How to make wooden dowels on the lathe?

[Gerald Etto]

I have a small WEN 8" x 12" lathe that has served me well for pen-turning and making small items. Now, I want to try making wooden dowels with the lathe. However, getting them to a uniform diameter is quite a challenge for me. Is there any unique tool or lathe attachment that I can use?

The dowels will be 1/2" and 1/4", respectively, to make the wheels of wooden toys.

Appreciate the help, thanks!

 

[Brian Gustin]

Just did a rolling pin today for a family member. Getting a consistent straight diameter , long as you aren't trying for thousandths of an inch precision, isn't too hard , just takes practice and a sharp gouge (I did mine entirely with SRG except for a final skim with skew for a smoother surface to start sanding from) Only "Jig" for me was the tool rest - eyeball it parallel with the lathe bed ways and then use fingers to pinch the gouge (or whichever tool) tightly while knuckle is snugged up tight to tool rest as a sort of depth gauge and once you get close to diameter it's just a matter of the turner's dance (Tool handle locked to hip , whole body sways side to side while keeping tool squared up to the wood, and fingers controlling depth of cut) - It can help if you have calipers and use a parting tool to make parting cuts to the caliper dimension about every half inch to an inch down the length and then you only need to turn away the space in between parts down to the level of the parting tool cut - either (or both) methods can take a little practice to get it just right, but the more you do , the easier it gets.

 

[hockenbery]

A simple way that gets pretty close is use 1/2” and 1/4” end wrenches as a calipers.
When I needed a bunch of 3-4” long 1/4 round
I ran long 3/16” square through my lathe spindle and through #1 jaws in my chuck
Took the pin out of the live center so the cup can steady the end.
I used the wrench and a 1/2” skew to size cut about a 5” length. Then cut the desired length with a hacksaw blade in backward so it cuts when the lathe rotates. Open the chuck and and pull the wood through to the tailstock. Repeat.


You may be able to find a dowel cutter that slides on the ways or make one. These will cut a 12-24” dowel
There are pool Que lathes that cut the length of the stick in one pass.

Lee valley has cutters. These can be used with the rough dowel in a dill used to feed it through the cutter clamped to a bench.
On bigger lathes this style cutter can be mounted on a post that slides down the center of the ways - found this on the web.

 

[hockenbery]

If you are making axels and either cover the end with a button or use wheels with blind holes.
The whole axle is hidden.

 

[Roger Wiegand]

I've sharpened an open end wrench to cut dowels like a parting tool. The surface is generally not very good. Mostly I establish a couple diameters using a caliper and parting tool and then a skew to create a uniform cylinder. I think a larger skew is easier to keep in a constant cutting plane because of the much wider bevel.

 

[Gerald Etto]

A simple way that gets pretty close is use 1/2” and 1/4” end wrenches as a calipers.
When I needed a bunch of 3-4” long 1/4 round
I ran long 3/16” square through my lathe spindle and through #1 jaws in my chuck
Took the pin out of the live center so the cup can steady the end.
I used the wrench and a 1/2” skew to size cut about a 5” length. Then cut the desired length with a hacksaw blade in backward so it cuts when the lathe rotates. Open the chuck and and pull the wood through to the tailstock. Repeat.


You may be able to find a dowel cutter that slides on the ways or make one. These will cut a 12-24” dowel
There are pool Que lathes that cut the length of the stick in one pass.
Lee valley has cutters. These can be mounted on a post that slides down the ways - found this on the web.View attachment 62082 View attachment 62081

Thank you, I've never seen the Veritas dowel maker used that way, but it looks like it was mounted on a custom made attachment for it. As you mentioned wrenches I remember watching a video on how someone sharpened the wrench to measure and cut at the same time.

 

[hockenbery]

I remember watching a video on how someone sharpened the wrench to measure and cut at the same time.

I’ve heard of that.
I just use the wrench as a caliper.
I cut with a skew then run the wrench along the dowel.
I trim any high spots the wrench finds.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Thank you, I've never seen the Veritas dowel maker used that way, but it looks like it was mounted on a custom made attachment for it.

I've considered getting them myself , however most of the dowel work I need of any length is well served by standard hardware store/amazon 3 - 4 foot long dowel rods for far cheaper than trying to make my own. In any event if I DID happen to have those veritas dowel cutters, I'd be simply mounting one in a vise and then chuck up (in any suitable fashion) my chosen dowel stock into a drill and just run it through using the drill.

For the few short but "visible" pieces of dowel rod I need in a specific wood color, it's easy enough to turn shorter lengths of an inch or two, and I also have a set of plug cutters. and finally for odd-sized dowels (not even veritas jigs can make you a 11/32" dowel rod!) I have a piece of steel in which I simply drill a hole of the needed size with a standard drill bit, and then with a file, I'll sharpen the edges of the hole (after removing drilling burr) to form a new burr and it works nicely with shorter sticks of whatever wood , hammered through the hole - though even those are no where near as nice as a cut or turned dowel rod. but those dowels I usually am only using as accent pegs where only the end grain is visible.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The dowels will be 1/2" and 1/4", respectively, to make the wheels of wooden toys.

I assume you meant axels, since 1/2" or 1/4" wheels would be rather small. A better idea may be to make a short round on the ends of a square then the square can be mounted directly to the bottom of the toy car/truck using glue or screws or even nails. Tenon cutters could also be used, however the setup to do it maybe is beyond your capabilities. ( https://www.amazon.com/CMT-529-127-31-Cutter) I don't think this is a good link but if you go to Amazon and search you can likely find it.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I trim any high spots the wrench finds.

When you use the wrench it will burnish the high spots and you then see where to shave off a small amount.

 

[robo hippy]

One way for making short dowels is to rough cut them, then drive them through a metal plate where you have drilled out the proper sized hole. Generally the burr left from drilling works okay for sizing. Other than that, that jig from Veritas looks pretty good, almost like a pencil sharpener. If you can find an old manual one, you might be able to adapt it to a similar tool.

robo hippy

 

[Dean Center]

Only "Jig" for me was the tool rest - eyeball it parallel with the lathe bed ways and then use fingers to pinch the gouge (or whichever tool) tightly while knuckle is snugged up tight to tool rest as a sort of depth gauge and once you get close to diameter it's just a matter of the turner's dance (Tool handle locked to hip , whole body sways side to side while keeping tool squared up to the wood, and fingers controlling depth of cut)

Brian has it. Start facing the lathe with feet the same distance from lathe and shoulder width apart. Set tool rest height and then align it parallel to bed way. Then you stick some part of your hand to the tool rest, consistently, with the same amount of hang-over. IMHO, exactly how you anchor the tool to the tool rest is not important as long as you maintain the same position and stay in contact with the tool rest.

A lot of people rotate the tool at the anchor point or advance the overhang to move the cutting edge long the wood and this won't make a straight dowel. Instead, you need Dance Move #2--slide side to side with shoulders level, which requires the feet side to side and shoulder width apart. No hand/wrist/elbow/shoulder movement, just sliding your trunk with your tool locked to your side.

 

[stu senator]

If the axle passes thru the toy then only the ends where the wheels are fastened on and a small distance inside the toy need be the correct size. You can relieve the middle area of the dowel a bit to clear the axle hole or bearing area.

 

[Dave Hulett]

tried to turn some myself. now I head to lowes! LOL

 

[William Rogers]

Even on store bought dowels I use a dowel plate when needing an exact size.

Amazon.com

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

To make exact size on short areas on dowels, I have used this here, works for me.

Store bought dowels are usually to thin, not accurate sizes I found.
There are lots of extra wrenches around, plus they can still be used.

 

[Bill Alston]

As an ex Mechanic that brings tears to my eyes! 😆

 

[Nick Valenza]

A simple way that gets pretty close is use 1/2” and 1/4” end wrenches as a calipers.
When I needed a bunch of 3-4” long 1/4 round
I ran long 3/16” square through my lathe spindle and through #1 jaws in my chuck
Took the pin out of the live center so the cup can steady the end.
I used the wrench and a 1/2” skew to size cut about a 5” length. Then cut the desired length with a hacksaw blade in backward so it cuts when the lathe rotates. Open the chuck and and pull the wood through to the tailstock. Repeat.


You may be able to find a dowel cutter that slides on the ways or make one. These will cut a 12-24” dowel
There are pool Que lathes that cut the length of the stick in one pass.

Lee valley has cutters. These can be used with the rough dowel in a dill used to feed it through the cutter clamped to a bench.
On bigger lathes this style cutter can be mounted on a post that slides down the center of the ways - found this on the web.
View attachment 62082 View attachment 62081

Do you know where you found that video (gif) and if there is a video with more information.

 

[hockenbery]

Do you know where you found that video (gif) and if there is a video with more information.

I googled “cutting dowels on a wood lathe”
I was looking for a commercially available jig. Didn’t find one
Several home made ones popped up - do your due diligence.

The gif is courtesy the iPad tool. Take a screen shot of a video the use the gif to select 3-5 seconds
Some magic occurs and a gif shows up in the photos.