Dowel Pins

[George Bokros]

UPDATE........

They dowel pins were so tight they would not go in by hand more than a quarter inch. The bit is not old, it has been used only few times. I chucked the pins in the drill press and using a file i slimmed them down to fit.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Steve Demuth]

I wonder at the logic behind the idea that a dowel would swell and split a panel. Assuming you don't cause the split when driving the dowel in because the dowel is way oversized, there isn't much expansion force to be reckoned with. To get a 1/4" pine dowel to expand its diameter one hundredth of an inch, you'd have to increase its moisture content overall by 20%. That's a lot of water to get out of a thin layer of glue. And that .01" would only apply at the point on the circumference of the dowel nearest the panel surface - everywhere else the force is reduced both by the smaller perpendicular span of the dowel. In addition that force is going into the damaged side of a hole where the wood fibers are more compressible than in fully intact wood. Just not much there, there.

[Bill Dufour]

You confused me until I realized you mean a wood dowel. To me a dowel pin is a precision ground metal rod which better be accurate diameter to 0.001" or better. Of course the holes are drilled then bored to size often 0.001-0.003 undersize.
Bill D

[Ole Anderson]

To me wooden dowels are called dowels, dowel pins are steel pins ground to a specific diameter. But then I do see a lot of wooden ones called dowel pins on a google search. Go figure.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I wonder at the logic behind the idea that a dowel would swell and split a panel. Assuming you don't cause the split when driving the dowel in because the dowel is way oversized, there isn't much expansion force to be reckoned with. To get a 1/4" pine dowel to expand its diameter one hundredth of an inch, you'd have to increase its moisture content overall by 20%. That's a lot of water to get out of a thin layer of glue. And that .01" would only apply at the point on the circumference of the dowel nearest the panel surface - everywhere else the force is reduced both by the smaller perpendicular span of the dowel. In addition that force is going into the damaged side of a hole where the wood fibers are more compressible than in fully intact wood. Just not much there, there.

There you go, Steve, usng science and logic to ruin a perfectly fine apocalyptic scenario. What's next - you gonna tell me I won't sail over the edge of the world?

[Tim Andrews]

I will second the method of dehumidifying the dowels in the microwave. I use dowels a lot with a Dowelmax jig, and this is part of my workflow. Since I live less than a mile from the ocean in the foggy Bay Area, I probably experience this problem more than most. I have gone up to 3 minutes in the microwave for stubborn ones. As I’m dry fitting a project I will sort them according to thickness and store them in air tight zip lock bags.

I have read that the drill bit that comes with the Dowelmax 3/8” kit is slightly oversized, although I don’t know this for sure and don’t know about Jessem. I replaced my bit when it became dull with a 3/8” one, and I do seem to experience tight dowels most of the time. I’m going to try a slightly larger bit that still fits in the guides.

[Rick Potter]

Thanks Mel, for the mention of the inch thick plate. I have a plate about 10" square and at least 3/4" thick in the shop that I picked up at a garage sale. I use it often to flatten metal pieces, but never thought of drilling holes in it for dowel sizing.

I'm gonna drill a few holes on one corner for sizing dowels, thanks to you.

[Michael Schuch]

I have been using dowels for joining wood for decades. I have never had a work piece split from a dowel swelling.

[jack duren]

Doweling isn’t as complicate$ as some of you make it out to be. It either fits or it doesn’t, it ain’t rocket science..

Microwave a dowel. I bought 10,000 dowels in the 80’s and I’ve used them on face frames, I’ve never had to microwave a dowel on any flavor or wood..

[Mike Henderson]

I find the commercial dowels to be large. I drive them through a Lie Nielsen dowel plate before using.

I only use dowels where I can't use a Domino.

Mike