Subject: Re: When is 3/4 in. dowel not 3/4 in. dowel?

From: "Jack A. Zucker" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 1997 19:52:00 -0500

Stev wrote:
> 
> [snipped some]
> 
> >make your on dowel plate, then make your own dowels.  Think of how
> >much money the manufatures save by making undersized products. Anybody
> >measured 3/8 ths or 1/2 in plywood lately? Also, I bought some 1 by 4
> >stock two weeks ago that was 1/32nd under sized. Get ready for the
> >next  gotcha.
> 
> This just smacks of conspiracy. You know you are right. Shave a 32nd
> off that kind of volume of wood and sell it for full price and your
> boss gives you a bonus. Uncle Bill aint in the lumber biz by any chance
> is he?
> 
> stev
> 

23/32 is standard "import metric" sized for american 3/4".

-Jaz

-- 
> 
> Jack A. Zucker                          | ESP Music
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---

From: [email-masked] (Walt Stein)
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 1997 15:30:47 GMT

[email-masked] (nstn2527) wrote:

>
>Where do I go from here?  Try dowels from different suppliers?  Or buy a 
>11/16th bit and do some sanding?  Or am I concerned about nothing?
>
>Anyone like to comment?
>
>Les
>
Here's two more (slightly different) cents on the matter.

1. give up the search for accurate dowels.  You may find them at a
specialty house like Lee Valley, but your local hardware store is
unable to provide them, so far as I can see.

2. Find your own way of making pegs and dowels. A steel plate is one
solution.  I stumbled on another last month when I needed (absolutely
required) several dozen perfectly sized dowels.  These were necessary
for a drawn-peg construction in which the offset holes were less than
1/64th out of line.  Obviously, an undersize dowel would not draw the
parts, but allow enough slop to prevent the tightening of the joint.

I hunted for dowels locally, hoping to find one or two that might be
"wrong" in the direction I needed.  No luck.  Then I realized that my
old unimat hobbyist lathe might solve the problem.  I split some rough
lengths of several hardwoods (maple, walnut, etc), chucked them up,
and was able to turn dowels within 2 thousandths of the size of
required.  Took virtually no time, and provided me with a bagful of
variously sized pegs for the future.

I know that few of you will find this helpful, since you will not have
the mini-lathe. Otoh, I have found this dowel producer so useful
(along with all the other virtues of having this machine) that if I
didn't already own one, I might spring for it for this purpose only.
I use lots of thru-dowelled m-t's in my furniture and this has turned
out to be a real winner for me.

YOurs,
Walt
"It would seem that the universe is thirty billion light years across and every inch of it would kill us if we went there. This is the position of the universe with regard to human life." --Martin Amis