Donnie, I know all too well what you are saying. Iwas turning some aluminium and instead of taking the cutter away from the spinning metal I took it towards the metal, the cutter dug in and snapped off, was thrown down, hit the guide rail and bounced up and buried itself in my face guard, which for some strange reason I had decided to wear that. If I did not have the guard it would have shattered my glasses and I would be blind in my left eye.
Forgive the digression, a simple and effective shaper for your stantions would be to shape a piece of hacksaw blade (a little laborious initially to make) and then press it against the dowel and presto. The cutter can be made with a fine grinding wheel.
Regards
Eric