Hi All, Anyone use a dowel making tool , I have heard good and bad reports , any recommendations please .
Paul
Paul
Dowel making
- Thread starter paullap
- Start date
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For large quantities of regularly sized dowel I buy it, life’s too short. For a few small dowels of odd size I have a dowel plate, a piece of 5mm plate with holes drilled in it from 3mm to 20mm. It works pretty well but is laborious as you have to cut stock square and a touch oversized then bang the pieces through plate multiple times to get to your desired size. The finish can be a little rough.
I have the Ganwei dowel maker. Had it for a couple of years now. Before that, I used Fitzroy's dowel plate method as above which produces useable shorter dowels. If using a dowel as a joint fixing I will usually use regular bought dowels, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm. But when requiring blending or contrasting dowels I'll normally use the dowel maker. It's fast and can produce better quality dowels and longer ones than using the plate method. Better dowel jigs have now been developed but generally follow the same principle of using a TCT square cutter and 6mm to 20mm holes.
Orraloon
Established Member
I have the same one as kinverkid but dont think its the same brand name. Uses a tct cutter and as luck would have it it's same as the ones in my thicknesser. Some woods cut cleaner than others so at times the dowel can look a bit hairy. If they are for holding a joint together then that does not matter and the roughness holds more glue. Its a handy thing to have and does not cost much.
Regards
John
Regards
John
SVB
Established Member
Tried multiple methods has have recently made a few Rob cosman style ‘hidden hinge’ boxes so need dowel from same material as box. I used the carbide cutter ones from Temu that were fine for 10mm dowel, esp as a surface roughness is planed off in this project. 6mm dowel is more problematic as not found maker small enough and seem too slender to be bashed through dowel plate in lengths I need. However, as a turner I’ve just ended up turning some that works for the occasional time I need them.
