This one goes way back and setting aside the problems I had, it does work great. Best to use hard, straight grained wood and take the time to cut it down just a bit bigger than the cutter hole size. The original project article with dimensions and includes the original video: ibuildit.ca/projects/simple-dowel-maker/
It always helps if you have a sense of humor. Getting mad doesn’t accomplish anything, and it looks like you had fun figuring everything out. Thanks for a very helpful video.
I appreciate that he was fully honest...ever time we see a video on here we only see the results of success..lol..I've been a woodworker for 32 years now,and everytime I work I learn something new,,,everytime I don't succeed,I just say I've learned another way how not to do something..cool video mate..I literally went to my shop and fabricated 4 different size templates for dowels,,did your method,and hell yeah..it works.. absolutely crucial to keep the dowel as straight as possible when turning it,,also found 15" for me was about max.. otherwise it seemed to have to much wobble and would not keep consistent size..bit all and all..awesome hack mate..
Really heartening that everyone meets problems along the way - even master woodworkers. Gives us apprentices some hope that one day we'll get there. The success of this video was in showing the obstacles. Thanks very much.
Man you gained whole lot of my respect showing actual failure not like some of those channels everything goes perfectly first try. Way to go. Show what we can encounter and how to fix it. Great job.
It took me a while to find this one John but it was interesting. My favorite part was the outtakes. In my own progress I've had more than a few rough starts on projects. Honesty is the best policy and most often shows a lot of humor. Thanks again.
Loved the video John, you are a very likeable and honest person. I especially loved the section on problems faced. I have looked at youtube videos on this topic where they use various methods to make small dowels, and I came up with the same dowel splitting issues you had. Your video has been a great help and has inspired me to keep trying. Wishing you every success!
Two weeks ago I needed some dowels at 10:30PM, I remembered your jig from years ago, so I made one like yours with the same results as the third try. I stopped for the night, the next day I bought a dowel rod, I finished the project with another joinery technique. I still have that uncut dowel in my wood pile.
While I was using this to refresh my memory, I appreciate the last section, on what can go wrong. As you said, most You Tube videos focus on the "perfect" product... I usually have a number of 'experiments' before the thing works like the video, so I appreciate seeing some problems, and what they mean. Thanks for a excellent video, both the "perfect part" (and it was well presented, shot and assembled very well; and the 'what really happened' section on recognizing why it didn't work. You also have a great laugh, which is the bonus. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE TIME, THOUGHT, AND EFFORT IT TAKES TO DO A GOOD VIDEO. [AND THE WRITTEN PAGES FROM YOUR SITE ALSO WILL BE IN MY SHOP FOR A LONG TIME. -I like Dowels for assembling wood, that started when I used to hang around barns on farms.
nice video...........I wish I'd seen it a few years ago when I was making cedar arrows..........I was doing it by hand......I wonder how it would work if you used a series of plates with the holes stepped down in size......
As I had watched your previous video on making dowels, I nearly didn't watch this one. I'm so pleased that I did though because it's hilarious. It's your reaction to the failures that's so amusing. Loved it.
I appreciate the candor. All of these things are always shown turning square stock right off the table saw. I have made arrows for years, and tried a bunch of these things. They all work... If you prep them into the right size six sided on a shooting board. Use a plane, and it will let you know if your wood is crappy. Fuzzy and chunky off the plane equals fuzzy and chunky off the dowel jig, and that is the way it is. Sweet-talked my wife into buying me one of the new-fangled ones that use a carbide square cutter... We'll see. Oh, about that six sided 'right size'. It is never the right size twice in a row. Depends entirely on the grain and hardness. You sort of develop a feel for it.
My dowel making went just like yours... my answer was to run it through a 7/16 threading die first... like you said... you gotta get it close to size first...loved your humor... God bless
Great timing since I've been thinking about dowel making jigs lately. Also really good to see that it didn't simply work perfectly. Most of these videos don't show that it might not work perfectly the first time.
Love this. I tried cutting oak and ash dowels using the cutter from your first video and I had the same terrible results in the exact order. I love the honesty. I gotta keep at it.
I'm sure I have seen you use a tap as a punch before, but I needed the reminder. Now my ornament turning mandrel is running true instead of not completely horribly off center at the tailstock end.
Hey John , Thanks for all your hard work on your channel . There is an alternate way using a drill press for smaller ,shorter dowels . Using a steel drill bit sizing gauge clamped to your drill press table with a bur, a chisel or whatever sharp cutting tool you have to clamp onto it to cut the dowel . Use a step drill to make a graduated hole in wood as a guide for the dowel to end up at the size hole on the drill gauge you want the dowel to pass thru . It limits you to smaller size dowels (as big as the drill chuck will fit and height of table to chuck ) but there is less sideways shear as your video showed using the drill press arm downward pressure and stays truer than trying to do it horizontal. Thanks again for all your helpful videos.
I made one after watching your previous vid, but I tried drilling the side cutter holes at a slight angle, that seemed to help a lot. Thanks for showing that side of the story, great vid!
i had the same problem with different dowel jigs, it mostly came back to too large base stock and grain direction. your jig reminds me on thread dies, maybe these might work well too
Many times at the shop we struggle this kind of situations, everyday were we're trying something new and happens to get a big failure. We keep trying till to get success 🤣
i've done this method and ran into all the same problem. what i learned was that the end that gets chucked on the drill needs to be centered as best as possible the workpiece doesn't wobble and also i would back it out and clear off some waste and let the steel and wood both cool down a little. tried using BLO as a lube and kind of cutting oil but it burned the wood worse. just had to clear off waste and as mentioned in the video the grain has to be as straight as possible and the method is for fine tuning so the workpiece really should be close to the desired width from start to finish. once you get it down it works well. i found also that holding the wood with sandpaper as it goes into the plate helps. i used this more for dowels to be used for panel glue ups to hold the board in alignment. this along with a shop made doweling jig helped me avoid buying a biscuit joiner, dominos, and anything else used for panel glue up alignment.
I've had all those results at one time and or another, except for the golf tee! That was good! But even through it all your hand is much steadier than mine.
Thanks John for the "real" part. I've just made the doweling jig from Pask which worked like a charm for him, but I tried and failed several times and still couldn't figure out what's wrong. Maybe I have to look more for the grain! This video motivates me again, since i felt like a fool the last time!
4:20 maaaan, that finger near the blade made me feeeeel strange. Especially that you just place that message _"what really happened"_ daaaamn, that feeling man ;-) I'm glad that your finger is safe. Pffff 🥴😵 Loved the idea. For now i watched 3 other clips with different approach and i love finding new ways for doing one thing. You can choose whatever you have in hand at that time and improvise to your need. P.S.: lol, third time was not your charm here... ;-)))
very funny (-: failures are part of the job, making fun of it is a good manner to deal with it and when the outcome works it is an nice progress to watch to it. al credits to you...
Great video for sure. Love the humility and laughter. I think one of the problems was you weren’t holding the stock inline with the cutter. Stay humble!
John. When I see other makers cutting tools they have a guide on the out feed side. Perhaps if you attach a piece of wood to the out feed side and drill a guide hole the diameter of the dowel it may work.
I wonder if there's an attachment to be made for the belt sander that one could make dowels with. Probably on the upper pulley, replacing and mounting to the same spot as the upper guard. Maybe the initial guide hole would have the same diameter as the corner-to-corner cross section of the stock, and the exit hole would be the diameter of the dowel. Obviously aligning the center of the holes the correct distance from the crown of the pulley. You'd be able to feed them through by hand.
I've tried this way, Matthias way and Lie Nielson's way . None work more than 30% of the time . It's the wood grain that matters . I find buying several I'll get one or two actually right. Good video and fun to watch . Thanks John!
You laugh like me man!!! I like it! I have noticed that when you start drilling, your hand is a little bit higher than it should be and when you advance you lower it. This might increase the tortion on the wood and eventually it breaks. The second notice is that if you want a camel to pass through the eye of the needle you must make the camel more fit or the eye wider. Thanks for the video and keep having fun!!!
I know this article is hella old, but I'm currently working on this project so.... John, I'll start off by thanking you for keeping your content real. No bullshit approach is much appreciated. I enjoy the failures presented with the success. Something I've observed in the MANY methods for producing dowels is the wobble effect. I'm going to try bolstering the jig with a 3.5"x 3.5" x 6" block of ipe. I think if we can eliminate the "speed wobble" by providing a barrel for the dowel to travel in? make sense?
Make multiple separate cutting holes going from large to small. Depending on how many drill sizes you have make each hole a sixteenth or thirty second smaller. Mark the size of each one and then when you are ready to make your dowels start in a larger hole and work your way down to the size you need. Also if you mount your cutting plate to a block of wood and drill through all of the holes it will help guide your blank and keep it straight giving better results.
Love the laugh I'm nominating you for the next Joker ! I've found using an old handsaw blade with stepped sized holes and work down to the required size dowel. Loved watching:)
This one goes way back and setting aside the problems I had, it does work great. Best to use hard, straight grained wood and take the time to cut it down just a bit bigger than the cutter hole size.
The original project article with dimensions and includes the original video:
ibuildit.ca/projects/simple-dowel-maker/
ruclips.net/video/y_jlX2USvmo/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/tfUxyMcuV8o/видео.html
I love that you added humor to this and showed that you are as human as the rest of us!
I enjoyed that video, John. Especially liked that you not only showed a "failure", but that you laughed at it and then just tried again.
Indeed 🤣🤣🤣
My all time favorite video that you have done. Not taking yourself too seriously at times keeps me sane.
I just love your honesty! Sometimes shit doesn't work the way you think it's going to work!
It always helps if you have a sense of humor. Getting mad doesn’t accomplish anything, and it looks like you had fun figuring everything out. Thanks for a very helpful video.
I appreciate that he was fully honest...ever time we see a video on here we only see the results of success..lol..I've been a woodworker for 32 years now,and everytime I work I learn something new,,,everytime I don't succeed,I just say I've learned another way how not to do something..cool video mate..I literally went to my shop and fabricated 4 different size templates for dowels,,did your method,and hell yeah..it works.. absolutely crucial to keep the dowel as straight as possible when turning it,,also found 15" for me was about max.. otherwise it seemed to have to much wobble and would not keep consistent size..bit all and all..awesome hack mate..
I just loved that you showed your failures and your humor about it. Makes for a better video!
That's the best (and most honest) vídeo of dowel makers that I've ever seen!
Thank you so much for showing what can be wrong!
Really heartening that everyone meets problems along the way - even master woodworkers. Gives us apprentices some hope that one day we'll get there. The success of this video was in showing the obstacles. Thanks very much.
Persistence with a dash of humor... tenets of success!
Man you gained whole lot of my respect showing actual failure not like some of those channels everything goes perfectly first try.
Way to go. Show what we can encounter and how to fix it. Great job.
The loveliest woodworking video ever, I just exploded in laughter exactly at the same time as you
Ahhhh the golf t really tickled my funny bones 😂👍. Great to put in what really happened (mistakes - best teacher in the world)
It took me a while to find this one John but it was interesting. My favorite part was the outtakes. In my own progress I've had more than a few rough starts on projects. Honesty is the best policy and most often shows a lot of humor. Thanks again.
Loved the video John, you are a very likeable and honest person. I especially loved the section on problems faced. I have looked at youtube videos on this topic where they use various methods to make small dowels, and I came up with the same dowel splitting issues you had. Your video has been a great help and has inspired me to keep trying. Wishing you every success!
That's one of my favorites videos, you're an infectious laugh had me rolling on the ground in hysterics, love your honesty in your videos.
Two weeks ago I needed some dowels at 10:30PM, I remembered your jig from years ago, so I made one like yours with the same results as the third try. I stopped for the night, the next day I bought a dowel rod, I finished the project with another joinery technique. I still have that uncut dowel in my wood pile.
I've used this method for years. Works great
Thanks for showing the difficult side of projects. Makes me feel better about how much trouble I have every time I go to build something.
While I was using this to refresh my memory, I appreciate the last section, on what can go wrong. As you said, most You Tube videos focus on the "perfect" product... I usually have a number of 'experiments' before the thing works like the video, so I appreciate seeing some problems, and what they mean. Thanks for a excellent video, both the "perfect part" (and it was well presented, shot and assembled very well; and the 'what really happened' section on recognizing why it didn't work. You also have a great laugh, which is the bonus. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE TIME, THOUGHT, AND EFFORT IT TAKES TO DO A GOOD VIDEO. [AND THE WRITTEN PAGES FROM YOUR SITE ALSO WILL BE IN MY SHOP FOR A LONG TIME. -I like Dowels for assembling wood, that started when I used to hang around barns on farms.
nice video...........I wish I'd seen it a few years ago when I was making cedar arrows..........I was doing it by hand......I wonder how it would work if you used a series of plates with the holes stepped down in size......
As I had watched your previous video on making dowels, I nearly didn't watch this one. I'm so pleased that I did though because it's hilarious. It's your reaction to the failures that's so amusing. Loved it.
Educational, informative and hilarious all in the same video! That was awesome!
Learning from a mistake is a success. good video John.
Thanks for showing the issues you had, that can be really valuable when we're having problems replicating your work.
Cool tip. And thanks for the outakes? Lessons? Learnt more from this video than all other dowel making videos out there.
I appreciate the candor. All of these things are always shown turning square stock right off the table saw. I have made arrows for years, and tried a bunch of these things. They all work... If you prep them into the right size six sided on a shooting board. Use a plane, and it will let you know if your wood is crappy. Fuzzy and chunky off the plane equals fuzzy and chunky off the dowel jig, and that is the way it is. Sweet-talked my wife into buying me one of the new-fangled ones that use a carbide square cutter... We'll see. Oh, about that six sided 'right size'. It is never the right size twice in a row. Depends entirely on the grain and hardness. You sort of develop a feel for it.
The second part of your video is quite entertaining. You are onto something there.
My dowel making went just like yours... my answer was to run it through a 7/16 threading die first... like you said... you gotta get it close to size first...loved your humor... God bless
Your maniacal laugh reminds me of Joerg from the Slingshot Channel. "Let me show you it's features!"
I love the mistakes. Very funny and real
Appreciate the realness of things in this video
Fun video. More please
Great timing since I've been thinking about dowel making jigs lately. Also really good to see that it didn't simply work perfectly. Most of these videos don't show that it might not work perfectly the first time.
Thanks for "failure" part. I made one of these and had same "failure" :D Damn YT where it has to be perfect hahaah
I've made this before......hohum.....looking at phone whilst watching. Then the what really happened started. HAHAHA, pure gold!
Makita for the Win ! Thanks for sharing.
Love this. I tried cutting oak and ash dowels using the cutter from your first video and I had the same terrible results in the exact order. I love the honesty. I gotta keep at it.
Excellent John, love the humor......
Hi, nice vice love it! How did you made it 🤔 have you got any video how to made it 🤔?
Good humor !!! Thanks for the tip .
I loved every bit of this video! Great work👍 & funny to😄.
ruclips.net/video/dthl6lfXYd0/видео.html ..
Thanks for being real John. I admire you more than ever.
Home Depot is looking better by the minute, huh John? The video was fun!
I'm sure I have seen you use a tap as a punch before, but I needed the reminder. Now my ornament turning mandrel is running true instead of not completely horribly off center at the tailstock end.
Hey John , Thanks for all your hard work on your channel . There is an alternate way using a drill press for smaller ,shorter dowels . Using a steel drill bit sizing gauge clamped to your drill press table with a bur, a chisel or whatever sharp cutting tool you have to clamp onto it to cut the dowel . Use a step drill to make a graduated hole in wood as a guide for the dowel to end up at the size hole on the drill gauge you want the dowel to pass thru . It limits you to smaller size dowels (as big as the drill chuck will fit and height of table to chuck ) but there is less sideways shear as your video showed using the drill press arm downward pressure and stays truer than trying to do it horizontal. Thanks again for all your helpful videos.
I made one after watching your previous vid, but I tried drilling the side cutter holes at a slight angle, that seemed to help a lot. Thanks for showing that side of the story, great vid!
Here is the quintessential wood working video. 10% inspiration 90% perspiration.
The 'What really happened' & that vice design gets you a like and subscribe.
i had the same problem with different dowel jigs, it mostly came back to too large base stock and grain direction. your jig reminds me on thread dies, maybe these might work well too
Thread cutting dies are the inspiration, actually.
Many times at the shop we struggle this kind of situations, everyday were we're trying something new and happens to get a big failure. We keep trying till to get success 🤣
That mad man laugh is my favorite!
ruclips.net/video/dthl6lfXYd0/видео.html ..
Excellent video and process
Thank you for sharing
i've done this method and ran into all the same problem. what i learned was that the end that gets chucked on the drill needs to be centered as best as possible the workpiece doesn't wobble and also i would back it out and clear off some waste and let the steel and wood both cool down a little. tried using BLO as a lube and kind of cutting oil but it burned the wood worse. just had to clear off waste and as mentioned in the video the grain has to be as straight as possible and the method is for fine tuning so the workpiece really should be close to the desired width from start to finish. once you get it down it works well. i found also that holding the wood with sandpaper as it goes into the plate helps. i used this more for dowels to be used for panel glue ups to hold the board in alignment. this along with a shop made doweling jig helped me avoid buying a biscuit joiner, dominos, and anything else used for panel glue up alignment.
I've had all those results at one time and or another, except for the golf tee! That was good! But even through it all your hand is much steadier than mine.
Thanks John for the "real" part. I've just made the doweling jig from Pask which worked like a charm for him, but I tried and failed several times and still couldn't figure out what's wrong. Maybe I have to look more for the grain! This video motivates me again, since i felt like a fool the last time!
John you are human after all, never give up .... 😀
4:20 maaaan, that finger near the blade made me feeeeel strange. Especially that you just place that message _"what really happened"_ daaaamn, that feeling man ;-)
I'm glad that your finger is safe. Pffff 🥴😵
Loved the idea. For now i watched 3 other clips with different approach and i love finding new ways for doing one thing. You can choose whatever you have in hand at that time and improvise to your need.
P.S.: lol, third time was not your charm here... ;-)))
Sunday morning here.... And yes That has started my day just right :)
Tq teacher for showing us.
Only lesson on u tube where success and failure also is shown if at all we take wrong steps. 👍🏻👍🏻💐
...Oh you made my evening with that infections laugh! And love the honesty... Great video...
4:56 has to be the funniest video moment of internet History.
Muito bom o vídeo mano. Ainda mais com os erros nos bastidores. Show de bola.
Sehr schön
Dankeschön fürs Video
The sound of the failure is hilarious. Thanks for the tips man... and the laughter
Owning it! Loving it.
Brilliant!!!
Not only golf tees , some drumsticks must be a possibility too. 😀
Very entertaining video. A for effort t for execution 😅😅 👍👌
very funny (-: failures are part of the job, making fun of it is a good manner to deal with it and when the outcome works it is an nice progress to watch to it. al credits to you...
Muito bom. Estou fazendo uma aqui e estou apanhando um pouco também rs.
Hahaha, that's a really great and honest video. Looking forward to the new John Heisz golf tee merch coming soon
What a funny and entertaining video 👍😂
LOVE IT!!!! Nice to now what doe's not work.
Good one John 🤠👍
Great video for sure. Love the humility and laughter. I think one of the problems was you weren’t holding the stock inline with the cutter. Stay humble!
Alternate title, How to turn a 3 foot blank into a 3 inch dowel! ;)
Reminds me of the old cartoon of making a tooth pick: ruclips.net/video/Jn4k2TPIJf0/видео.html
Rambozo Clown Your comment made me literally laugh out loud. 🤣
It just isn't worth it 🤣
no, entiendo inglés, me divertí mucho, saludos de Argentina.
Love it. Thank you so much for showing us our heroes don't always get it right the first time.
LOL, great video man.
That golf tee laugh was priceless.
John. When I see other makers cutting tools they have a guide on the out feed side. Perhaps if you attach a piece of wood to the out feed side and drill a guide hole the diameter of the dowel it may work.
Now to try making a pool cue with this method and 3 or 4 plates lined up. Good video.
I wonder if there's an attachment to be made for the belt sander that one could make dowels with. Probably on the upper pulley, replacing and mounting to the same spot as the upper guard. Maybe the initial guide hole would have the same diameter as the corner-to-corner cross section of the stock, and the exit hole would be the diameter of the dowel. Obviously aligning the center of the holes the correct distance from the crown of the pulley. You'd be able to feed them through by hand.
If this was made out of plywood, countersinking the exit hole in order to guide/funnel the stock into it to make feeding it easier.
That was fun. Thanks.
Great video. Keep up the good/bad work :P
nice sense of humor when failing 😂😂😂
I've tried this way, Matthias way and Lie Nielson's way . None work more than 30% of the time . It's the wood grain that matters . I find buying several I'll get one or two actually right. Good video and fun to watch . Thanks John!
I really love this!!!
You laugh like me man!!! I like it!
I have noticed that when you start drilling, your hand is a little bit higher than it should be and when you advance you lower it. This might increase the tortion on the wood and eventually it breaks.
The second notice is that if you want a camel to pass through the eye of the needle you must make the camel more fit or the eye wider.
Thanks for the video and keep having fun!!!
lol... that takes real guts! If at first you don't succeed! :)
Thanks for the belly laugh on a Saturday morning
I know this article is hella old, but I'm currently working on this project so.... John, I'll start off by thanking you for keeping your content real. No bullshit approach is much appreciated. I enjoy the failures presented with the success.
Something I've observed in the MANY methods for producing dowels is the wobble effect. I'm going to try bolstering the jig with a 3.5"x 3.5" x 6" block of ipe. I think if we can eliminate the "speed wobble" by providing a barrel for the dowel to travel in? make sense?
Great entertainment! Nice golf tee.
What if you drilled the outside holes on a bit of an angle?
Make multiple separate cutting holes going from large to small. Depending on how many drill sizes you have make each hole a sixteenth or thirty second smaller. Mark the size of each one and then when you are ready to make your dowels start in a larger hole and work your way down to the size you need.
Also if you mount your cutting plate to a block of wood and drill through all of the holes it will help guide your blank and keep it straight giving better results.
Love the laugh I'm nominating you for the next Joker ! I've found using an old handsaw blade with stepped sized holes and work down to the required size dowel. Loved watching:)
I’ve seen other dowel jigs of this type, but they didn’t have the relief holes to clear the chips. That’s an interesting idea.
That vice is amazing. I looked for a video on it on your channel but couldn't find anything. Any info? Thanks.
yes pls, it looks amazing
Thanks that's a fantastic idea. I'm going to make a jig 😊