Thread: Can you buy hardwood dowel smaller than 4mm ?

Hobby shops will have smaller dowels, but maybe not in hardwood.
I note that the Veritas dowel maker only starts at 1/4", so that's no help.

Thanks Jeremy. I was thinking hobby shops too..... then I thought they only supply balsa.

Might have to rip up a few strips with a bead plane. means I'll have to grind up a new blade though. Bit tricky.

Jake

Depending on how long you want it I have made short lengths by getting a piece of 3mm thick steel and drill a hole the size that you want and drive the strip of timber through the hole gently with a hammer.

Of course. Didn't think of that....I'll take the 4mm stuff I've got down ...
Ta Barry.

Or use bamboo skewers , they make good small dowels

Originally Posted by echnidna

Or use bamboo skewers , they make good small dowels

thats what I ended up doing this morning, along with Barrys tip.

Bought myself 3 packets of skewers from crazy clarks ( yes, I do go there...don't tell anyone) at 69cents a packet.

Their thickness seemed to range between 2.5 and 3mm....which was a worry....cause , especially with glue in the mix, they won't fit nice eh. The holes got to be the same diameter as the skewer

So then just drilled into a plate several holes ranging from 2.4mm to 1/8" (from the metric and imperial set.... burshed the side of the plate against the side of the grinder a bit to give the holes a bit of an edge.... then just pushed each skewer through each hole till they shaved all to 2.5mm......

What they call them in the old days ? ....dowel sizers ? something like.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

What they call them in the old days ? ....dowel sizers ? something like.

Dowel plates. Lie-Nielsen and Carb-Tec still sell them.

Ta Ian. Plates. I don't think I'd buy one though at those prices.

If you still need a whole lot more, get a roll-up bamboo window shade and dismember it. I got one at a garage sale extra cheap. Dowels are pretty close to round, about 2.4mm (3/32in).

Joe

Hi AT,

Barry's idea is a great one and has worked for me as well. A modification I saw in a book on box making uses a vice to hold the metal guide and a drill to hold one end of the blank. Gently rotating the piece as it moves through the hole and holding the finished piece as it moves out the other side may give you longer stock, but at 2-3mm not much longer.

Regards,

Rob

Thanks Joe.....I'll remember that. See old mouldy ones been thrown out all the time.

Seems to be a knack to it alright Rob......the best method I thought was to have small increments in holes........2.4mm, 2.5, 2.8, 3, 3.2.....(imperial diameters in there....forgot a couple.......

not big jumps....like from 4 to 3 to 2.......easier to push them through with small jumps.

How about brass rod glued in with epoxy?

also, down here in melbourne there is a hobby shop I used to visit about 2 years ago that had a stand like those balsa stands, but had lengths of small diameter round wood of about four different types, amongst these was the one I used to get which was about 2mm and of a wood I haven't heard of or remember but it sounded a bit african was olive brown with darker streaks and really oily. So it does exist

I make 2.5mm dowel regularly for hardwood pins for wooden hinges. I use a steel plate with a hole bored the size of the required dowel and using the drill press spin the wood through the plate. Go steady though. Have 99% success with this method, 1% loss from impatience.
Jim