Spelching control when cutting dowels

**FenceFurniture** · 1st July 2022, 11:54 AM

Spelching (aka breakout, splintering) of the back of a cut drives me nuts because it ruins an otherwise really smooth cut on my Kapex saw. For square timber this is easily solved by butting a piece of 6mm mdf behind the cut, and a 500mm length lasts for many, many cuts.

However, when it comes to cutting dowel the mdf strip is no use at all. Of all the timbers that spelch, Tassie Oak (usually Vic. Ash) and Blue Gum are two of the worst, and commercially available dowel is Tassie Oak. A couple of weeks ago I had to cut a few pieces, and it was cosmetically important to have a nice clean cut, and a thought came to me to use masking tape around ¾ of the cut (the front doesn't need it).

It doesn't work quite as well as mdf backing on a straight cut, but it's pretty good. Gaff tape would probably be even better due to its strength, and sticks-like-stab glue, although the cloth in the saw may be concerning. All up though, I'm pretty satisfied with masking tape.

Masked up:
Taped up.jpg

and cut:

Cut dowels.jpg

That's the back of the cut you can see on the front right piece. Not perfect, but pretty good, and MUCH better than unsupported at all.

(remembering all the comments from the nylon rope thread that were made without looking at the pic first - can I suggest looking at the pics first this time?

)

**dinosour** · 10th July 2022, 10:18 PM

I had the same problem 43mm Tassie oak dowel . I had 30 to cut
Option one use a bandsaw very pleasing result
The other option was to insert dowel into a close fitting pvc pipe which is fixed to a base plate which is clamped to the saw base plate. Then cut through the pipe and dowel. The pipe acts as a zero clearance plate
Best of luck with the cuts

**FenceFurniture** · 10th July 2022, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by dinosour

Option one use a bandsaw very pleasing result

No spelching at the bottom of the cut?

**dinosour** · 11th July 2022, 01:20 PM

Not sure of that’s a question but minimal to none

**John Saxton** · 11th July 2022, 04:23 PM

Pehaps by scoring the back of the dowel with a marking Knife may be worth a try?

**Chris Parks** · 11th July 2022, 04:59 PM

Drill a close to size hole through a sacrificial block of wood, push the dowel into the hole and cut through the block and dowel.

**FenceFurniture** · 11th July 2022, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by John Saxton

Pehaps by scoring the back of the dowel with a marking Knife may be worth a try?

Yeah I've done that with cuts in regular square timber, and if you are out by just a fraction it doesn't look too good.

**Camelot** · 11th July 2022, 08:18 PM

If your using a stop, just cut into the surface (set a depth stop at about 1/3rd the way through the dowel or maybe even less) and rotate the dowel making a number of cuts making sure to keep it in contact with your stop.

**FenceFurniture** · 11th July 2022, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Camelot

If your using a stop, just cut into the surface (set a depth stop at about 1/3rd the way through the dowel or maybe even less) and rotate the dowel making a number of cuts making sure to keep it in contact with your stop.

Yes, that works well if the end cut appearance isn't particularly important - I find that that technique can show itself in the endgrain. I should probably have been more specific in this case - the end grain is seen as they were for bumroll holders.

**Camelot** · 12th July 2022, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Yes, that works well if the end cut appearance isn't particularly important - I find that that technique can show itself in the endgrain. I should probably have been more specific in this case - the end grain is seen as they were for bumroll holders.

I see, a Disc Sander would sort out the appearance

**Mobyturns** · 12th July 2022, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Drill a close to size hole through a sacrificial block of wood, push the dowel into the hole and cut through the block and dowel.

+1 on that solution. It works.

I have used it to cut numerous 12 mm dowel spindles for spin top shafts. The block can even be ripped in half through the hole to make life easier. Even a short of any architectural moulding that has a cove that is close to the dowel radius will reduce the spelching significantly if it is used to support the cut as a "zero clearance insert."

Best solution - use a lathe and add a classy chamfered edge to each end of the dowel.

**dinosour** · 16th July 2022, 09:53 PM

These are the dowels I cut
I hope it works this is my first picture posting

**FenceFurniture** · 16th July 2022, 10:47 PM

Yes, that's about close as dammit to the masking tape result. I must try it with gaff tape and see if that improves it. The best result ( as others have suggested) will be to have a piece of shaped timber backing it – no fibre movement at all.

**dinosour** · 17th July 2022, 08:41 PM

This cut was done on slide compound saw with standard blade.
the dowel was inserted into a section of 40mm pvc drain pipe, it was slit to fit over the dowel

**FenceFurniture** · 17th July 2022, 08:44 PM

Yeah noice! That's what we like eh?

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