Getting Dowels to fit Easily

[Kenji Horvath]

  So I am putting together a blanket chest that has no less than 112 dowels. The problem is that all the dowels I have from various manufacturers fit way too tight. Especially once you put glue in the dowel holes. My first attempt at forcing them in with a hammer resulted in the wood splitting around the dowel. I tried widening the holes with my drill but ended up getting more of a vertical hourglass shaped hole which affected how the boards lined up. I asked in the wood talk forum if anyone had any ideas and someone suggested I sanded the dowels down to fit. I wish I remember the person's name. Whoever it was, Thank you!! I handed sanded down some of the dowels which got a good fit but my hands were cramping up hardcore after only about 4 dowels. With that number of dowels I had to go I couldn't possible do it by hand sanding them. So I got the idea from watching a free video from the William NG School where he used a drill to help shape the ends of ebony plugs that I could try to sand down the dowels' sides by inserting the dowel in the chuck of my drill. I gotta say that it worked out beautifully. I just put the dowel in the chuck and tightened it down just enough so it wouldn't move but didn't crush all the wood fibers and folded an 80 grit piece of sand paper around the dowel and sanded it lightly doing test fits in the dowel holes. When one side fit I just flipped the dowel over in the chuck and did the other side. My hands never cramped again =) and i finished about 68 dowels in less than an hour. I thought I'd just share this little tip as it helped me out a ton in my current project. Take care!!

[Llama]

Thanks for sharing the tip! 

 

I have had very good success with Rockler dowels. I also use their jig, with a nice brad point drill I bought from Woodcraft.

 

The jig is always on sale, and the dowels are cheap. I buy the longest ones, and cut them to length.

 

I think that out of a bag of dowels, I throw away around 3 because of the tightness.

[..Kev]

Great tip!  Thanks for sharing!  I have a current project where I'm considering using some dowel..  I think I'll chuck them up in my drill press and give this a try.

[woodbutcher74]

I had this problem with biscuits. After they were around the shop for awhile they expanded and were too tight to slip into the slots. I used to pick through them and throw away the oversized ones. This got expensive. One day it hit me. I put one in my vise and squeezed it. It fit just right. I'll never throw any away again.

[Guido_de]

As most of these problems are caused by moisture, a very brief spin in the microwave helps as well (you could use an oven as well, might take longer though). However, make sure you don't overdo it (in terms of time and power) and make sure to have as little wood touching wood as possible, as these spots tend to first turn dark and then burn...

Works with dowels, dominos and biscuits (and any other pieces of wood too...).

[Andrew Pritchard]

I had this problem with biscuits. After they were around the shop for awhile they expanded and were too tight to slip into the slots. I used to pick through them and throw away the oversized ones. This got expensive. One day it hit me. I put one in my vise and squeezed it. It fit just right. I'll never throw any away again.

 

Have you tried storing them in a sealed plastic bag with one of those silica gel packs in the bag to absorb the moisture?

[wdwerker]

I will sand the edges of dominoes lightly on my belt sander . It makes assembly easier and provides a little more wiggle room to adjust the alignment.

Gotta try the microwave idea!

[RPCV_Woodworker]

My suggestion would be to simply make you own dowels, Fine Woodworking has a short piece on this: http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/40048/make-your-own-dowels 

 

Otherwise, you could always switch to splines/biscuits/dominoes

[Robert Cross]

Since I have a Dowelmax jig, I use a lot of dowels.  I love that when you call them about an issue, you talk to real people who are courteous and know a lot about their product and about dowels.  One thing they explained to me was that you need to use the right size drill.  If you try to use a 3/8" drill for a 3/8" dowel, you can  have problems because there needs to be some room there for glue and expansion.  I bought a few drill bits of varying diameters.  The most popular drill bit, which comes with the Dowelmax, works great with dowels from Woodcraft, or Dowelmax, or caldowel.com.  I also have some tighter drill bits, but haven't needed to use it yet.  The fit of the dowels is even varies with the type of wood you drill into.  The Dowelmax folks probably have a drill bit that would work for you, and the Dowelmax jig is amazingly good if you want to try it.

 

So when all the dowels are too tight, you probably need a larger bit.  If they are really tight dry, they are going to be very difficult when you glue them.