Make Wooden Dowels With a Threading Die

Wooden dowels are used in a variety of joinery tasks and can be incorporated as structural or decorative elements of a woodworking project. If you can't buy dowels from a hardware store where you live , you have no choice but to make them , as I did.

Using a few tools , you can make wooden dowels in a range of sizes for your project.

Wood blanks - Try and look for knot free pieces of wood, of the type you want or have lying around. Even, straight grained wood is the best. Any defects in the wood can cause the dowel to snap when you are working on it so check the wood carefully for splits, knots and other defects.

Cordless / mains powered variable speed drill.

Metal threading dies of various sizes ( High carbon / High Speed Steel )

Die handle

Sandpaper ( I prefer cloth backed sanding belt ) 120 ,150 and 220 grit

Using a tablesaw or a bandsaw, rip the wood blanks to square sections in lengths of the size you need. Remember to factor in some extra length that will be held in the drill chuck.

For 10mm dowels , rip to a 12mm x 12 mm section

For 8 mm dowels , rip to 10mm x 10 mm

Generally, the wooden 'stick' should be sized between 2 and 3 mm over the diameter of the dowel

If you have access to a planer - Thicknesser, you can use that to precisely dimension the sticks. A tablesaw also works very well for this task.

I'd suggest that for the thinner sizes, you aim for a dowel length of not more than 450 mm / 18 inches. The longer the dowel, the slower you have to run the drill.

Use a block plane to chamfer the edges to create an octagonal section. Try get the faces to be close to each other in width by sight. I prefer to hold the sticks by hand while I count the strokes made by the block plane and repeat that number for all edges.

Insert the stick into the drill chuck and use a piece if 120 grit sandpaper to sand the stick as you spin the drill. Use a low speed to avoid excessive force and heat buildup. Try and get the dowel to as even a size as possible; however, this isn't critical. We do this to reduce the amount of wood that the die has to take off which in turn reduces the twisting force on the dowel, making it less likely to snap off.

Use the die, securely mounted in the die handle to cut a thread onto the dowel, spinning the drill slowly as the die draws the dowel in . Ensure that you hold the drill steady and on axis. Clamping the die handle to a vice will let you guide the drill more accurately. I prefer to clamp the drill and hold the die handle.

Clamping the die is safer as it keeps your hand away from the rotating dowel.

The die will also get hot as it cuts the wood so remember to take it slow and don't touch the die / handle with bare hands. A new sharp die that hasn't been used on metal works best. I prefer a fine thread pitch such as UNF or BSF rather than a coarse pitch thread. Use what you have and see what feels best.

Safety Note : I'm using a Leather work glove that does not snag. It is better to work without a glove when your hands are going to be close to the dowel. Never use a glove near a rotating object.

Using sandpaper, sand off the threads till you are left with a smooth cylindrical surface on the dowel. This is where a 12 mm thread will be brought down to roughly 10mm and so on. Continue to sand with finer grits till you reach the surface finish and the diameter you need.