Loose fitting dowels?

[Alex Zeller]

I have a project where I need to use a few dowels to connect two boards together in a T shape. The other day I bought some 3/8" ones from a local hardware store and they fit very loose. You can just drop them into the hole and they have a slight wobble. These dowels have the straight grooves down them for glue so there's no need for them to fit this loosely. My plan was to use Titebond 2 but I don't know if the gap is too big. I'm going to stop by another hardware store tonight that has a different brand and pick up another package. The ones they picture on their website have a spiral around them for the glue.

How tight should a dowel be? I assume tight enough so you can push them in by hand but not need to tap them in with a hammer. If I can't find any that fit tighter should I use epoxy to fill the joint vs Titebond? I was hoping to glue this up tonight. If I have to I guess I could try to make my own on the lathe but I'd rather not make this more time consuming.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't use dowels very much but I believe properly fitting dowels should be hand tight. That is, the dowels don't just fall into the hole.

If you haven't drilled the final holes yet, use a slightly smaller drill if you have a set that steps in small increments.

Another alternative if you have a lathe is to make your own dowels to fit your holes. This assumes you only need a few inches of dowel.

Lastly, use epoxy instead of Titebond.

Mike

[Andrew Hughes]

If you don’t find dowels. Make them by riving the wood and hammering the river wood through a dowel plate. Basically a 3/8 hole drilled in some thick metal.
short dowels are pretty easy to make. Especially from oak.
Good Luck

[Alex Zeller]

I have a DowlIt jig for making the holes. It has screw in dies that are designed for 3/8" brad point wood bits. If I was to go down a size or two in drill size I would have to use a regular twist bit for steel. I don't know how well it would work and I wouldn't want the bit to catch the die and damage it. Then there's the possibility that I don't get the hole drilled correctly and when the dowel is inserted it's cockeyed. For the opposite hole I'll be using a dowel center to mark the hole and a drill press. For that hole I could use a smaller bit without issue. It's like they made these dowels small so a weekend warrior with a cordless drill doing it by hand would be able to get the holes to line up.

[Alex Zeller]

That sounds interesting. I could even use my hydraulic press vs a hammer.

This is the first time I've worked with dowels but it's becoming clear that a Festool domino tool is something I may want.

[Alex Zeller]

If you don’t find dowels. Make them by riving the wood and hammering the river wood through a dowel plate. Basically a 3/8 hole drilled in some thick metal.
short dowels are pretty easy to make. Especially from oak.
Good Luck

That sounds interesting. I could even use my hydraulic press vs a hammer.

This is the first time I've worked with dowels but it's becoming clear that a Festool domino tool is something I may want.

[Brian Tymchak]

Depending on how loose the dowels are in the hole, they might swell enough with water based glue to fit tight. You can try the experiment easily. Drill a hole in some scrap and glue a dowel in. Check in an hour or so if the dowel is solid in the hole.

[Frank Pratt]

I don't use dowels for joinery, but I've bought dowel stock from Lee Valley and it has always been very precisely sized.

[Alex Zeller]

I just drilled a 23/64" hole and the dowels fit very tight. Tight enough to need a hammer to get them in. You wouldn't think 1/64" would be that different. I think the plan right now is (since I'm going right by that hardware store) is to pick up the other brand dowels and a spare brad point bit. I'll glue one of each onto a scrap as Brian suggested and if one feels tight after an hour I'll go with it. If neither feel right then I'll just put the spare bit in my drill press and use a sander on the outside of the bottom 1" of the bit to remove a little bit. If 1/64" under is too tight then 1/128" would probably do it which really is 1/256" all the way around the outside of the bit.

[Mike Henderson]

This is the first time I've worked with dowels but it's becoming clear that a Festool domino tool is something I may want.

Since I bought a Domino I haven't used any dowels. The Domino has a number of advantages over dowels.

The disadvantage, of course, is cost.

Mike

[Alex Zeller]

The dowels I picked up today fit nice and snug. I'll just get rid of the others so in a few years when I need some dowels I don't think I have plenty.

[Michael Schuch]

The dowels I picked up today fit nice and snug. I'll just get rid of the others so in a few years when I need some dowels I don't think I have plenty.

Good call. I can't afford a Domino tool and do have a horizontal boring machine so I do use dowels a fair bit. They should definitely be tight in their respective holes. It sounds like you got some out of spec ones so it is best to just toss them in my opinion. If they are too tight they can pretty easily split end grain.

Maybe you picked up some metric dowels by accident? ;)

[Mel Fulks]

The old and proven way is to get a thick piece of junk steel and drill some holes a little smaller than the dowels. Champher
them a bit to make dowels start easier . Champher the dowels too. I mix a bit of water in the glue to swell the dowels. An old method
that does not fail. I like the steel plates to be at least 3/4 “ thick.

[Rick Potter]

Hard to believe, but not only are cheap dowels often too small, but I have three brands of three types of 3/8" drill bits, and each one actually varies slightly. It also varies between spade, brad point and forstner. Twist bits are the most reliable for size, in my collection.

I have probably a thousand dowels, inherited from my dad or bought at yard sales, and I definitely have to watch which drill bit I use for these. I only use them on DIY projects, and use the Lee Valley ones when it matters.

I keep a sample of drilled holes, and which bit made them, and check my dowels to the sample before continuing.