Thread: Tenon Saw

It looks shop made .... and bloody dangerous! You could do exactly the same thing (and more safely) with a bandsaw, especially using a wider resaw blade.

Or use a handsaw.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Derek, Thanks for the reply. You are right that a band saw would achieve the same result, but I feel that a circular saw cuts more precisely. What I like is that the saw blade is height adjustable & the timber is always centred up & down, so no kick back & it has micro adjust, left to right to dial in the tenon dimensions. I concede it could be better guarded, but Youtube is littered with woodies pushing timber past unguarded saw blades on table saws. Now that is dangerous!! I doubt that it is shop made, the Japanese are great tool makers, as you would know. Peter

Peter, I disagree with the precision element. To make a cut using a circular blade, first it has to be centred exactly (otherwise the top/bottom will not be cut equally) and, secondly, the blade always will cut below the shoulder anyway. This may not matter in regard to strength, but one has to be dead-on accurate to avoid the shoulders appearing undercut. A bandsaw, by contrast, cuts on the square, and the end of the cut is easily monitored.

If you really want to cut the shoulders with a power tool, there is little to beat a resaw blade on a bandsaw.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Derek, I have asked Ishitani to explain the unit. Language may be a barrier. What annoys me about the band saw is firstly handling the blade & then changing & tensioning it. So, what about the pantorouter!!? You also have a solution in hand cutting. I am a fan of your blog. Peter

It does look a bit like they've made up a saw driven off the arbor on a jointer meant for horizontal mortising, and used the mortiser table to support the workpiece. But it could be purpose built. There are machines made specifically for tenoning, usually with a spindle cutter, trim saw and dowel borer in the one machine and from single ended manual use to full auto machines. Whatever works for you I reckon.

Oh, wow...

I build furniture professionally for a bit and we had a radial arm saw with a dado blade on it. It was a specific use tool, so it was a "never adjust" situation. Because the guard wouldn't fit over the dado stack, it was just freely spinning with this gnarly, 3/4" ring of death. We called it The Widowmaker.

And I would MUCH rather use The Widowmaker than the saw in this video... If that thing were to grab, it could sling the back end of the board up into your face. Not to mention potentially pulling the work into itself. I would never use that thing!

The fact that the workpiece is unsupported at the cut says repurposed to me. It may be a docking saw that moves forward to make the cut.

I think I've seen a machine like this somewhere else. I'm not sure but I think it was watching "Dirty Jobs" where the job of the day was making shingles and shakes. Something like this.

How insane is that!! Without even looking!!!! I tried to count his fingers, amazing.

I must admit when I first saw one in Ishitani's videos exposed blade caught my eye too.

I think this might be a commercial made variant of a table saw, but perhaps particular to Japan. And possibly old.

A bit of searching based off a post on another forum led me to a Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mqt5H_7W2g
Poor translations - title "Raising and lowering blade", description: "it is old, but it spins nicely".

The logo on the locking knobs for the fences match those in Ishitani's video, so perhaps his is an Eiwa as well.
From what I can tell, Eiwa Machinery Works was in Gifu, but either no longer exists or has absolutely zero Internet presence.

For those who like old machinery catalogues, look here https://kitanihonkikai.jimdo.com/%E7%A7%98%E5%AE%9D%E9%A4%A8/%E7%A7%98%E5%AE%9D%E9%A4%A8/%E6%9C%89-%E6%B0%B8%E5%92%8C%E5%B7%A5%E6%A5%AD%E6%89%80/

Cheers,
Iain

Ishitani could make a great commercial for Sawstop

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Repete

Hi Derek, Thanks for the reply. You are right that a band saw would achieve the same result, but I feel that a circular saw cuts more precisely. What I like is that the saw blade is height adjustable & the timber is always centred up & down, so no kick back & it has micro adjust, left to right to dial in the tenon dimensions.

Hi Peter
I only watched part of the video but I have to agree with Derek, a bandsaw is a better option for cutting tenons.

While you might feel that Ishitani's circular saw cut more "precisely", did you notice that he was using a chisel to remove the material not cut away by the saw blade?

and talking Japanese power tools and woodworking -- the ultimate tenon cutting tool would have to be a Hitachi Re-saw bandsaw. (the one which came with a 75 mm wide blade.)

Nice work, Clouseau!! It does look like his rip saw. The quality of the videos conveys a sense of serenity, but there is a disclaimer, at the start of the videos, about his use of the equipment. You & Derek are right that cutting tenons on the bandsaw is risk free, unless you over shoot the shoulder! I tend to use loose tenons in my joinery using a Mortice Pal. It works okay, albeit a little fiddly on smaller timber. Regards, Peter

Originally Posted by Repete

Nice work, Clouseau!! It does look like his rip saw. The quality of the videos conveys a sense of serenity, but there is a disclaimer, at the start of the videos, about his use of the equipment. You & Derek are right that cutting tenons on the bandsaw is risk free, unless you over shoot the shoulder! I tend to use loose tenons in my joinery using a Mortice Pal. It works okay, albeit a little fiddly on smaller timber. Regards, Peter

i enjoy ishitani as well. i think that saw of his would be really handy for a lot of cuts, and i really have a chortle at all the guys poopooing it and his techniques. im pretty sure all of us have done stupid with power tools and still do sometimes. i think the way he is using it is a great solution, and it is very accurate as well.