Miller Dowels as stregth and decorative element in Cabinet corners

[Joe Beaulieu]

Hi

I am gluing up a shop cabinet that will hold my hand tools etc. Planes and other fairly heavy things. I had planned on using Miller dowels to strengthen the shelves and sides to top and bottom, and because they look nice - walnut dowels in maple sides but I have a concern. The top, bottom. and sides are each 3/4 in maple - hardwood, not ply. They are let into a 3/4 in rabbet on each side of the case, top and bottom. So far very typical construction. However the head of the dowel is 4/10th of an inch wide - or 13/32. To center that in the 3/4 in width of the rabbet and joining piece brings me perilously close to the edge of the case, and I am very concerned about blowout and having a real mess on my hands.

So - two questions:

1. Is my concern justified? If I use a brace or hand drill to drill the holes I can go slowly, but once I start I am committed. I guess I could patch the hole somehow if disaster strikes, but I really don't want to go there.

2. If I forego the dowels, is there anything else you might recommend as a means to strengthen up the sides to the bottom? It will be connected via the back, which is 1/2 " maple ply that I plan to screw into the rabbet around the back. Is that strong enough provided a good glue up? Am I worrying over nothing? SWMBO thinks I am. I kind of do as well.


Thanks folks - I love having this as a place to ask questions. Your help is much appreciated.

Joe

[Mike Chalmers]

If I am understanding this correctly, you want to use a 3/8" (basically) dowel in 3/4" wood. That is the norm. I do what you want to do all the time, except my dowels are hiddeb.

[Bob Turkovich]

I've used Miller dowels to build a two chests. The sides, front and back of the chests were cherry plywood and I used solid 3/4" cherry glued & doweled to provide the corners.

If you haven't used Miller dowels before, the "kit" includes a two-step tapered drill bit to make the hole for the dowels. The transition to the largest step (which creates the largest diameter) has a generous chamfer to minimize the risk of breakout. I had no issues with breakout.

My only concern (i.e., strength) was drilling into the end grain of the plywood. I have had two adults (concurrently) sit on one of the chests on multiple occasions and the joints are holding up fine.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

1. Is my concern justified? If I use a brace or hand drill to drill the holes I can go slowly, but once I start I am committed. I guess I could patch the hole somehow if disaster strikes, but I really don't want to go there.

Only you can tell you if you can drill straight enough. When I am a little uncertain if I can pull something off, I do some practice runs on scrap of the same dimension. One thing that helps is having a reference. My shoulder drill has a level on it that I use, but you can also have somebody hold a square for you to reference visually. And you can always use a little narrower diameter dowel to give yourself a little better margin of error.

Personally I like the look you are going for. I did something similar (black walnut on white oak) for a shelf I built for my son, and I really like how it came out. You mentioned setting the sides in rabbets. Are the shelves set in dados, or are you relying on the dowels only for support for the shelves?

[Joe Beaulieu]

Hey All - THanks for replying

The shelves are in dadoes. I just did all of the shelves (there are 3 unevenly positioned shelves) with the dowels and it came out beautifully. I am vacillating on doing the corners. There is an element of overkill doing the corners and the shelgves. My wife convinced me it would look nice with just the three shelves done, and right now I have to agree. I may rely on the back to lend some strength. Two of the three shelves are clo0ser to the bottom of the case and will lend quite a bit 0of structural support, so I am going to take a chance and not use the dowels in the bottom or top.

Thanks folks - your help is much appreciated.

Joe

[Dave Zellers]

Wow- the things you learn on SMC.

Never heard of Miller dowels. I'm trying to figure out what advantage a stepped dowel provides. I'm not getting it at all.

[Mac McQuinn]

I've used the Miller Walnut Dowels in building a 6' tall rolling storage unit in which I've loaded with plenty of weight. Shelves and
carcass were all MDO edged w/ oak. I used a 1/4" tempered hardboard back. I would use the Miller product in the future.
Mac

[Dave Zellers]

It just seems like a screw and a plug would be much stronger and look exactly the same.

[Mac McQuinn]

It just seems like a screw and a plug would be much stronger and look exactly the same.

For my project, screwing into the edge grain plies of the MDO seemed less than desirable. I felt the use of the Miller product
would allow a secure connection while also providing a nice accent against the white oak I used for trim.
Mac

[Dave Zellers]

Interesting. Not intending to be critical- this is new territory for me.

[David Hawxhurst]

you could always use some metal rod like brass, copper, or aluminum and if you really wanted the wood look you could countersink the metal rod then use what ever wood dowel you want and flush cut it.

[Bob Turkovich]

The leading step of the Miller drill bit provides a tapered hole. As you tap the stepped dowel in, the dowel wedges in place and provides a clamp load between the two pieces that you're trying to connect. In most cases (including the example the OP was presenting), a screw would probably provide a stronger attachment. However, if one of the two pieces is porous or soft, the Miller dowel could be the better choice.

Another situation I used them for was to attach 1/4" thick edge banding to plywood. The wedging action of the dowel helps clamp the banding to the plywood as the glue dries (and you don't have to closely control the depth of the countersink as you would with a screw/plug.)

[Troy Turner]

I made two end tables about 10 years ago using the Miller Dowels. Wanted something other than screws because they showed. I used 3/4 pine all around the pegs are still holding strong. Take your time and get your holes lined up and you won't have a problem. They also provide a lot of glue surface.

[Kirby Krieger]

A separate question about the Miller dowels from a beginner:

The Birch dowels that came with my X1 and the two bags of Walnut dowels I also purchased have only one of the four stepped faces grooved. The instructions say to apply glue to the two steps with grooves — and almost all the pictures on Miller's site and on the Web show dowels with a smooth outside-most step, a smooth thinnest deepest step, and two grooved steps between them.

Why do my dowels have only one grooved step?
Does this change how I should use them?
Do I understand correctly that at least ¼" of grooved step should penetrate the deeper board?
The standard use seems to be to make T joins between parallel boards of similar sizes. Is there a recommended method for making face joins or reinforcing lap joints with the Miller dowels?

Thx.

Kirby.