Chris Knight
Established Member
I think I may have seen something on this before, so if I am repeating stuff please excuse me.
I have always hated dowels as a joinery method mainly because I could never get a good fit. The slightest inaccuracy always showed up in multiples in the finished piece - even if I could get it together and that was often tough because the slightest misalignment made it hard.
Faced with some joinery where biscuits were not desirable and because I was using veneered MDF, proper wood joinery was not usable, I was tempted by good reviews of the Dowelmax jig - a Canadian device - into buying a Dowelmax.
I can honestly say it is every bit as good as all the glowing reviews made out. It is dead simple to use and in a dozen joints - some quite difficult to draw, let alone execute, I have found it to be excellent. I have not had a single failure or problem with it. It is built like a toolmaker's jig, very solid and extremely precise. The picture below shows it in its simplest mode, putting doel holes in the end of a workpiece. It can be reconfigured in about 30 seconds to put holes in the face of a workpiece for making eg Tee joints in two boards.
http://chrisknight.info/images/woodwork/Tools/Dowelmax.jpg
Any length of dowelled joint can be made - several feet long if that is required.
The key to its success is simply that it is so precisely made and absolutely symetrically so that when a reversal of the jig is called for, no error is introduced.
It does not get over the inherent problem of dowels themselves inasmuch there is precious little long grain actually involved in the glue joint but the manufacturer's website http://www.dowelmax.com/ does make a good case for the strength of dowel joints made with their system.
I ordered this thing from the mfr and it came in about three days - and for whatever reason there was no VAT or duty to pay! Because it uses 3/8 inch dowels, I bought some of these from them too - I did not want to be left making my own or shaving down 10mm dowels to fit. The ones they sent are "expansible" - a bit like biscuits, they are compressed, so wet glue expands them in the holes to make a good tight fit. That's one of the reasons I am using poly glue at the moment. They slip in with that like a knife through butter and after sawing through a couple of test joints to check for results, I would say they are perfect in use.
I have always hated dowels as a joinery method mainly because I could never get a good fit. The slightest inaccuracy always showed up in multiples in the finished piece - even if I could get it together and that was often tough because the slightest misalignment made it hard.
Faced with some joinery where biscuits were not desirable and because I was using veneered MDF, proper wood joinery was not usable, I was tempted by good reviews of the Dowelmax jig - a Canadian device - into buying a Dowelmax.
I can honestly say it is every bit as good as all the glowing reviews made out. It is dead simple to use and in a dozen joints - some quite difficult to draw, let alone execute, I have found it to be excellent. I have not had a single failure or problem with it. It is built like a toolmaker's jig, very solid and extremely precise. The picture below shows it in its simplest mode, putting doel holes in the end of a workpiece. It can be reconfigured in about 30 seconds to put holes in the face of a workpiece for making eg Tee joints in two boards.
http://chrisknight.info/images/woodwork/Tools/Dowelmax.jpg
Any length of dowelled joint can be made - several feet long if that is required.
The key to its success is simply that it is so precisely made and absolutely symetrically so that when a reversal of the jig is called for, no error is introduced.
It does not get over the inherent problem of dowels themselves inasmuch there is precious little long grain actually involved in the glue joint but the manufacturer's website http://www.dowelmax.com/ does make a good case for the strength of dowel joints made with their system.
I ordered this thing from the mfr and it came in about three days - and for whatever reason there was no VAT or duty to pay! Because it uses 3/8 inch dowels, I bought some of these from them too - I did not want to be left making my own or shaving down 10mm dowels to fit. The ones they sent are "expansible" - a bit like biscuits, they are compressed, so wet glue expands them in the holes to make a good tight fit. That's one of the reasons I am using poly glue at the moment. They slip in with that like a knife through butter and after sawing through a couple of test joints to check for results, I would say they are perfect in use.
