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Tool: Double Dowel Tenon Cutter Shop Now
Manufacturer: Double Dowel
MSRP: $600
During AWFS in Las Vegas this last year, I ran across an interesting little company producing and sell- ing a tool called the Double Dowel Tenon Cutter. In short, it’s a router table fixture that cuts a pair of twin dowels on the end of a workpiece. You can see that in the lower right photo. Like many new tools, it’s something that you need to put your hands on to appreciate how it works, but I’ll do my best in photos.
The Twin Dowel Tenon Cutter has a baseplate that clamps to your router table and a turntable fixture that holds the workpiece. Using specific setup steps (they’re simple enough to dial in), you turn the router on, slide in the workpiece holder, and spin the turntable with attached workpiece. After the first pass, you flip up a stop and feed the workpiece further into the bit before repeating the rotation.
After the first pass, flip the stop-
-and rotate to cut the second dowel.
The second half of the puzzle is drilling matching mortises at the drill press. The Double Dowel Tenon Cutter includes a flip
stop for use here as well. After positioning the first hole, you flip the stop up to drill the matching hole that’s perfectly spaced for the dowels.
So — why use this rather than other joinery techniques? Well, first, it’s fast. I think the only way to do integrated tenons that touches the speed of this is the Pantorouter. The Double Dowel Tenon Cutter is more affordable, and you probably already have a router table and drill press. Second, it’s strong. Without any fasteners such as loose tenons, dowels, or screws, you’re getting a joint as strong as a traditional mortise and tenon.
