Without a lathe, how can I make 1" dowel rod from Oak? Is it as simple as taking a 1" square oak blank and running each side through a router table with 1/2 radius round over bit against the bit bearing and a fence?
Seems like that last side would be a problem to keep aligned.
Im doing this becuase I need dowels longer then 4' which is the longest I can find to buy.
Anyone done this? thanks
Here's a couple of ideas.
A dowel plate. A piece of steel with a 1 inch hole is one way. See the Lie-Nielsen dowel plate as an example.
The Lie-Nielsen website includes a PDF from David Charlesworth explaining dowel plates and another method using a section of pipe.
Either of those hand tools would be more to my liking than trying to use a router table and roundover bit.
What you suggest will work. Just leave the last 1" on each end square and cut it off when you're done routing.
I haven't tried the following but I think it will work. If your rod is going to be too long for the ends to stay in contact with the fence, leave 1 or more square sections in the middle of the rod as you round the corners. Then starting at one end successively round over the middle square sections.
Art
After reading my own post I realized an easier way for long dowels.
Measure the length of your infeed fence. Call this X. Round all 4 corners of the first X-1 inches on the blank. Round the next X-1 inches. Repeat until you get to the last section and leave the final 1 inch square.
Art
Now is a good chance to buy another tool! How about the Veritas dowel maker?
I have done this and made a 1/2" diameter dowel.
Take a piece of square stock that is 1"x1" plus add the width of your saw blade to the top and side dimension. Quarter the piece and then round over
1 corner of each remaining 1/2" x1/2" piece. Glue and put the 4 pieces together to forma your dowel. Rounding over 1 corner is much easier than all 4 and quartering before rounding over is easier with square corners.I happened upon this by accident when making 1/4 rounds and decided to glue the extra leftover pieces together. Use masking tape and wrap it around the
4 pieces to hold them together while the glue dries.
Dowel making on a lathe is not as easy as it sounds, unless you have some sort of jig that holds a router or other tool. Making one with a round-over router bit works. You can make a hexagon, then sand it round. Easiest way is to purchase a dowel rod.
Oak quarter round is available at most trim mills, four pieces glued together will get you close.
Or, as Leon suggests, make your own oak quarter round and proceed.
Make a pointy stick a little longer than the length dowel you desire
Cut off pointy end.
See link for further info on pointy sticks or just ping Charlie B
jc
Google "stail engine." Not too hard to make your own. Japan Woodworker used to sell them for about $8.00, IIRC.
Commercial dowels are invariably out-of-round, except for the bagged cutoffs with the glue channels. Milling process using two passes over a bullnose shaper cutter is to blame. Rotary cut dowels from 30 years ago were almost always dead-on- perfect.
You can do with a quarter-round or bullnose bit, of course. Use the jointer principle and support it on the far side of the bit with a shaped "fence" is the best, leaving periodic square sections to be removed later, ensuring that two contact a fence at all times will work too. The U (ok it's not a _deep_ U) method does the hold down for you. featherboard the in hold.
thank you!. Those are great tips. Ill take a shot at using the round over bit on the table router making sure to do only sections short enough to keep a flat against the fence. But I really like the home made jig too. That would be a fun jig to make.
Unless you want a lot of them then doing it by hand is easy - mark up a circle at each end of the blank and then just join the lines with a jack or a block plane - or rough out with an axe, draw knife etc to start with. To plane, hold in a vice or a simple cradle jig of some sort. I'd ignore the Lie-Nielsen website explaining dowel plates as it's all wrong. Dowel plate is very useful for short dowels such as you'd put through the corner of a frame mortice & tenon, but it has to be firmly mounted in the top of a bench as you have to hit very hard.
cheers Jacob
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