Shop made fixture for tenon work

rathpipe · Post by **rathpipe** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:15 pm

Hello All,

I thought I'd pass on a description for a fixture I made for holding tenons while I'm drilling and shaping them. I am sure this is not the first time someone has thought of the idea but it works very well for me and I have not seen them mentioned.

I took a 1.5 inch piece of high impact plastic, cut two pieces about 1.0 inches wide, clamp these together and cut a V groove in the middle. I also cut a shallow groove around the outside to place a rubber band in. I drilled the sides and put in a roundheaded screw on both sides. Hard to describe without a picture .............

You can then hold a tenon or the thicker part of the bit between the two pieces with the rubber band holding them together, instead of your third hand, place them in a vise or vice , the two roundheaded screws keep them from falling through the jaws while you position and clamp it.

This has worked very well for me and I haven't damaged a tenon, yet. When sanding or filing on the bit I put a finger under the bit to support it.

I made a couple different sizes, even one for a pipe shank, but have found one that seems to work all around.

I hope this is useful to someone....

Larry

rathpipe · Post by **rathpipe** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:55 pm

Is this making any sense to you guys?

JHowell · Post by **JHowell** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:20 pm

I'm getting the picture of a sort of hand-held or vise-held protector for the part of the stem that you don't want to scuff up. Personally, I use sections of some junk vulcanite rod in which I drill a 5/16" "mortise." Using this as a holder for the stem while doing the filing and sanding that doesn't require matching to the shank avoids getting the stummel unnecessarily dinged or dirty.

flix · Post by **flix** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:47 pm

Larry,

I've JUST been struggling with this issue. I'd sure appreciate a picture...I've never worked with plastic before so how you cut it without burning would be a great help also.

Thanks,

--Mike

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:24 pm

JHowell wrote:I'm getting the picture of a sort of hand-held or vise-held protector for the part of the stem that you don't want to scuff up. Personally, I use sections of some junk vulcanite rod in which I drill a 5/16" "mortise." Using this as a holder for the stem while doing the filing and sanding that doesn't require matching to the shank avoids getting the stummel unnecessarily dinged or dirty.

I use a reject stummel for my stem handle when filing.

Rad

NvilleDave · Post by **NvilleDave** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:31 pm

I use a large piece of delrin that I drilled a motise in... works great.

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:42 pm

I've got a piece of briar fastened to the underside of my workbench with the right size holes in it for various tenons. For a handle when filing, I use a scrap piece of rock maple with a hole drilled in either end for the tenons I use the most.

Heinz_D · Post by **Heinz_D** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:30 am

I'm using wood for this... Two precise regulary blocks with a v-cut in the middle is helpful enough to hold any tenon in a vice. If you are afraid to put a tennon between this blocks or if the tennon is too small, you can use a rubber inlet to save the surface of the tennon...

You can use this blocks with a vice and if you gently loose the vice, you can turn the tennon in every needed position...

You should try it with an older or defected tennon, to leran, how hard you can close the vice before you damage the tennon...

Greetings,

Heinz_D