# Round tenons



## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Hi, guys.

Once I made the spindles for the crib for my grand daugther, I wanted to do the tenons at each end of them. Using one of my PC trimers I made the jig shown in the pictures and it was a piece of cake. I started with a 0,25 inches router bit but, after two tenons it was broke. I replaced it for 0,5 inches route bit and made all the required tenons.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks for posting, Alexis.

You have answered one of my problems with another project...


PS...good to place a face to a name....


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

You've proved Alexis that there's a solution to every problem.


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

That works great. Ingenious! Thanks for posting


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## curly1 (May 7, 2010)

*learn something new every day,thanks*

Thanks to you Alexis I now know how to do tenons on dowels, smart, thanks much.
Dan


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## BCK (Feb 23, 2014)

thx for sharing


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Alexis! *Once again *- you have shown an amazing way of making tenons in a very simple manner! Job well done. This got me to thinking - since everything has a centroid, you could actually even cut round tenons on rectangular boards (such as stretchers) with a properly cut matching pair of holes. If an opening tangent with all four corners is produced in pairs - the workpiece can still be rotated, although the first few wood-to-router bit encounters will be on-off, on-off - eventually it will work quite nicely. The problem with round tenons is rotating, but glue or perpendicular pins eliminate this problem. VERY, VERY COOL! Great photo spread, also!

Your Friend,
Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Another very clever solution Alexis.


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## brille (Apr 9, 2014)

Hi Alexis,

thanks a lot for sharing your method! I cut some birches wich are drying now. I want to make a (inside)tree for our cats and try to use round tenons there. For the future I am thinking about testing to make some log-furniture. So your tip comes at the right moment.

Thank you and best regards!

Uwe


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Hello, dear fellows.
I have to be honest. I saw something similar in a german magazine but the jig was so elaborate that I decided to make it in a simple way. Two 30mm bores and a piece of 4mm hardboard with several screws. The ¨mobile fence¨ as you can see in the pictures, is a wooden scrap that allows me to have any length tenon.

Thank you all for the comments.


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Thank you, Otis.

In fact, I have a Woodworker´s Journal magazine where Rob Johnstone shows how he makes round tenons at one end of the square legs for a chair he was doing.


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## brille (Apr 9, 2014)

papasombre said:


> ...I saw something similar in a german magazine...


Hello Alexis,

can you please post which item of which magazine? Thanks a lot in advance!

Uwe


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## brille (Apr 9, 2014)

papasombre said:


> ... Woodworker´s Journal magazine where Rob Johnstone shows how he makes round tenons...


By knowing his name, I found a video. Thanks Alexis!


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Hi, Uwe.
The video is better than the magazine. I also found this video some time ago.
Festool - Runde Zapfen anfräsen - YouTube
Best regards.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Alexis, You Da Man!!!!


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

papasombre said:


> Hi, Uwe.
> The video is better than the magazine. I also found this video some time ago.
> Festool - Runde Zapfen anfräsen - YouTube
> Best regards.


As soon as I saw your jig, Alexis, I thought of that video.

Your jig is simple and effective, and easy to make...

I can see myself making one shortly.


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## brille (Apr 9, 2014)

Hi Alexis,

thanks a lot for the Festool-Video. I found another interesting method in the first part of this film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuM_dOXw-f4.

Best regards

Uwe


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

*On a router table*

I needed to tenon pieces of broomstick for a paper towel holder. My solution was to trap the dowel between two boards on a router table, with the fence set to adjust the length of the tenon. It worked well.


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## brille (Apr 9, 2014)

Hi Paul,

for round workpieces, this seems to be a simple an effective solution.
Thanks a lot for sharing!

Best regards

uwe


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

brille said:


> Hi Paul,
> 
> for round workpieces, this seems to be a simple an effective solution.
> Thanks a lot for sharing!
> ...


If you watch the Festool jig, both will handle square or even triangular pieces...

The edges are riding on a constant radius.


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Hi,Paul.

Different ways to skin the cat. I think that your jig can be used to make rectangular tenons,also.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

papasombre said:


> Hi,Paul.
> 
> Different ways to skin the cat. I think that your jig can be used to make rectangular tenons,also.


I think it's a stretch to call mine a jig but I think it's more suitable for round tenons. For square or triangular work (as James stated) I would use the jig that Alexis made, with the round holes for the guides.

The beauty of my set-up is that you don't have to remember where you put the jig! Just look in your scrap box. :laugh:


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## sunrunner (Apr 17, 2014)

Great Jig. I just used it on one of my projects and it worked wonderfully.

Victor


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TenGees said:


> I needed to tenon pieces of broomstick for a paper towel holder. My solution was to trap the dowel between two boards on a router table, with the fence set to adjust the length of the tenon. It worked well.


excellent idea..


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Funny how this popped up today specifically; there's another thread running that wants to know how to do this!
I suspect Stick was down in the basement in the Archives...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Funny how this popped up today specifically; there's another thread running that wants to know how to do this!
> I suspect Stick was down in the basement in the Archives...


Paul was...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

papasombre said:


> Hi, guys.
> 
> Once I made the spindles for the crib for my grand daughter, I wanted to do the tenons at each end of them. Using one of my PC trimmers I made the jig shown in the pictures and it was a piece of cake. I started with a 0,25 inches router bit but, after two tenons it was broke. I replaced it for 0,5 inches route bit and made all the required tenons.


your do more w/ less is always amazing Alexis...


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## tedleyr (Mar 7, 2018)

Thanks for this! I love this place, so much to learn. It

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

TenGees said:


> I needed to tenon pieces of broomstick for a paper towel holder. My solution was to trap the dowel between two boards on a router table, with the fence set to adjust the length of the tenon. It worked well.


Recently I made a project that needed a lot of round tenons. As Paul did, I used a lot of broom sticks and a similar arrangement to make the tenons.

First, I used one of my trimmers but the heat made impossible to manage the task so, I changed to one of my PC and solved the problem.

For one round tenon I make it in my TS.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

you never fail to impress me Alexis...


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