Shop made tenoning jig

[Chuck Hoffman]

I've been needing a tenoning jig and was going to order the one on sale at Rockler for $69.99 but had a flash of inspiration and decided to see what scrap materials I had lying around the shop. I found some 3/4" hard maple that was straight along the long grain and only slightly cupped. I ripped a

16" long piece to 6" wide and from that, I cut a piece about 5" long and arranged it at a right angle to the base. I carefully aligned all the pieces to be perfectly square and glued and clamped them up. The clamp pressure took care of the cupping and I added a backer near the top of the vertical piece to help prevent any further cupping..

When the glue is dry I'll drive some 2" screws for added strength, add some corner brace blocks to help keep the vertical face perfectly square and put on a small guide to hold the workpieces vertical.

The base of the jig will clamp to my miter gauge, which is perfectly adjusted for square and has a hold-down. The lateral adjustment will be by loosening the hold-down and sliding the jig back and forth.

I think it'll be OK as long as I'm careful with my setups and don't try anything too long or heavy.

[Chuck Hoffman]

Well, I'm finding that making a tenoning jig is one thing...using it effectively is something else. I've been practicing on scraps and I'm getting better but I'm not ready to cut tenons on any fine furniture yet.

The procedure I'm using is cutting the groove in the receiving piece first, then shaping the tenons to fit. I make both shoulder cuts then the cheek cuts. But I'm having a hard time remembering all the setup steps and I still don't have the adjustments down precisely enough that the tenon fits snugly in the groove.

I'll keep practicing and I'll get there eventually. OH! Big revelation! It just occurred to me that any error is multiplied by two because I'm using the same setup on both cheeks.

[Larry Jaques]

On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 01:38:15 GMT, "Chuck Hoffman" spake the words:

Without a doubt, this tool should be made with a micro-adjuster. Is yours? If not, change it.

Once you can micro-adjust, it becomes much much easier. Or learn to plane the tenon down to fit. I have been using my bandsaw for tenons and need to do a fence for it. "Loosening and tapping the fence to adjust" simply doesn't do a quick or accurate job. AAMOF, that should be my very next task in the shop. Thanks for reminding me, Chuck.

Ayup.

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