Cutting a round tenon in the end of a dowel

[Michael Peet]

I would like to make a 3/4" diameter tenon on the end of a 1" dowel, like this:

dowel_tenon.png

The shoulders need to be square, not tapered or rounded so those "rustic furniture" tenon cutters won't work. I was looking at these at Lee Valley; anyone have any comments?

Thanks!

Mike

[Jason Roehl]

Hole saw and a hand saw.

[pat warner]

Can be routed.
Sample here was fixed in a jig whilst a rabbet bit spun around it.

[Phil Erup]

If I was doing it, I'd set my table saw blade 1/8" high, lock the mitre and turn the dowel while cutting.

[Van Huskey]

I am assuming you don't have a lathe...

If not I would make a jig and use a router.

Sure you don't have a lathe...

[Mike Cutler]

If you only have one to do, I'd do it on a table saw just like Phil suggested. It can also be done quite fast on a jointer using the Rabbet ledge. The fence becomes the positive stop.
If you have a lot of them to do, there is a jig in Hylton's Router Magic to do it. It's basically a wooden block with a 1" hole bored through it, and 90 degrees opposite that hole is a another hole that a router bit extends up into.
Set the bit height inside the 1" hole, and start feeding the dowel stock through it.
Should you ever have to it with square stock, just find some plastic piping that has an inside diameter equal to the diagonals of the square stock and it's done the same way.

[jonathan eagle]

I am assuming you don't have a lathe...

If not I would make a jig and use a router.

Sure you don't have a lathe...

Now that's a coincidence,
I had to do this same thing last night and used my lathe.
Not kidding! It was broken wooden pin that held on a dowell for a shaker shawl chair.

[Shawn Pixley]

You might be able to improvise if there were only one or two needed. Chuck it in your drill press. Use a file / rasp / cutter to remove the material to the 3/4" dimension. Not high precision, but would likely be adequate if you are careful.

[keith micinski]

If I was doing it, I'd set my table saw blade 1/8" high, lock the mitre and turn the dowel while cutting.

I agree with this also.

[Michael Peet]

Thanks for the ideas fellas. I am not sure exactly how many I need to make, but it will probably be less than 10. No, I don't have a lathe, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation

The table saw idea made me cringe at first, but upon further reflection I might be able to make it work.

If worse comes to worse I will forgo the tenon and glue it right into a 1" hole. The problem is the dowel is slightly under 1" in diameter, and this will leave a visible gap. It's a freebee job so I'm not going to drive myself nuts over it, but by the same token I hate doing a half-assed job.

Mike

[Alan Schaffter]

Remember the tenon doesn't need to be cut at the end of the dowel. It is often easier to hold and cut the tenon on a router table or tablesaw if you start with a longer piece and leave some extra full diam. dowel at the end. Just cut it off/to length when done.

Depending on how long each finished dowel will be, you may be able to make multiple tenoned dowels in a long dowel rod, then cut them apart when done.

[Gary Herrmann]

Google hollow auger. Vintage hand tool that was designed to do precisely what you're looking for. I've got two. A Miller Falls and an AA Woods. I like the Woods better, but they seem to be very popular on the bay recently, and so may get expensive. Make sure the one you get has a depth stop - they seem to get lost fairly regularly. You'll need a brace to turn the auger. These tools work very well. You'll probably have to sharpen the cutter. Both fixed and adjustable sizes were made. Both of mine are adjustable. You can find them with all the parts for $20 or less if you're just a little bit patient.

Auction 170787309362 has an AA Woods hollow auger and a spoke pointer (for chamfering the ends of the tenon - common in chair making). The auction ends in about 4 hours. Not mine. Just used as an example. Decent price too.

[Alan Schwabacher]

If you can find one, I agree that a hollow auger is the way to go. They cut very clean shoulders, as you can see by the blade orientation in the photo of the auction mentioned above. The tenons wind up surprisingly clean as well. A spoke pointer makes it faster to use, but is not needed. You can just whittle the end of your stock small enough to fit into the hollow auger instead.

[Michael Peet]

I went with the tablesaw method and it worked unbelievably well. I set up some fences and a stop on my crosscut sled, leaving the sled stationary and rotating the dowel into the blade (against the direction the blade spins).

P1020658.20.jpg

Once I got all the way to the stop I slid the dowel back and forth over the blade, rotating it a little at a time, to clean up the surface. This was done with a crosscut blade and the shoulder came out nice and clean, and with a little tweaking I got a nice snug fit in a 3/4" hole.

P1020660.20.jpg

Thanks all!

Mike

[Van Huskey]

Good deal! Good job on the jig also.