Here's a review of the Dowel Press done by Workshop Addict. It does a good job or recognizing the benefits and drawbacks of this latest OTT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4b9NzYVXQ
Here's a review of the Dowel Press done by Workshop Addict. It does a good job or recognizing the benefits and drawbacks of this latest OTT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4b9NzYVXQ
Are dowels used very much? Who uses a lot of dowels? I have a bunch I bought 20 years ago. I'm not sure I've opened the bag yet....
But as some stated, Woodpeckers builds and designs very fine products and I've loved everything I've ever gotten from them.
IMO, my Lie Nielsen dowel plate is only good for making dowels 4" or less in length. It does a credible job in that range.
Having it means I no longer have to go to the BORG or Lowes when I need a dowel that I don't have.
I keep a mayonnaise jar with an assortment of dowels.
just kinda pricey for the 400 bucks. But i think quality is good also.
Pretty tool, high quality, but it is not on my list.
Curious: for those suggesting making dowels on a lathe (and not having one in my shop, please excuse my ignorance here) how do you get a consistent diameter on a skinny and flexible 3/8" dowel? If it were metal you might use a steady rest to eliminate the flex and with the fixed cutter, no problem. But don't you generally use a WW lathe with handheld tools?
NOW you tell me...
I think it would be easier to make on a router table with a roundover bit then a lathe. On the router table you leave the ends square to keep the stock from rotating.
This is assuming that you're not trying to make something like a 1/4" dowel 3 feet long.
Assuming that you're going to make a dowel that's a couple of inches long, I'd chuck up the wood, rough it round, and then make a small cut on each end to the size (maybe just a bit bigger, for safety). There are lathe tools that you can use to make those cuts and you'd use a set of calipers to feel the size.
Then cut out the wood between your two sizing cuts. Use an accurate caliper (like a dial caliper) and take it down to size. If you're really close, use sandpaper to get it to the final size. Probably takes longer to describe it than to do it.
Mike
[If you did want to make a 1/4" dowel 3 feet long, there are "steady rests" supports you can make to hold the work as you cut it. It would be slow and difficult to do one 3 feet long but it could be done.]
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 10-22-2016 at 2:54 PM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Got the Dowel Press Die Set from Woodpeckers last week. Unfortunately, instead of Metric version I've got Imperial. Did anybody by any chance received Metric instead of Imperial?
It does also look different a bit than in advertisement, mat black instead of shiny metal:
20170714_220317.jpg
Maybe I was the only one to order them in Metric, hehe.
For that price I would buy a dowel plate, or the replacement dowel cutters for this tool, and a hydraulic press or a arbor press. That way I would have a useful tool and a dowel maker. I have not used dowels since High school where we had a power doweling drill machine. It has been biscuits and screws since school was over for me.
Bill
https://www.amazon.com/HHIP-8600-003...GH5X9F6MMR89CF
I wouldn't use $400 worth of dowels in a lifetime. Dowel press would be a solution without a problem for me.
For $400 you could get a decent mini or if you look for a while, good used midi-lathe, and make all the dowels you want, plus drawer pulls, spindles and the like. For short species specific structural dowels, just get a Lee Valley dowel former. I have 3/4" hole in the face of my bench vice, so I can use the vice to push stock through a dowel former/plate.