re: Cutting tenons on the shafts

We’ll see, Nathan. I’ve got a jig for octagonalizing square stock that holds it at a 45 degree angle, and that plus a bench plane is often my first step for rounding things, but I also have three projects sitting on things in my shop, many of which are above my 10# lifting limit, so I may just clamp an end in the carving vise and go after it with a spokeshave, because the carving vise is one of the few things that isn’t buried in other stuff.