Making Dowels in Sycamore

[AndyBoyd]

I need to make some 6mm dowels for the latest project - tall cupboard in sycamore.

I need straight sided dowels and am looking at various jigs to do that.

The Lie Nielsen plates seems to give the best range of sizes for a single purchase, but I seem to remember someone telling me that it suffers from tear out problems.

The top of the dowel will be visible as I will fit ebony pull to the drawers with them, so they need to be perfect

Any thoughts or advice ?

the fall back is the beech dowels staright sided from Axminster you can buy in metre lengths but I'd prefer to use the sycamore.

Cheers

 

[woodbloke]

Sycamore dowels ought to be OK to make in a LN plate as the timber is fairly soft and will go through without too much bother...very hard timbers are a bit different :shock: - Rob

 

[AndyBoyd]

Thanks Rob

 

[Harbo]

You could try the "Woodrat" method.

Drill a hole the required diam. in the side of some scrap wood about 40mm thick.
With a router and a bottom edge cutter drill a hole vertically (i.e. at right angles) down to the hole.
Roughly shape the dowel wood to size and form a lead-in point at one end a diam that will fit an electric drill chuck at the other.
Lower the router cutter so that it just touches the top of the "side" hole and with it running "drill" the dowel slowly through with the electric drill. (The router cutter should cut the required diam.)
Of course it works much better with a Woodrat to hold things safely in place, but I am sure you can work some out similar instead?

Rod

 

[Tony Spear]

I've never managed to make dowels successfully on my Rat!

So you're back in one piece then, it ain't half as bad as the know nothings tell you is it?

 

[jasonB]

You may get a closer match using birch or maple from these people

http://plugitdowel.co.uk/dowel.cfm

Or by a lathe

Jason