Where to buy 20mm dowel rods?

[barri]

Bunnings have 19mm and 22mm and despite googling I'm having trouble finding a retail place that sells 20mm rods. I'm making my own bench dogs and my holes are 20mm. I've contacted a trade place but they require a fairly large minimum quantity and I only need about 2 meters.

[Blackforester]

You could always turn them down to the required diameter once you have cut them to length. If you haven't go a lathe someone in the turning forum could do it for you.

[qwertyu]

Ive seen people make them by drilling holes into steel and hammer pieces of timber through the holes until you get desired length - worth a youtube if you cannot find them

[rwbuild]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CG1XO08ByA

[barri]

I didn't want to make them, time constraints and too lazy, but I keep hitting brick walls. I don't have a lathe so maybe I could find someone who has. I'm staggered that there isn't a retail place that you can buy these.

[Lappa]

Have you tried this company?
Dowel | Dowel.com.au (http://www.dowel.com.au/dowel/)

[nrb]

It is a shame you have already drilled 20mm holes as it would have been easy to buy a forstner bit or what ever to suit whatever size dowels you can get off the shelf
If you don't mind a few extra holes in your bench you could still do this and save you a lot of fuss

[auscab]

Just ring a wood turner and order as many as you want in what ever timber you like .

[cava]

Buy the 22mm diameter dowel, attach it (somehow) to an ordinary drill chuck and sand it to the required size.

[skot]

Is 19mm too small....Bunnings have Porta Tas Oak 19mm dowel

$10.80 for 1.8m length that can be cut to size.


OR

Put in an order to this mob in NZ

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/southern-pine-products-ltd-radiata-dowel-20mm-x-1-8m/p/637985

[auscab]

There is nothing hard about planing the corners off and then planing again a 20 x 20 square into a round with a bit of scraping at the end. I reckon I could hand plane one up and then scrape it to a round 20mm in the time it takes to start my car and get to the front gate. Ive got a long driveway though :)

[barri]

Have you tried this company?
Dowel | Dowel.com.au (http://www.dowel.com.au/dowel/)

Yep!

[barri]

Is 19mm too small



Yep!

[barri]

I got sick of looking and I've bitten the bullet and bought ready made dogs from this site The Yellowbox Shed – 3D Printing, CNC machining and timber bits (http://yellowboxshed.com.au/)

Top quality, well priced and they have everything I want. So for a small price I've saved a lot of stuffing about in time and effort.

Thanks for the replies.

[ian]

if you don't have a lathe and still want to make your own then Veritas® Dowel Maker - Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=42331&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1) is an option.

but for a small quantity, a shop built variation of this tool
http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/item/Woodworking/Projects/05J6001s1.jpg Veritas® Dowel and Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=52401&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1)
works a treat. Use hardwood and a plane blade.

[Fumbler]

I didn't want to make them, time constraints and too lazy, but I keep hitting brick walls. I don't have a lathe so maybe I could find someone who has. I'm staggered that there isn't a retail place that you can buy these.

Pop this on the Wood turning forum/threads and see if you get any takers. I could do it but I wont be able to do it for a while, are you in a rush?

[barri]

if you don't have a lathe and still want to make your own then Veritas® Dowel Maker - Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=42331&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1) is an option.

but for a small quantity, a shop built variation of this tool
http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/item/Woodworking/Projects/05J6001s1.jpg Veritas® Dowel and Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=52401&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1)
works a treat. Use hardwood and a plane blade.

Not in metric, Ian

[barri]

Pop this on the Wood turning forum/threads and see if you get any takers. I could do it but I wont be able to do it for a while, are you in a rush?

No I'm not in a rush but I'm in country Victoria.

[cjbfisher]

Is there any reason that you can't drill the holes out to 22mm and use the 22mm dowel from Bunnings?

[ian]

Not in metric, Ianquoting from the advertising bumph for the Veritas® Dowel Maker - Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=42331&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1)
"The range of blade adjustment lets you make dowel as much as 1/16" undersize"
so at an intended 13/16ths dowel can be adjusted to achieve the approx .7 mm "undersize" required to clearance fit a 20 mm hole.

but for a few, this jig will do the job
https://woodgears.ca/dowel/rundstabhobel.jpg

[barri]

Is there any reason that you can't drill the holes out to 22mm and use the 22mm dowel from Bunnings?

I've ordered a guide that helps me build my own festool type mft table that includes a 20mm cutter/holes and that's the size I want to drill. Also many of the dogs, clamps, hold downs and accessories for mft tables supplied by companies like veritas are 20mm. So the most common size of dog holes and associated clamps are 3/4" and 20mm.

[derekcohen]

You might as well use 19mm dowels since there is the need to add a "spring" to hold the dog at the desired height. Usually, for round dogs, this is a wire in a groove along the side. An alternative would be to plane a flat and add a wooden spring. Then spokeshave the excess away. I think that you will end with a tight fit.

Personally, I would not be making dogs from Tassie Oak. I question whether it is not strong enough. I think it will bend and snap.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bohdan]

The problem with having 20 mm wooden dowels as dogs is that the dogs that are used with 20 mm holes are actually 19.xx mm in diameter depending on brand. Wooden dogs will change in diameter with moisture content and so will one day be tight and then loose.

In my case I turn my own ones out of a 20 mm aluminium bar and can make them to whatever fit I require.

If you really want to make your own just buy some 20 mm ali bar and sand it down to the fit you require.

[derekcohen]

.. or 20mm brass rod.

See the Veritas dogs as an example.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[barri]

.. or 20mm brass rod.



That's a great alternative Derek. Even Bunnings have 20mm stiff conduit which would work perfectly. Also, I didn't want to bother with springs on the dogs as the ones I want to make will have a rectangular cap at the top. As long as its snug with a "small" amount of movement then that's fine with what I want to do.

[RobbieB]

Bunnings also sell baluster rods in kwila which I think are 20mm. It's also a LOT cheaper than buying dowel if you only need short lengths. I was using it to make trampoline ladders. They are a couple of aisles left of the timber.
Cheers, Robbie.

[Bob38S]

Here is one for thinking outside of the box, if you really want to use dowel, try soaking a 19mm in water for a few hours, dry and test. Not swelled enough, soak a little longer etc. If too large a light sand should then bring them to size.

As an afterthought, when they are the right size, soak, coat them in a suitable sealer as they will swell / shrink depending on humidity.

[barri]

That is "out of left field" but a bit too much mucking around. I've ended up buying some 20mm dogs

[Bob38S]

Good thinking.

[Just George]

They are 19mm and 22mm for a reason, they are imperial sizes that are written as metric for the Australian market. Same as screws saw blades and router bits.

[elanjacobs]

Same as screws saw blades and router bits.
Yeah.....but all of those come in proper metric as well

[Just George]

I am unsure where to get them, I like Ian's post which the pictures of the dowel maker.