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Doweling Jig

A doweling jig is a tool made of flat metal that you push a wooden stick through to make it round and a specific diameter.

I want to be able to create two sizes of dowels - 6.0 mm and 6.5 mm diameter from strips of spruce about 2-3 inches long - for violin and viola sound posts.

I know approximately what this tool looks like but I've never seen or used one.

How would I make this tool?

Specifically: How thick should the steel plate be?

Mild steel ok, or should it be hardened?

Are the holes the desired diameter of the dowel or a little smaller?

Is the hole countersunk on one side or the other?

Do you push it through from the countersunk side or the side that's not countersunk?

TIA RWL

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Reply to
RWL
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leevalleytools It's a dowel MAKER. A doweling jig is to make holes in pieces to be joined by a dowel, such that if you do things right, the pieces will line up the way you want. /mark

RWL wrote:

Reply to
Mark

It's a dowel plate, not a dowelling jig. A dowelling jig is used in boring holes for dowel joints.

For most of the questions you have about a dowel plate, either of the answers are OK.

If you drive the wood into a chamfered hole, you'll compress it. Good for most joinery, but not if you want a precise size. If you do, drive it through the non-chamfered side.

The holes in mine are the nominal size. Never checked the resulting dowels for size. Would probably depend on whether you used the chamfered side or the flat side, and on the type of wood. With softwoods and the chamfered side, I'd expect expansion.

Drill holes in a piece of steel plate. Low carbon is fine. Anywhere from

1/4" to 1/2" thick should be fine. Even better, drill undersize and ream to final size to get a better finish. Leave one side as is and countersink the other. No need to harden, unless it is going to get a tremendous amount of use.

I go one step further, and tap through from the side for a setscrew. I grind a point on the setscrew, and can adjust it so that it scrapes a groove the length of the dowel. The groove allows excess glue and air to escape the joint. If I don't want a groove, I back out the setscrew.

John Martin

Reply to
JMartin957

I think a piece of 1/4" CRS (not hardened) would be sufficient unless you are going into production of soundposts. I would drill and ream the holes to the sizes desired. If you started with a square blank longer than required you might be able to just pound it through and then trim it to the correct length. Or, you could press it through.

Reply to
Phil Teague

Excellent link. Picture, instructions for use and a diagram with info on the type of steel used. Darn though - I just received my MSC order. I could have included an extra piece of tool steel. Guess I'll try it with mild steel.

Thanks.

RWL

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RWL

Ooooooh. I've got a piece of truck spring I picked up off the road and had a blacksmith anneal for me in his forge. Thanks for reminding me.

RWL

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RWL

See my post elsewhere in this thread. Try a piece of old leaf spring.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Edwards

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