veritas dowel cutter

[sniks7]

Has anyone used one of these? Do they work well?

And another thing.. I'm trying to find advice on what sort of hand plane to get. I really just need it to finish some hardwood shelving.

It would be handy if the blade could be used for opening paint cans and if it's large and heavy I could use it as a door-stop, because that's about my level of woodworking skill..

I see axminster do a couple for thirty quid of so. Worth it? I'm not particularly bothered by price, but I don't really want to spend a fortune on stuff I haven't got the experience to use.

 

[Neil]

Has anyone used one of these? Do they work well?

Yes, they work brilliantly. Very satisfying to use too! Once you have your stock prepared, you can make dowel at a rate of about 3m a minute... If you want very long stuff you'll have to be careful about whipping on the exit side - you can make an extra support for the dowel to go into, or just support it with your spare hand.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[sniks7]

what sort of prep does the stock need?

 

[Neil]

Squared up to approx 1/16" over the size of the dowel. Obviously it has to be straight if you want a straight dowel.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[DaveL]

I will second that, these are brilliant.
They make very nice dowel which being from the same stock as the rest of the project is a perfect match. 8)