Plug cutters and stainless threaded inserts.

[Ollie78]

Hi everyone

I have a large Oak table to build and I need to cut some dowels/ pegs for breadboard ends.
I am sure I have some somewhere but they were never "good" ones and didn`t cut particularly well, anyway I can`t find them.

Can anyone recommend a decent brand which cut well and maybe come with matching drills. Its good to get suggestions from people who have actually been using stuff for a bit.

Secondly I am going to need some hardware for attaching the top to the legs, I am thinking threaded inserts and allen bolts but probably in stainless because its Oak. Anyone know where to find stainless inserts.

Thanks

Ollie

 

[clive griffiths]

Hi.

I would go with Famag, not cheap but i think very good.

 

[John Hall]

Plenty of stainless threaded inserts on EBay..

 

[MARK.B.]

I could well be wrong but i have always thought that plug cutters were just for cutting plugs to fill a hole,the ones i have are just cheap ones from screwfix but they work well enough for my needs ie plugging holes to cover screw heads or bolts,they would be useless for making dowels as the length they are able to cut is short. A dowel in a joint or breadboard end is usually hidden so could be made or bought ready made in various lengths and wood species.

 

[rogxwhit]

It's not a big job, I usually saw a square section then gradually round it with a block plane on the bench. It's easy to achieve a good fit. A length of wood with a groove and a stop makes a good work support.

If you were churning out dozens of metres, a Veritas dowel cutter would be handy, but in the circumstances ...

 

[rogxwhit]

I've never used hardware for attaching table tops, I'm a devotee of the dovetailed cleat .... let's keep it woody!

 

[Droogs]

This has come up a couple of times this year, each time I have recommended Helicoil wood thread inserts. I've been using them for about 30 years and never had a problem. available below

https://www.stanleyengineeredfasten...ts/Helicoil Self-Tapping Screw Thread Inserts

 

[Stevekane]

Ive got an Irwin plug cutter like a little cylinder with a tooth and slot,,looks good but its blinkin useless,,,,but my Aldi ones where there are 4 spindly looking legs that cut a tapered plug work really well. As for dowels I now make my own with a really simple to make cutter thats just a hole in a piece of metal bar with a hacksaw slot cut into it, check out utube, and once you have the cutter its in your shed waiting to be used again, I make my dowels by the foot at least now!
Ive only made one table so Im far from expert, but I read up a bit and I was carefull to heed the advice on secureing table tops, mine was a big softwood garden table so I made some brackets with elongated screwslots from angle iron, the centreline of the table was fixed but the brackets either side could move and Im pleased to say that despite the hot summer and considerable shrinkage, no splitting has accured in the butted dowel joints of the top.
As to steel fixings into oak, do you have to worry about corrosion if the oak is well seasoned dry wood indoors or is it just a problem in green oak?
Steve.

 

[recipio]

Even if you found a plug cutter long enough it would be hard work as you would have to drill into endgrain to retain strength. I turn short lengths on the lathe but another trick is to hold a power sander against square stock set in a drill press and spin it at high speed. Another reason to buy one of those Makita mini belt sanders.

 

[Ollie78]

Thanks for the replies, and the resurrection of this thread.
As an update I found a company on ebay which had stainless inserts bolts and washers. These I used for attaching the legs and stretchers to the table and bench.

For the oak pegs in the breadboard ends I ran out of time and actually bought a length of Oak dowel (12 mm I think).
All worked well, client is happy.

Ollie

 

[rogxwhit]

As to steel fixings into oak, do you have to worry about corrosion if the oak is well seasoned dry wood indoors or is it just a problem in green oak?
Steve.

Well oak is naturally acidic and there is always moisture in the air (and the wood). So you can take a punt - or use stainless or brass fixings & hardware.

If anything with oak it can be more of a constant that sapwood should be excluded - outdoors it rots like anything and indoors the beetle targets it.

 

[Stevekane]

Many thanks “Rog” I would tend to use stainless in oak anyway but its good to know these things, and intresting what you said about sapwood, certainly the outer 30mm on the oak boards Im presently using is almost sponge like. I dont think the boards Ive got are of great quality either, I let them air dry under cover for a couple of years and they took on a fair few shakes and twist,,its a good job Im happy with the “rustic”look!
Steve

 

[Richard C-D]

I've just seen this thread which has already been well covered but thought this photo might be helpful.
On the right is three Stanley plug cutters with the piece of oak used on the pillar drill to make the cross grain plugs, The square above has a plug fitted and the hole with a screw that would be plugged. I recently used the plug cutter to cover the screws on a garden bench. Sometimes the plug cutters are too small so I turn them on a lathe, the box is spares I kept but never seem to be just what's needed.

As a restorer I often make things the same way as done 100+ years ago. I did this for the dowels on the far left. The blanks are cleft from the piece far left then roughly rounded with a stanley knife as on the second left. This would then be hammered through the hole in the steel plate with the burr cutting the wood. Cleaving the oak maximises strength, not vital in this case but important for oak framed buildings. The longer piece has a peg in it which looks OK . It takes less than thirty seconds to make a dowel and costs nothing. The four dowels in the middle are lathe turned as I needed an even taper, they take about seven minutes to make four.

The photo is on my bench which has a bread board end. The front dowel is at the left corner of the paper. The end piece has a shallow groove and then three mortices and tenons along the length. The front one is glued but the others are unglued with the dowel hole and mortice elongated to allow wood movement. On a table top I would have only glued the middle one so wood movement is even on each end.