Is it possible to buy hardwood dowels?

[Ives]

I'm having trouble finding them. I need them 18mm in maple and or beech. The best timberyard I know says they have them in ....can't remember the name but starts with r and when googled, it's some endangered wood from Asia or something.

Anyone ever heard of buying dowel in maple or beech?

 

[marcros]

try www.plugitdowel.co.uk

 

[Ives]

try http://www.plugitdowel.co.uk

AWESOME!! Thank you!!!

 

[RogerP]

There's some more here.

 

[foxhunter]

Depending on what you need them for you could consider Miller Dowels.

 

[Steve Maskery]

You can make you own:
http://blip.tv/workshopessentialscom/ho ... ng-4827676
S

 

[Scrums]

I have a quantity of approx' 19.5mm dia x 19" long in Beech - yours for cost of p&p.

Chris.

 

[Ives]

I have a quantity of approx' 19.5mm dia x 19" long in Beech - yours for cost of p&p.

Chris.

Wow, thanks so much! I'll pm you!

 

[Benchwayze]

I thought most dowels were made of beech. Maybe not any more?
But you can make your own. Contact Steve Maskery.

 

[Ives]

I thought most dowels were made of beech. Maybe not any more?
But you can make your own. Contact Steve Maskery.

I don't think I have the tools to make my own, I only have a scroll saw and bandsaw.

 

[marcros]

how much are you looking for, and how much are you likely to use per month?

 

[Benchwayze]

I thought most dowels were made of beech. Maybe not any more?
But you can make your own. Contact Steve Maskery.

I don't think I have the tools to make my own, I only have a scroll saw and bandsaw.

I was just trying to help Ives.. Sorry . :mrgreen:

 

[Ives]

I thought most dowels were made of beech. Maybe not any more?
But you can make your own. Contact Steve Maskery.

I don't think I have the tools to make my own, I only have a scroll saw and bandsaw.

I was just trying to help Ives.. Sorry . :mrgreen:

i didn't mean it in a bad way! I should have put a smiley after to give the right tone!

I need a meter of each size, 3/4", 1 1/4" and 15mm, and that will probably do me for 6-12 months, depending how often people buy the things I'm making with them!

Plug It looks like it has the best selection.

 

[Benchwayze]

I don't think I have the tools to make my own, I only have a scroll saw and bandsaw.

Hi Ives,

There is another way to make dowels..
In a DVD on the Taunton Finewoodworking site, one of the guys was making an oak dining-table. He cut oak stock on his bandsaw, to the correct square section, and pared off one end slightly. Then he hammered the square section dowels through a 'dowel-plate' to make them cylindrical.

You can buy cheaper dowel-plates than the Lie Nielsen variety BTW, and as long as you make your stock, so it's large enogh to become properly round, this works a treat. Sizes in my dowel plate range from 1/4" up to 3/4" .

At a pinch you could get someone in the engineering line to make you a plate for the larger sections.
Give it a try and it might solve your problem.
HTH
John

 

[RogerP]

You can buy cheaper dowel-plates than the Lie Nielsen variety BTW, and as long as you make your stock, so it's large enogh to become properly round, this works a treat. Sizes in my dowel plate range from 1/4" up to 3/4" .

I agree - I don't think I'd spend 43 quid on a piece of sheet steel with seven holes in it :shock: It only takes ten minutes to make one.

 

[Benchwayze]

You can buy cheaper dowel-plates than the Lie Nielsen variety BTW, and as long as you make your stock, so it's large enogh to become properly round, this works a treat. Sizes in my dowel plate range from 1/4" up to 3/4" .

I agree - I don't think I'd spend 43 quid on a piece of sheet steel with seven holes in it :shock: It only takes ten minutes to make one.

I suppose I could have made one Roger, but mine came free with a woodwork magazine subscription, some years ago. Also the holes have 'teeth' around the edges as the dowels are used primarily for jointing purposes. So of course they are 'fluted' when they come through the plate. As for making a dowel plate, I don't think I'd be able to make a tooth-edged hole! But of course a simple hole will work just as well. All it needs is a bit of 3/8 thick Bright-Mild steel.

I use my plate mostly for reducing metric dowels to Imperial sizes when I use my Woden Dowelling jig. I ruined one jig, trying to enlarge the bushes to 10mm. Fortunately I got a second-hand replacement from Oldtools! Great! When a dowelling is the order of the day, I reach for my Woden jig!

 

[RogerP]

The LN ones don't have "teeth" either and for jointing purposes the ready made grooved dowels are so cheap it not worth the bother making them.

 

[matthewwh]

These work well, you can use them by hand or pop them in a vice and use a drill.

 

[Benchwayze]

The LN ones don't have "teeth" either and for jointing purposes the ready made grooved dowels are so cheap it not worth the bother making them.

Indeed Roger.

I don't 'make' dowel, as in starting from scratch. It's just that my dowelling jig bushes are all Imperial, so I use the plate to reduce the 10mm dowels, out of a packet, to 3/8". (3/8 being the size I use most.) If I was making a dining chair and decided to use dowels (as they did with the old 'Utility' furniture during WWII) then I would probably use the 10mm dowels and make my own dowelling jig from some scrap. (The angled joints might make this the best bet anyway, as most dowelling jigs struggle when the joint isn't at 90 degrees.)

I'm rambling on! Sorry! :mrgreen:

 

[Benchwayze]

These work well, you can use them by hand or pop them in a vice and use a drill.

I like these Matthew, but I rarely use round pieces in my work. So a rounding plane would be a luxury. They would be great for rush-seat chair stretchers though. The last time I repaired one I had to turn a couple of stretchers. For me that was stress, getting it right. (hammer)