Buy a lathe.
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Buy a lathe.
~ Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.
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A long shot (mailing might be too expensive), but these guys in Scotland do hardwood dowelling to all sorts of sizes (including custom) : http://www.plugitdowel.co.uk/wood-pr...owelling-round
They did a good job when i bought from them a couple of years ago...
There pretty much have to be similar services in the US?
Last edited by ian maybury; 07-16-2015 at 11:56 AM.
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I added some dowels from Lee Valley to my last order. The dowels are not special, but they are uniform and 3/4" == 3/4", not 18mm. However, I bought 3/4" dowels from the home center recently specifically to make bench dogs and they we're a full 3/4" (this time). Nothing seems to measure what it should any more. Plywood comes 19/32" instead of 5/8". Why, because it's really 15mm. As much as I prefer our measuring system, perhaps we should join the rest of the world and use metric.
Anyway...
FWIW - I want my bench dogs to be somewhat under 3/4". 23/32" - 11/16" is about right. I want them to slide easily and have the bullet catch provide the friction to hold them in place. I made mine similar to this http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...-in-this-fight
Making a round dog takes a couple minutes. For me, they are totally disposable. I used bullet catches this time, but I might switch to a spring setup like Judson showed if I can figure out what to use for the spring wire.
-- Dan Rode
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This is what I have done.Originally Posted by Maurice Ungaro
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[OP]
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I think the bullet catches and springs are great ideas and make lemonade out of this lemon. They require an undersized dowel to work properly in the first place. The "move up to 20mm" idea is intriguing, especially for the access to European accessories, but my holdfasts (my main use of my dog holes) dictate against that.
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You might find Phil that your holdfasts work perfectly well in 20mm holes, especially if the bench top is pretty thick (3 - 4in) and the holdfasts are close to being a full 3/4in diameter. Some experience problems getting holdfasts to grip in 3/4 holes drilled by typical means.
It probably wouldn't be too hard to mock up a 20mm test hole or two...
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