1. Drill and push through steel flat bar 2. Hammering through a holed plate 3. The Chisel Method 4. able saw Method 5. Router Method 6. My current Method (Dowel Maker with cutting plate)
Below are my personal assessments. You may or may not agree with them. Regardless, I encourage you to make your own determinations of what works best for you. I wrote this blog with the intention of showing all the ways I've tried and work best for me.
Notes:
1. I couldn't check 3 - 5 as "Made with readily available material and inexpensive" It depends if you have these components already. Having to buy chisels or router bits if you don't have them can be expensive. If you have them already or can buy good quality ones inexpensively then great. Also these methods require a lot of setup to get perfect. Once you do then great. While all three can yield good tolerance results once set up properly, I feel the table saw method to be the most accurate of the three.
Which is the Best?
If only the setup wasn't a pain I would go with the table saw method. However, after all the jigs and all my testing and lots of dowel making I have to say that my current method of using my "Dowel Maker" is the best all around. Once its made it satisfies all the criteria. There are a few improvements I'm thinking about making. Then I will prove it out and share.
Thanks for looking at my blog!
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A few times a year, I’m very happy I hunted down and bought a Stanley 77 and cutters for the even sixteenths for it. I have made walnut, oak, ash, poplar, pine, and other dowels. Once tuned up and adjusted correctly, it works pretty slick.
That's awesome Dave! I didn't even know Stanley had one. Where do you even find these? How accurate is it? Plus or minus what over the finished diameter?
Find them on eBay. One with all the cutters will set you back nearly a grand, I reckon.
As for the size, the cutters are adjustable. You can go about a 64th up or down, but because it’s cutting around the dowel, you can get some tear out if you’re not careful. As with cutting threads on wood, some woods benefit greatly from a soak in linseed oil before cutting. But once you dial in a cutter, you only have to readjust it when you sharpen it.
I have mine all set to about 1/128” fat, so I can run a piece of 60 grit down the length to take off any small splinters and be pretty much right on the money. Walnut, birch and beech all go dry. Oak and ash get soaked first. Poplar is also pretty well behaved. Pine is a pain in the ass pretty much no matter what.
Gads!! A grand... unbelievable. Out of my range due sure. On a side note...I just saw a Japanese guy make perfect small dowel using a jigsaw blade setup like the chisel technique. I tried it and was very surprised.
