Tenon Turning Spanners

[Doc]

Hi all.

A while back I posted these tenon turning spanners/open end wrench (I suppose that's what we could call them) for simple use when turning consistent and fast tenons of the same size on a wood lathe.



The spanners are sharpened so I can actually cut the tenon to size - very useful for my various turnings.

Shown are (from the bottom) 7mm, 13mm, 16mm and 19mm spanners.

They are ground so there is a 'top' edge and a 'bottom' edge.

They don't replace my skew or any other wood turning chisels but speed up my production of magic wands, drop spindles (for spinning wool) and so on.

Basically for anything needing a small tenon so it fits into my chuck or whatever.

To use, firstly. BRING THE WOOD TO ROUND (close to your finished size) USING 'NORMAL' MEANS.. Do NOT try this on square stock - it is way too dangerous.

Next, rest the tool on your tool rest as close to your work as practical so the smaller 'finger' faces upwards and slightly above centre.

Gently move into the wood maintaining a firm grip on the tool at all times and VOILA!

Don't try to take off too much at one time.

As is always the case, please make sure you wear appropriate safety attire.
Be aware these tools need frequent sharpening - they are not designed to cut wood normally

This is ideal for me for production runs and is easy to do - I have arthritic hands and like the feel of using this tool rather than always using my skew or one of my carbides.

Hope this is useful to somebody.

Regards

Doc

[Doc]

Just to make it a bit clearer on its use follow the piccy.



Line up and move spanner into work whilst lathe is off to check for fit.

Take baby bites and take it slow once the lathe is on and you'll be fine.

Hope that helps. I have a VDO clip somewhere if necessary

Regards

Doc

[Christophe Mineau]

Multi thanks Doc, and a good and productive year to you !
We already talked about that and the second set of pictures is really meaningful.
I will give it a try and will sacrifice one spanner for testing .
Thanks a lot, still looking forward to seeing you magic wands !
Christophe

[kbalch]

Thanks Doc! I've added your Tenon Turning Spanners to our Wood Lathes category, as well as to your builder page: Doc's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Tenon Turning Spanners by Doc

tags: lathe, spanner, turning

[Doc]

Thank you Christophe. You only need to sacrifice a cheap old spanner but make sure that it is still the correct size. I have used for example a 19mm spanner that wasn't precisely 19mm. Fortunately it was slightly oversize and could be ground to size

Regards

Doc

PS
Here's a piccy of some of my magic wands (didn't want to put them up as a 'home made tool' but I guess they are magic so that counts

[kbalch]

Hey Doc,

Some of those wand shapes remind of traditional recorders. Have you ever tried boring one of the cylinders?

Ken

[Doc]

Hi Ken
I make wooden toys but have never thought to try my hand at recorders

These wands are typically only about 15-20mm thick.

Regards

Doc

[DIYer]

Thanks for the follow-up post, Doc. Made things clearer for me.

[TerryV]

Doc, I like the handles on the spanners. I've turned a great many spindles with tenons sized using spanner gauges, but find it easier and quicker to use them without a cutting edge. I use a 9 mm wide parting tool and keep cutting till the spanner slips over. It seems easier to me, because you don't have to sharpen the spanner and you can't make a mistake and cut too deeply. If I lost contact with the non-cutting part of the spanner under the tenon, the edge would keep on cutting and the tenon was then under size. And you don't have to sacrifice the spanner, you can still use it for spannering,