# Dowels, for stabilizing and added fearures.



## Nubsnstubs (Apr 20, 2020)

I'm going to try to explain how I drill and insert dowels and why I use them. This post will take a few days as I have to actually get a couple pieces of my crappy wood that does need to have some sections stabilized in order for them not to fly apart while on the lathe. They also create some interesting effects as a benefit. So, some history and a link
Years ago just after inventing the Tail Stock Steady, I was searching Youtube looking for anyone who might be using anything that would come close to comparing to my Tail Stock Steady. I didn't want to take credit for something that might have been in use before I came along, but I didn't find anything. I did find this particular video by Chas Thornhill,




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I was enthralled at what he did, so I had to copy his technique.
His video shows using Aluminum rod also. That's fine I suppose, but instead of Aluminum, I had a bunch of 1/4" rod in copper. I drilled out my holes, inserted the rod with a bunch of CA, and proceeded to turn one piece. It was beautiful, if I do say so myself. Then I got some of the most beautiful spalted Pecan firewood I have ever seen, and started another. Got the shape set, and drilled and inserted the copper rods. Was turning and all of a sudden the piece exploded. I heard something hit the wall behind me, and actually saw part of the hollow form hit the floor. I gonna guess that the copper got hot with all the cutting, heated the CA, and the centrifugal force cause the copper to creep and got caught by the tool I was using, causing the form to split.
What hit the wall behind me was one of the copper rods with two very sharp ends flying past me like a knife thrown in the old westerns. Anyway, I still have that pecan somewhere, and if I find it before I'm done with this, I'll post a picture. So, My advise is, DO NOT USE METAL ROD AS A DOWEL SUBSTITUTE. Stick with wood.

Next are a couple lidded boxes, both in Palo Verde. One was made over 5 years ago, and houses my cough drops. The other was completed about 2 years ago.
First the 5 year old. This first picture has 2 dowels. One is Palo Verde, and the other is Agarita. This is what they look like on the OD




This is the inside view. I love the look of the Agarita. Looks like a critter is on it. Notice the width of the Agarita dowel. It's a 3/8" dowel and it looks like I reached the maximum diameter when I exposed it. That to me is an indicator of how thick my piece is at this particular time. If you look back at the first picture, you can see what is exposed in the next picture isn't seen in the top picture. That tells me without measuring, this form is somewhere over 3/16 thick, possibly right at 1/4". Using the dowels for bridging cracks allows for a quick determination on how thick your piece is without using a measuring device.




The next picture shows just one dowel on the OD. There was a crack in the wood when I first inserted the dowel, but disappeared when turning. The only cracks visible are at the far left end in the form, the the other crack is in the dowel. All dowels with the exception of the Agarita are Palo Verde. There was a picture taken of the inside, but my damn program didn't want to edit it.




There was a photo taken of the outside of this area also, but again, my editing program went on strike. There are a bunch of cracks visible here. This piece turned without issue, but if any other had seen it before the dowels were inserted, they would have tossed it.



Here is the outside.


 

Here is another lidded box that when I was finished, I decided try another just to try and make a smiley face as a feature. Needless to say, it was a failure. I didn't get the eyes right, but the smile was great. Anyway, back to form #2. Again, Palo Verde dowels, made by me using a Veritas Dowel Jig that I set up to make dowels.



Another dowel. I used the worst wood I could find for dowels, and I think I was rewarded by doing so.



That's all the pictures I have today, but here is a link to my video of making dowels and a look at how I set up this jig. 




I'll add more pictures tomorrow of the bits I use, and how placement of dowels is determined. Jerry (in Tucson)

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 4


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## TXMoon (Apr 21, 2020)

Beautiful, and I would agree, stay away from metal dowels.


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## Gdurfey (Apr 21, 2020)

Thanks Jerry, that is really neat. Learned something else from Chas in the first video that I have always wondered about: how to keep the superglue from staining the surrounding wood when trying to fill a crack. That was great info. Thanks for posting all of this!!!!


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## Maverick (Apr 21, 2020)

Very interesting. Haven't had time to view the videos yet, but will do so later. Looking forward to more of your "how to". 

Thanks,


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## TXMoon (Apr 21, 2020)

Gdurfey said:


> Learned something else from Chas in the first video that I have always wondered about: how to keep the superglue from staining the surrounding wood when trying to fill a crack. That was great info.


Gary, I watched the video again and I missed the info about how to keep the CA from staining the wood. Where did you see that (rough time stamp)? Can you share what you saw? ...I mean seen, I don't want to be accused of making a pun here.


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## Gdurfey (Apr 21, 2020)

@TXMoon , Kevin, had some real work to do, now I am back to goofing off..... At about 12:20, it is text on the screen.

Reactions: +Karma 1


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## TXMoon (Apr 21, 2020)

Gdurfey said:


> @TXMoon , Kevin, had some real work to do, now I am back to goofing off..... At about 12:20, it is text on the screen.


Got it!! Brilliant, thank you.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Nubsnstubs (Apr 21, 2020)

Here are a few pictures of a 13 1/2" Eucalyptus blank I started a couple years ago. I set it aside to let it dry, then it got lost , found once, lost again and now back in sight. It will get done before the week is out. It's going to be my example because it has all the flaws that I like. It also has a huge void that I am going to fill with branches that you can already see where a couple are already in place. I just need to get it done.





Another shot of the branches in the void. Notice the color of the branch. Later I have another picture of a branch that was growing in another part of this, and it's also a different color. 

 



This shows a dowel bridging 3 cracks. I will probably only bridge 2 of the cracks. The placement is only a guess right now. Only when I drill does it become permanent.




More than likely on these cracks, I'll just bridge each crack with short holes with fairly steep angles. That will give me long ovals instead of round 3/8" dots.


 

This one is a tough call. I might be able to use just CA and some type of powder.




This is the crack that actually stopped me a couple years ago. It was wobbly, so I decided to set it aside. Notice the branch. That's a part of the tree. Color is different. I don't see red like the rest of the wood, but I can see it's definitely different. (color blind) There will be at least 3 dowels in this area.




Another shot. It is attached as seen in the first photo above, but has moved about 3/32" in the last couple years.




Next set of photos will be drilling the holes. ........... Jerry (in Tucson)

Reactions: Way Cool 3


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## Nubsnstubs (Apr 21, 2020)

Drilling for the dowels. My drill bit of choice is the Kreg pocket hole drill bit. The pilot point allows me to establish the angle for the hole to be drilled. It's also 6" long, and will handle most bridging operations. For holes that are deeper, I just use a longer bit after I've bottomed out with this bit. On this hole, I missed my angle by about 2-3 degrees. It would have been better had the bit been more vertical. It will stabilize that crack, though. . 





This one worked out like planned




My photos program didn't work where I could have shown more pictures, so on to inserting the dowels and filling that large void with tree limbs and wood powder. 
I use Titebond3 glue. It's the best out there. I started with CA back years ago, but had too many set up before the dowel was fully inserted. 

 

Another dowel across a crack.


 

That same dowel in the picture above this one. Cut off as close to flush as possible. Sloppy cutting doesn't matter as it still has to be finish turned. 





Next is the void filling. I hunted in my Palo Verde trees until I found the right limb. Cut it and then placed pieces in the void. I added CA to hold the limb sections so I could fill it with CA and Walnut Powder a few minutes later. 




Powder is in place and flooded with thin CA. 



Another angle. This is what it looked like before I trimmed the limbs. I used a pencil eraser end to pack the wet CA into place. 



I used an angle grinder to make things flush with the rest of the platter. I inhaled some of the dust, as the wind would blow hard, then stop about the time I had a good grind going. Now, I'm hacking like crazy. 

I then mounted it on the lathe and cleaned it up. To my surprise, it's not Eucalyptus like I mentioned earlier. The wood was sold to me as Mesquite, but when I got it home and turned one piece of it, I determined it is not Mesquite. I believe it to be English Walnut, if it is normally that light in color. Whatever the wood is, I have about 6 pieces than this one that needs to be void filled. The reason I thought it was Eucalyptus is it had that red (color blind) color I see, plus it had been over two years since I worked it, and my memory is getting old.

More pictures tomorrow evening............. Jerry (in Tucson)

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 1


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## TXMoon (Apr 23, 2020)

@Nubsnstubs What kind of drill bits are you using for this?


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## Nubsnstubs (Apr 23, 2020)

TXMoon said:


> @Nubsnstubs What kind of drill bits are you using for this?


This one Kevin. It has the 1/4 bit end at the chuck end. No slippage when drilling. It's made for drilling pocket holes. Sold as a Kreg drill bit.






............. Jerry (in Tucson)


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## TXMoon (Apr 23, 2020)

Thank you


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## Nubsnstubs (Apr 23, 2020)

Another day, and some more text and pictures.
Here is that void. The 2 irregular shaped broken wood pieces are part of the blank. They weren't added. The fine walnut powder was packed in pretty good, but look pretty course when turned. I think I'm going to try and darken just the one limb piece at the right bottom of that void. If it works, I might do all of them. 





This is area that caused me to stop turning this piece 2 years ago. Now it is solid. The top dowel goes into the rim and then disappears under the crack. I'd forgotten I drilled the hole as deep as I could hoping to get it to expose itself on the inside. The wedge shaped fill is there because when I initially turned off the dowels, as I pulled my tool away, it was just off the tool rest and it touched the edge. as you can see, it created a reaction that in turn caused an action, having to fill the broken spot. All 3 of these dowels are African American Sumac.


 

Here is the best initial crack filling area on the whole piece, plus it has a walnut dowel with another Sumac dowel crossing it. 



I took 31 pictures yesterday, but only 16 are able to be uploaded to WB, but most are duplicates of what I just posted. I don't know why my program is selective on why it picks and chooses the photos I can send. I'm baffledon that one. I'm gonna hate it when my video card is full and have to download it. It's gonna be frustrating to say the least. 

I should have this piece finish turned this evening. Will do the foot tomorrow, and call it done. .......... Jerry (in Tucson)

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 1


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## T. Ben (Apr 23, 2020)




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## Nubsnstubs (Apr 23, 2020)

Almost done. The inside is pretty much sanded. I'm at 80 grit. Better than trying a gouge. Anyway, all cracks are supposed to be filled, and I exposed the one dowel end I didn't really want to get exposed. So now, I'll have to try to make it look like a rocket. Picture below. 



Like I said, still in the sanding stage. I started using my angle grinder with 40 grit. Now I'm at 100 grit trying to clean up the grinder marks on the inner rim. The center marks were easy to remove because it was flat and I was able to use my orbit sander. Tomorrow, I work on the outside, and make a finial in the foot area. .......... Jerry (in Tucson)

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