Making Your Own Wooden Dowels! Easy Dowel Making Jig!

Did you just reach into your drawer of wood dowel rods looking for that 5/16" diameter mahogany dowel rod for the fancy new woodworking project you finally started only to NOT FIND WHAT YOU NEEDED!!!??

Well, I guess you have to hop in your car and drive to the nearest hardwood dealer and hope they have the right size...

or...

You could just make your own custom sized dowel rods at home! From whatever wood species that you want, need, or invent!

Save time and save money by making your own wooden dowels at home using this awesome old school dowel making jig! Never buy fancy exotic hardwood wooden dowels from the store again!

All you need is a block of wood, a sharp chisel, a drill, and you can make your own wooden dowels using this diy wood dowel jig. This easy dowel making jig is super easy to use, for advanced and beginner woodworkers alike!

(Note: some of the following links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you choose to purchase them)

Materials:

Block o Wood (for the jig)

Scrap Wood (for making dowels!)

Tools:

Sharp Chisel

Clamp (F-style or C-style clamp is best)

Woodworkers Notebook (just because)

Larger countersink bit or step drill bit

Sharpening Kit for dull chisels (in case you have chisels like me)

First off, you are going to need a block of wood to make the dowel jig out of. I highly recommend using a hard species of wood (such as maple) and it should be as thick as possible, although, 3/4" will work just fine.

Start by drilling a hole in the block of wood the same size as the dowel that you want to make. Then, using a large countersink bit, create a lead in chamfer. This will help you feed the stock through the jig later on when making dowels.

QUICK TIP: If you don't have a big countersink bit, try using a step drill bit!

Next, we need to expose the hole we just made. In order to do this, carefully cut the top of the block of wood off with the cut line (or kerf) just barely breaking into the first hole that you drilled.

I recommend starting the cut a little far away, then carefully creeping up on the final cut.

If you don't have a table saw, you could do this same trick on a band saw, or with a hand saw. Just make sure the surface is flat.

Now to set up the jig!

Using an F-style clamp (or C-Clamp) clamp a super sharp chisel onto the block of wood. Now, adjust the chisel so that the trailing edge of the chisel is approximately on the centerline of the hole drilled earlier, and the leading edge is somewhere in the chamfered area of the hole.

To make your first dowel (YAY!) grab some scrap wood and mill it to be slightly larger than the final dowel you want to make. In order to spin this dowel stock, I used a socket from my ratchet set and attached it to my drill.

Then, I spun up the drill and pushed the stock straight through the jig!

It can be a little tricky getting the dowel to go in straight, so you might have a to practice a few times to get it right.

Now that you have made your first dowel using this awesome old school dowel making jig, you might find that the dowel you made isn't quite the right size.

If the dowel is too large, adjust the chisel so that the trailing edge is closer to the centerline of the hole.

if the dowel is too small, pull the trailing edge of the chisel further away from the centerline.

Ta-da!

Now you can make dowels like a champ! This technique is great when you need a very specific size or species of dowel, but don't want to drive to the dowel rod store or wait on the drone to drop it on your front porch.

I hope you learned something something new today, now get back out into the shop and make something awesome!

Step-by-step video: https://youtu.be/O2vn9CD5z1Q

Thank you for reading!

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