Dowel plate

Re: Dowel plate

andrew F in Australia

>Hi Frank

1/4" hot rolled plate should be fine - drill through, leave the burr and (using a wooden mallet) punch the dowel blank through the hole, feeding it against the burr (while the burr survives, it cuts a bit quicker)

Nothing to it really - when there's no burr, try and drill undersize ever so slightly - eg: for 3/8" holes (9.35mm) use a 9mm drill, for 1/2" dowels (12.7mm,) ideally use a 12.5mm drill - this is because the dowel compresses slightly as it goes through the plate.

If you haven't got a drill slightly undersized, use the exact size drill - just makes the dowel a very tight fit.

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: Dowel plate

Adam Cherubini

>Frank,

I tapered the holes in my dowelling plate with a metal rimer for a brace. If you haven't got one of these I'm not sure what to tell you. I tried counter sinks to help lead the wood into the hole. This doesn't work. I originally tried the wide end up thinking I needed that lead. That didn't work.

But wide end down, you are left with a sharp and sharpenable cutting edge. It will produce shavings in oak and maple. Never tried any exotic woods.

Like almost every other woodworking tool, the dowelling plate is fun to use when sharp, and a drag otherwise.

Good Luck- I find my dowelling plate invaluable.

Adam

P.S. Using the rimer, you can adjust the size of the holes to precisely match your bits. Just remember to account for shrinkage of the pin.

Reamer

Bob Hackett

>Go down to the Borg(or well stocked local hardware store) and look in the handtool section.They usually have a display of General brand metalworking tools that will include a tapered reamer that is just the ticket for this sort of thing.

While there check out the calipers,trammel points,automatic center punches,etc.You`re sure to go home with a bag full of tools you never knew you needed and that will take the sting out of driving all that way for just one little $10 tool.;^)

Mainely,Bob

Thanks

Frank D. in Montreal

>Excellent, I just got back with a load of goodies and I should have it made by this evening.

Frank

It works, but

Frank D. in Montreal

>I almost broke my thumb getting the first blank through. The problem was that my drill bit wasn't cutting clean enough holes (I used oil and a new drill bit), so the blank was getting pressed in the middle. I drilled another hole and went at both of them with a reamer. That helped a lot, but also made the hole slightly oversize. Tomorrow I'll buy a drill bit 1/16" smaller, and clean and size it up with the reamer, and make one of the two original holes even bigger. That way I won't have to make the blank such a close fit (that surprised me, how close it actually has to be, it's almost a dowel already); I'll bang it through the big hole, then the middle one, and last the smallest to clean it up.

Thanks again!

Re: It works, but

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>If you get really frustrated with this process, Lie-Nielsen manufactures and sells them, but they're pretty expensive. But, maybe you won't think so if making them yourself turns out to be more difficult than you espected. Good luck.

Re: It works, but

Frank D. in Montreal

>Thanks William,

I guess I was a bit frustrted on the first try, but it is definitely better with the reaming and I should be able to improve some more when I make the new hole tomorrow. I saw the plate on the LN Website and figured I should be able to pull this off. I don't mind spending money but I also like to make my own tools and I've read enough people who have made their own. Just some fine tuning and it should work quite well. Here's my first try:

Re: It works, but

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Looks like you've got it. I do a bit of furniture repair. Lots of late 19th and early 20th century furniture used lots of dowels that now need to be replaced. The number of 7/16" dowels you encounter in this work is uncany. Guess what size Lie-Nielsen does NOT provide in their dowel plate? I told them, and they promised to think about it, but I haven't bought one from them yet.

Note that these things have to take a lot of abuse. Just hanging it over the end of the bench puts a lot of stress on the plate, the bench and your bar clamps. I've seen them let into a shallow mortise in the bench top, with a through hole under the holes, so when you hit it with the mallet, the forces are spread out and equalized. If you are going to make a lot of them, you might want to hang a small basket or bucket underneath. It saves a lot of stooping. Also, instead of pretrimming by hand, you can drive the dowels through successively smaller holes, until you get them down to the right diameter and round.

Re: It works, but

Patrick Gibbons, Houston

>Why not just clamp the steel so that the appropriate aperture is above a dog hole. Then the entire body is supported.

Re: It works, but

Frank D. in Montreal

>I had the same thought,

And that's what I'll do since I don't spend all day or even part of the day making dowels, but with more than one hole to ram the dowel through (to get it down to size) it's an inconvenience moving the plate so the doghole is under the appropriate hole. But still your idea is good, all I have to do is ram all the dowels through the same hole before moving the plate. This would also limit me to 3/4" but I don't see making bigger dowels for now.

Re: It works, but

paul womack

>Why not just clamp the steel so that the appropriate aperture is above a dog hole.

I've just got a piece of firewood (bark sill on) with a recess to hold the plate, and holes under each hole. Good support for the plate.

BugBear

Re: Dowel plate

paul womack

>I want to start making my own dowels and thought a dowel plate would be easy to use

It's fairly easy to make custom dowels long enough for jointing purposes, especially from rived wood.

I wouldn't fancy trying to exceed these limits.

BugBear