applying glue to dowel joints

[Jeremy Brant]

I was using my dowelmax last night and got to thinking there's got to be a better/cleaner way to actually do the glue up. I spread some glue on the joining surface of one of the pieces of wood being joined, squirt a little glue in the dowel hole, squirt some glue on the dowel, insert the dowel, squirt some more glue on the other end of the dowel, and join the two surfaces. Seems like way too much glue to be applying when a good portion ends up squeezing out. What's a better (more proper) way of doing this?

[glenn bradley]

I don't do much with dowels but I do floating tenons of about 5/16" x 3/4" x length size. I use a small brush to put glue along the sides of the mortise. They make an attachment for your glue bottle to do this for dowels but a brush should work.

I brush the glue in the mortise and inert the tenon. I wipe the squeeze out away from the area. During assembly I stop about 1/4" short and again wipe the squeeze out away from the opposing tenon. This keeps squeeze out in tight spots to a minimum.

[Charles Green]

I use the Dowelmax as well. I usually try to get just enough glue in the hole so that when the dowel is inserted it just barely squeezes out. This is very difficult to get just right.
I wish they made some sort of dispenser to accurately meter blops of glue.

[David Cefai]

I smear a little glue at one end of the dowel, then push it into the hole. You don't need much. If you apply the correct amount you will get a little squeeze out.

Next apply glue to the mating faces and the exposed tips of the inserted dowels. Now assemble the joint.

As the dowel slides into the hole the glue spreads along the dowel.

Wolfcraft simply recommend squirting a little glue into the hole and tapping in the dowel.

There's a video here:

http://www.wolfcraft.de/jcatalog_generated/en/products/product_groups/1013_product.html

(Note: Silent Movie.)

I don't like squirting glue into the hole because if you overdo it the glue can prevent the dowel from penetrating deeply enough - the grooves don't let all the glue out.

[Neil Brooks]

+1 for David's way: some for the dowel, some for the board edges, none for the holes.

Historically good results, here.

[Bill Huber]

I use a lot of dowels with the DowelMax and I put a small amount of glue in each hole and then push the dowel into it. I use enough glue that it will squeeze out and then with a brush I use the squeeze out to apply to the surface of the joint. I do this on both parts, it does take a little practices to get just the right amount but after a few you will get it.

[Rick Lizek]

http://www.chicagodowel.com/pg_dowel_pins.html
You can get pre-glued dowels as another option... just add water

[Bryan Berguson]

I like to put enough glue in one side to get good squeeze out when the dowel is bottomed out. I then use a small brush and apply glue to rest of the dowel.

Bryan