Dowel Center Finder

An easy-to-make tool that accurately marks the center of wooden dowels.

As you can imagine, accurately marking the center of a wooden dowel (by hand) is a tricky task.

This funny looking 3-sided box gets it right every time.

A scrap of 3/4" plywood is cut at the mitre saw. Two pieces are required measuring 3" wide and about 7" long.

Glue the two parts that were just cut into an "L" shape.

Back at the mitre saw, the sides of the "L" piece are trimmed at 45°.

Splitting the previous part right down the middle. The resulting pieces will form the 3-sided box.

Shallow grooves are cut at the router table. This creates a slot which provide space for the utility knife blade. The two halves will be glued together... but for added measure, the knife blade is held in with a few strips of double sided tape.

Gluing the 45° mitre joint. Tape holds the parts together while the glue dries.

Any imperfections resulting after the glue up can be fixed on the disc sander.

The disc sander I use is made using a drill press. Check that Instructable out over here.

Just two blows of a hammer and the center is found! Apparently I also got pretty close with the freehand mark on this one – I'm usually not that lucky.

HIGH FIVE for reading :)