A dedicated tenoning station was one of first of my dedicated tool assemblies. The need arose out the delays inherent in changing set ups.
If you only have one table saw, that’s fine. That’s where everyone starts anyway. And if you are a hobbyist and efficiency isn’t an issue, keep going as you are. But if your time is valuable consider the following…
The time you save changing and dialing in your set ups will more than pay for a second table saw.
I really like the DeWalt line of saws. I’ve tried all the others and they are fine (except the Ryobi – that one is crazy shaky). But the advantage the DeWalt has over all the others is the rack and pinion fence. when you lock it down, it’s not going to go anywhere. I have a Bosch table saw that’s fine for general use, but because the fence has some give to it, the Bosch can’t give you the accuracy the DeWalt can. The DeWalt gives you consistent smoothness and accurate cuts time and time again.
You’ll want to make a sled for it. I made a video for that. You’ll also want to mount a Dado blade in it. Here’s a picture.
When you have a dedicated tenoning station apart from your general use table saw, then you can get on with making your tenons without having to set it up and break it down every time. It’s here that you will notice your speed and efficiency really increase. It’s nice to just be able to finish the ripping on the general use table saw and get right to tenoning on your dedicated tenoning table saw.
Another cool thing about a dedicated tenoning set up is the freedom it gives you to make mistakes. It’s frustrating when you spend all the time it takes to dial a particular cut just right and then you make a mistake, mill the wrong side, don’t make enough or whatever of the thousands of scenarios are that could get in the way of a smooth, error free flow, just to have to break it all down to make a few cuts, set it all back up again exactly as you had it before and then proceed. And sometimes your second round of set ups isn’t exactly like the first, but you deal with it.
I’ve been there. It’s worth it to have a dedicated tenoning station.
