# Making dowels



## peter-harrison (29 Apr 2022)

Hi everyone, I have a job coming up which involves making about 36m of 50mm diameter walnut dowelling. I am thinking of making it on the spindle using a cutter set that does a 1/4 radius of 25mm. Has anyone else done this kind of thing and if so, any tips?
Thanks for looking!


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## Jacob (29 Apr 2022)

peter-harrison said:


> Hi everyone, I have a job coming up which involves making about 36m of 50mm diameter walnut dowelling. I am thinking of making it on the spindle using a cutter set that does a 1/4 radius of 25mm. Has anyone else done this kind of thing and if so, any tips?
> Thanks for looking!


Plane 50mm square lengths. 
Power feed essential and a 1/2 round cutter for two passes.


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## Lorenzl (29 Apr 2022)

I made a jig ( copied from Youtube ) It uses an electric drill rotating a blank that goes through a jig over a router cutter. It works well but my initial jig was just bodged up to try the method and needs re making as it wasn't sturdy enough.


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## Jameshow (29 Apr 2022)

36m that's a long dowel how many outfeed rollers do you have....!


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## ChrisWiduWood (29 Apr 2022)

peter-harrison said:


> Hi everyone, I have a job coming up which involves making about 36m of 50mm diameter walnut dowelling. I am thinking of making it on the spindle using a cutter set that does a 1/4 radius of 25mm. Has anyone else done this kind of thing and if so, any tips?
> Thanks for looking!


Please tell us more... 36m of 50mm walnut dowel!!!??? what are you making? sorry i cant help with the manufacture...


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## Thingybob (30 Apr 2022)

I dont know how long you need per piece but if you have a lathe make a frame over the bed with a slot along it to carry a router and follower rotate square wood slowly and pass router along the length you can control depth of cut manually untill you reach your desired size or a little above and finish sand


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## Thingybob (30 Apr 2022)

Meant to say use a straight cutter not a round over bit


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## Spectric (30 Apr 2022)

peter-harrison said:


> Hi everyone, I have a job coming up which involves making about 36m of 50mm diameter walnut dowelling.


Without knowing more about what you are making, my first reaction would be to look at the design and see if it could be done differently without compromising the finished products aesthetics or structural integrity.

If you make these with multiple passes on the router table you may end up in the situation where there is to little support on the outfeed side, ie it is 75% round!


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## Jacob (30 Apr 2022)

Jacob said:


> Plane 50mm square lengths.
> Power feed essential and a 1/2 round cutter for two passes.


Are you talking about a spindle moulder? Most of the answers are not, I might have missed the point!
But 4 passes on a router table should be OK as long as everything is precise, solid, bed/fences long enough, held with feather-boards both in and down etc. You might have to do a bit of finishing sanding perhaps. A spindle moulder + power feed is much more precise.


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## bp122 (1 May 2022)

Lorenzl said:


> I made a jig ( copied from Youtube ) It uses an electric drill rotating a blank that goes through a jig over a router cutter. It works well but my initial jig was just bodged up to try the method and needs re making as it wasn't sturdy enough.


Yeah, Mr. Maskery has a tutorial on YouTube on this method as well.


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## cowtown_eric (1 May 2022)

what about adowel plate.....take a 3" piece of walnut and drive it through a piec of 1/4" iron with a 1/4 or whatever hole in it.....


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## Inspector (1 May 2022)

cowtown_eric said:


> what about adowel plate.....take a 3" piece of walnut and drive it through a piec of 1/4" iron with a 1/4 or whatever hole in it.....



With smaller dowels that can work but in this case the OP is making about 120' of 2" diameter stock. Closer to closet pole sizes.

Pete


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## peter-harrison (2 May 2022)

Hi all, thanks for the responses. I am planning to use a spindle moulder with a power feed. I’ve used a dowel plate many times but I think driving multiple 2.4 m lengths of 50x50mm through one would lead to my early demise!!
I was really looking to see if anyone had done something similar and had any specific tips to share


ChrisWiduWood said:


> Please tell us more... 36m of 50mm walnut dowel!!!??? what are you making? sorry i cant help with the manufacture...


It’s for some posh headphone stands. There’s a wooden base, a metal bar and the cylinder on top which is what the headphones rest on. I’m making 500 of them. It isn’t going to be the most interesting thing I’ve ever done!!


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## peter-harrison (2 May 2022)

Jacob said:


> Plane 50mm square lengths.
> Power feed essential and a 1/2 round cutter for two passes.


Thanks Jacob. Can I get a half round cutter off the shelf or is it a custom job?


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## Jacob (2 May 2022)

peter-harrison said:


> Thanks Jacob. Can I get a half round cutter off the shelf or is it a custom job?


Dunno I make my own. Should be able to buy one though.


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## Jacob (2 May 2022)

peter-harrison said:


> .... I’m making 500 of them. It isn’t going to be the most interesting thing I’ve ever done!!


Making multiples has a strange fascination of its own and can be deeply interesting. One thing for sure is that you get to be very good at it!


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## rafezetter (2 May 2022)

something you might find helpful:  - brilliant, you would be VERY hard pressed to find a better solution, I certainly have not and Ive seen all sorts of jigs for dowel making.


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## Jacob (2 May 2022)

rafezetter said:


> something you might find helpful:  - brilliant, you would be VERY hard pressed to find a better solution, I certainly have not and Ive seen all sorts of jigs for dowel making.



Looks interesting!
I reckon a spindle moulder would be faster and neater though - but everything would have to be spot on, firmly held and very solid. And it's how they do it commercially - if done badly you can see where the two passes haven't quite met perfectly.


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## peter-harrison (3 May 2022)

rafezetter said:


> something you might find helpful:  - brilliant, you would be VERY hard pressed to find a better solution, I certainly have not and Ive seen all sorts of jigs for dowel making.



That is very clever and would be perfect if it wasn't for the level of finish required and the quantity. I had a job a few years ago, making viaduct kits for Brio trainsets, and this has made me very wary of large numbers. What might seem a bit trivial, like taking 10 or 20 minutes to fine sand a 2.4m x 50mm x 50mm dowel, becomes a very big deal when it's 30 of them!


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## Chip shop (4 May 2022)

Jacob said:


> And it's how they do it commercially




My mate does miles of the stuff on his Weinig moulder but I imagine the setup would be a a bit more challenging on a conventional spindle, especially if you wanted to power feed. I might have a play tonight.


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