# Another Tenon Question



## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

So I built a tenon jig for my upcoming cradle project. I built one very similar to the modified tenon jig posted by woodnthings. Seems to work great. I would like my tenons to have a shoulder on all 4 sides. Do I need to build a seperate jig to make the shoulders on the short sides of the board or is there a way to do it safely with the jig I built?


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Miter guage and dado blade in TS.

Or just nibble away with single blade. :yes:


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

If a dado is an acceptable method of making tenons, whats the pupose of the tenon jig to begin with? It seems to me the dado would be the quickest and simplest method to just do all 4 sides of the tenon. Guess I can scrap my tenon jig now and go buy a dado set!!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*You could if you like changing blades*

The advantage to the tenon jig in my opinion is that you keep your saw blade in the machine for most all of your cuts. I personally don't like setting up the dado head and then removing it to make a cut and then resetting ..back and forth.
The jig gives you nice clean results each time, is quicker and faster than nibbling away and changing out blades. You may have an issue if you want shoulder relief on all 4 sides. In that case I'd turn to the bandsaw and set the fence twice, once for the wide portion and again for the narrow, using either the table saw and fence for the shoulder or the bandsaw for the whole tenon. Bandsaws don't get the credit/use they deserve. And they are fairly accurate with the right blade.  bill


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Like Bill said, tenon jigs will give you a cleaner tenon and shoulder. Just make sure you use test scraps of the same thickness to get set up with the jig and then again with the miter gauge so you don't nick or score your tenon. Either way is acceptable. But since you built the tenoning jig, might as well use the same blade. Make sure you back up your cuts too. The tenon jig is a ripping operation and the miter gauge is going to be a cross cut operations, so use a good combo blade or switch blades once you make all your cuts with the tenon jig.


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

I dont have a band saw yet. I started to buy a small model but the resaw height on the benchtop models is only a few inches and a larger model isnt in the budget just before Christmas.

I played around with the tenon jig a little with some scrap pine I had laying around. Wasnt satisfied with the results but I'm sure it was all TS setup. I need to practice a little more before I start my project and get a little more experience with my TS. I have had it for years but in the past it has always been used for rough cuts on projects where precision wasnt absolutely neccesary. My saw has a Freud Diablo 40 tooth on it.

Still trying to figure out how to cut the shoulder on the short sides. I'm thnking it may be possible to clamp all the pieces together that get the tenon and then clamp a makeshift fence to the pieces and use the router with a mortising bit to cut those.


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