I read the work Hoadley did https://www.finewoodworking.com/1980/04/01/the-dowel-joint(and please I don’t want to fight with anyone about dowels) on gluing, positioning and preparing dowel. I am building some pieces using my own turned 1 inch uncompressed dowel. He looked at using silicone adhesive and mentioned that the reason wedging works is not because of the wedge but because it allows for tangential wood movement.
I am considering simply slitting the dowel where it meets end grain with a hand saw cut and using polyurethane glue on those parts and just white glue for long grain to long grain. Or given that PVA tends to creep is this an indication of some flexibility that would be of benefit in the LG to EG parts?
There is a good enough fit and orientation in LG TO LG that hydraulic lock, if that’s the right term, is a problem although clamping the parts together slowly seems to work.
Thanks for any suggestions.
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I really need an application to answer your question. What are you gluing? I've been gluing rockers on rocking chairs with slotted and wedged dowels. I glue them in with regular yellow PVA glue and it works great.
I've examined 110 year old rocking chairs that were built the same way. Although they probably used hide glue back then, it's amazing how strong and stable a large wedged dowel can be.
Thanks for the reply, a similar situation to this chair, E15. After reading what Hoadley discovered about movement and cutting slits I'm wondering if the wedge (and I'd have to fox it here,) itself is what's preserving the joint. Do you orient the grain of your wedge and spigot in a particular direction?
In the experiment he cut a relieving slit (red) in some properly round dowel before gluing and the glued surfaces remained sound after moisture cycling testing.
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