Originally Posted by
Steve Demuth
I wonder at the logic behind the idea that a dowel would swell and split a panel. Assuming you don't cause the split when driving the dowel in because the dowel is way oversized, there isn't much expansion force to be reckoned with. To get a 1/4" pine dowel to expand its diameter one hundredth of an inch, you'd have to increase its moisture content overall by 20%. That's a lot of water to get out of a thin layer of glue. And that .01" would only apply at the point on the circumference of the dowel nearest the panel surface - everywhere else the force is reduced both by the smaller perpendicular span of the dowel. In addition that force is going into the damaged side of a hole where the wood fibers are more compressible than in fully intact wood. Just not much there, there.