Will this work?

[Michael Ray Smith]

I have a project that will have some pinned tenons, and I was looking for something interesting for the dowels to pin them with. I'm thinking about making them out of osage orange branches so that the growth rings show at the end of the pins. The problem, of course, is the pith at the center, which is really soft. I was wondering if I could drill out the pith (probably with a gimlet bit, but I'm not sure) and replace it with a smaller dowel of some other wood for a sort of bulls-eye effect - a dowel inside a dowel. I'm not sure that will work and, if it will, I'm not sure it will be worth the time and effort to do it. The picture shows a cross-section of a typical osage orange branch, but probably too big to use. It's almost 1 inch in total diameter, and the pith is about 1/4 inch in diameter. I'm thinking of something like a 3/8" pin with a 1/16" or 1/8" center dowel. (BTW, I have an awl that I picked up somewhere with a handle made from a branch, I think apple, with the tang running through the center of the branch, and I understand some Japanese tools have handles made the same way.)

Is this even worth thinking about?

IMG_20150721_095105158.jpg

[Sean Hughto]

There's nothing wrong with the idea conceptually, but I'm skeptical that an actual 3/8 osage twig will have much heartwood. Also, it's a lot of work for the final effect. There are likely easier ways to achieve a bullseye pin head effect on a piece.

[Sean Hughto]

One potential concern with using actual twigs for pins though is that the growth rings being concentric means that the shinkage will be be in a perfect circle potentially making the pins loose over time with the expanding and shrinking cycles. With a riven quartersawn dowel, for example, you avoid this slight risk.

[Jim Koepke]

Sean has pointed out a couple of problems you might have. Riven wood will be much better for this than dowels made from branches and twigs.

The concept will work, the method needs adjustment.

Here is something I have done with the same concept:

button.png

These are buttons made from gluing one dowel inside another. One dowel was made of ash, the other of rosewood. The dowel was then cut and the individual buttons were drilled with two holes. This isn't difficult if one has a lathe.

For a pin or dowel for joinery the problem may be if your plans include draw boring.

A dowel within a dowel is also used in my Anti-Rack Spacer Stack:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...k-Spacer-Stack

jtk

[Michael Ray Smith]

Thanks, Sean and Jim. I hadn't though of the shrinkage issue, and that alone is enough to make me abandon the idea in favor of something along the lines of the picture Jim posted.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Michael,

One more potential issue with keeping the center of the twig in the center of the dowel is a secondary issue involving shrinkage.

It may not be an issue with small twigs and limbs, as I have trimmings from my peach trees that do not split, however, the pith may actually help in this regard. Logs that have fallen in the mountains, that I have used for firewood when camping, always have radial splits running lengthwise up the log. I believe these splits are caused by shrinkage. The shrinkage is always greater parallel to the growth rings rather than perpendicular to them. Thus as the log dries and shrinks, splitting is inevitable, as something has to give. Because of this shrinking pattern, the circumference of the tree wants to shrink faster than the radius, and the wood literally pulls itself apart, splitting radially running lengthwise up the trunk.

I don't know why this has not happened with the twigs I have trimmed off of my these, but the ones in a bucket in my shed, even up to an inch in diameter, are not split. I am thinking that the shrinkage may be considerably less due to the tight growth rings of the twigs, or perhaps the pith has enough sponginess to it that the shrinkage compresses the pith, thus preventing splitting.

Stew

[lowell holmes]

I guess I favor ebony for decorative pegs. One piece from Woodcraft will last a long time for peg and dowel stock.

Do you have the LN dowl plate. I have one as well as a home made one. The LN is worth the price. I'm sure the LV dowel plates are as well.