets contribute?

Joe, I do believe it could work without the magnets by just keeping the plate firmly up against the fence, but the magnets add a good deal of reassurance (aka idiot proof :)).

That's a slick little guide. Nice job to both you and Derek.

w.r.t. the issue of "straigtness challenge" for cheek cuts, one thing that helped me was to stop treating it as a single cut. I find it easier to cut straight in two dimensions if I work down guidelines along both at the same time. In other words, I use a pair of diagonal cuts followed by a vertical "cleanup cut" to waste the remaining triangle. I had seen that in a number of books/articles, but I had to learn why the hard way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patrick Chase

...but I had to learn why the hard way.

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Is there another way to learn? Heh heh!