Tools for Center Drilling Dowels

I often have to center drill different sized wooden dowels for various projects, and decided to make a series of jigs to make this much simpler. In the past I have tried various center finders, but have not been pleased with the result. The set of jigs in this Instructable has solved that problem.

Supplies:

• about 2 feet of 2x2 lumber
• tung oil or varnish (if you want to have a finish)

Tools Used:

• saw
• a set of spade bits
• a 7/64th straight bit (or whatever size works for you)
• drill press

Saw off a 3 inch long piece of the 2x2 and mark it in the center. You will need to do this for each size dowel you will want to center drill.

Set your drill press so that the hole you are drilling will stop about halfway through the wood block. This will leave sufficient material to hold the dowel and sufficient material for guiding the small straight bit (see next step).

The spade bit will leave a well defined center in the hole drilled in the previous step. Use this hole as a guide to drill a smaller hole. I used a 7/64th bit for this hole, because more often than not I'm using a #6 screw in the end of the dowel. If you often need a bigger hole, just use a larger bit.

To use this jig simply insert your dowel and use the small hole on the back side of the jig as a guide to center drill the dowel. This is best done on a drill press (assuming your drill press table has sufficient clearance for the dowel), but it can easily be done with a hand drill. Also, if you need to enlarge the 7/64th hole, the small hole you drilled will help guide a larger bit.

After making one of these for a specific project, it worked so well I decided to make an entire set! This is an easy project, and an entire set can be made in less than an hour. I used a tung oil finish on mine, but no finish is required.