Replies

1. 
   saschafer | May 05, 2008 07:30pm | #1

   Maple or birch (whichever is cheaper that week).

   -Steve

    

2. 
   RickL | May 05, 2008 08:40pm | #2

   Don't recall ever seeing maple dowels. What I see today is some imported wood dowels. 

   Trivia...dowels are made on a moulder.

1. 
   blewcrowe | May 05, 2008 08:46pm | #3

   Well what we get around here "looks" like maple, and it may not be. It is a light yellow wood, not far from white actually. It has a grain, straight and quite non-descript.

3. 
   hammer1 | May 05, 2008 08:52pm | #4

   Saunders Brothers is one of the largest dowel makers in the world. Their corporate headquarters is in Westbrook, Maine and their dowel operations used to be there as well. The yard was stacked high with white birch. Today they have moved operations to other parts of the world, primarily in the Balkans. The species they use is white birch. Dowels can be made from many species but you'll seldom find anything but birch in a hardware store. My local Rockler carries several species, red oak, cherry, walnut and occasionally others. Lie Nielsen makes a dowel former. If you need short dowels, you can make your own out of any species you choose. It can work for chair tenons, too.

   http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=DP

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

1. 
   blewcrowe | May 05, 2008 08:59pm | #5

   Hammer, yeah you are probably right. Now that I really think on it, these look closer to birch than anything else.

   I've bought other speceis of dowels from Rockler and Woodcraft. To me, it seems a powerful lot of work to make a dowel: they are cheap by comparison IMO. Sometimes, I want a square dowel (probably "peg" is a more accurate description) and these I make myself.

4. 
   oldusty | May 05, 2008 10:17pm | #6

        Hi  d,

              They do use more than one specie for dowel rod , the one I see often that resembles Birch  is Ramin wood , Yellowish often times .

       Several years ago I needed a large quantity of 1 1/4" dowel stock and was put into contact with a speciality molding company , and it was sold as Ramin .  

                   I took all they had like 5 or 6 thousand feet .

    

                     dusty

1. 
   blewcrowe | May 05, 2008 10:44pm | #7

   Ramin? Now that's one I've never come across.

   ------------

   6000'? Did you say 6000'?

1. 
   oldusty | May 05, 2008 11:01pm | #8

      Yup , one of my better buy's

2. 
   mvflaim | May 05, 2008 11:19pm | #9

   http://www.atlasdowel.com/fqdowels.htm

   i have some ramin dowels.. pretty low end material... not worth using them for anything nice IMO... i'll probably throw the things away since they are all warped anyway 

2. 
   BruceS | May 06, 2008 04:03am | #10

   Those "Ramin" dowel rods come in a 4"x3 1/2"x1" package don't they ;-)  And they are very weak when exposed to moisture.Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

1. 
   Mackwood | May 06, 2008 04:11am | #11

   The "Top Ramin" ones are much better quality!"WISH IN ONE HAND, S--T IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"

1. 
   BruceS | May 06, 2008 04:30am | #13

   I'am partial to the "Maruchan" (pork) with a dozen mini shrimp tossed in.Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

1. 
   oldusty | May 06, 2008 04:36am | #14

        You guy's want to talk food ? There is a whole forum out there , while you're in here there will be no aprons worn , doh !

2. 
   oldusty | May 06, 2008 04:37am | #15

      No Grasshopper , those are Ramen .

1. 
   BruceS | May 06, 2008 05:05am | #16

   The world without a laugh now and then is a pretty boring place.  My noodle package spells it ramen too, a play on words.Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

5. 
   mapleman | May 06, 2008 04:18am | #12

   blew,

   Beall Tool Co has beautiful dowels in quite a few species. Most of the HD and hardware store dowels are mugambu or botswana or chimichi wakana

   Lee

1. 
   blewcrowe | May 06, 2008 03:20pm | #18

   Lee, man, youse guys are hitting me with names I never heared of.

6. 
   Don01 | May 06, 2008 06:58am | #17

   Most of the stock in this part of the world is available in maple, oak or birch. The distributor provides a rack with color coded dowels of various diameters.
   I'll try and get the name of the mfr. for you.

   Don

1. 
   blewcrowe | May 06, 2008 03:21pm | #19

   Don, I've bought specific species of dowels. I just wasn't sure what the garden variety was made of.

   Denny

1. 
   Don01 | May 07, 2008 06:10pm | #20

   The only garden variety I have seen are the packages of 1 - 1.5" fluted dowels. Lee Valley offer this statement about their compressed, spiral fluted dowels"Made of hard Canadian maple or birch (depending on supply) that can be compressed just enough for this principle to work (unlike softer Asian hardwoods commonly used for other dowel pins)."I bought some garden benches just to get the cast iron frame. Advertised as having Chinese Oak seat rails, arms. This stuff gives a new meaning to hardwood.Don

1. 
   blewcrowe | May 07, 2008 06:49pm | #21

   Thanks, Don.

   Denny

7. 
   tgk | Apr 24, 2020 03:22pm | #22

   I want to make my own dowels. What wood is best (strongest, etc.) for hidden dowel joints?

8. 
   _mj_ | Apr 24, 2020 04:08pm | #23

   If you are making your own, riving the stock to get perfectly straight grain and then using a dowel plate is the way to go.

   You can make them out of the same stock as your project or choose something to contrast based on the look you are after and whether they will be seen or not. Typical use for a dowel joint places the dowel in shear, so they should be plenty strong whatever you choose. If they are just being used for alignment in the glueup of a panel or tabletop the strength does not matter.

9. 
   Yelpareone | May 30, 2021 06:41am | #24

   Dowel is a cylindrical rod, usually made from wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is called a dowel rod. Dowel rods are often cut into short lengths called dowel pins. https://forpc.onl/ https://jiofilocalhtml.run