cutting tenons or slots in penblanks

[aggromere]

I am working on a pen design with a leatherworker I know and he wants me to cut some slots, grooves midblank tenons (not sure what to call them). He is going to insert a piece of leather into it. I have a difficult time making the edges of tenons on pens exactly perpendicular(sp) to the surface of the wood so it sometimes leaves a very small gap between the wood and the center ring when cutting a tenon.

Is there a trick to this, or a special tool. I have a parting tool, but that doesn't seem to do the trick for me. I noticed on my metal lathe that the parting tool is more blade like (kinda like a knife) and was wondering if there is a tool for a wood lathe like that with a very thin blade that is just sharp on one side.

All help appreciated.

 

[ldb2000]

I made my own thin parting tool using a piece of a hacksaw blade and I used some beech I had for the handle and a piece of brass tubing for the ferrule .

 

[LEAP]

Have you looked at the narrow parting tools like in this link?

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Turning_Tools___Narrow_Parting_Tools?Args=

 

[Nick]

What if you used a very sharp marking knife to cut a clean cut on each side then clean out to depth with a sharp parting tool

 

[sgimbel]

Sounds to me like your making the tenon to wide. That's the only reason I could think of for a gap.

 

[nava1uni]

I use a thin parting tool with a perfectly flat side and then it cuts evenly with no gap. I made mine from an old steak knife and just ground or the serrations.

 

[Pen_Turner_297]

To cut the tenons for center bands i like to use a !/4" v parting tool /for the slots you could use the thinner ones mentioned.If you cut the tenon for the center band too long just trim a little off

 

[aggromere]

What happens I think is that when I cut them, the bottom of the tenon is slightly wider than the top, due to the tool i used or my technique or both, thus the ring will not fit flush against the top. I think I will give one of those parting tools a try or maybe make one out of an old knife. Thanks for the feed back.