Save Money & Learn To Love Dowel Joints Again
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 มี.ค. 2018
- In this video I show you how to make a dowel joint jig that aligns the dowel holes effortlessly. This jig can be made with a few scrap pieces found in your work shop.
The jig has two parts to it:
A) the T-part of the jig, which can be customized and made in a variety of sizes to accommodate different thicknesses.
B) The drill Press Base which allows you to clamp your workpiece with the T-Part so you can get perfectly straight holes drilled on the drill press.
This jig is versatile enough so that you can use the T-part of the jig independently with a portable drill for longer pieces. It is easy to align and square-up and only takes a few minutes to build. Dowel joints are some of the strongest joints you can make, especially if the penetration of the dowel is 1/2 inch or longer on either side. Learn to love dowel joints again and joint almost anything quickly and safely.
DISCLAIMER: My videos are for entertainment purposes only. Do not attempt to do anything that is shown in my videos. Woodworking and Metal Working are very dangerous activities and should only be performed by trained professionals.
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Hi Folks! I wanted to put this video out there because I think dowel joints can be some of the strongest, easiest joints to make. You don't need special equipment to make the joint and the dowels can go as deep as you need them to.
do you need a drill press?
A drill press is not essential. You could use a hand drill and a bench vice instead. The drill press is just a convenience for this sort of job.
The simplicity and effectiveness of this jig is awesome! Definitely gonna make my own! A couple suggestions/ questions: 1, you can easily make the other end a 1 1/2" jig with another set of holes; 2, have you considered adding some kinda metal rod inside the holes to maximize durability?
Thanks Keron Superville! That's a great idea! And yes, you can certainly make it more durable by adding some brass tubing or hollow inserts. The design of the jig can always be improved - lots of possibilities.
I like it. Common sense practices. No frills or gimmicks, (Who said Dominoe?) Purely function. Well presented.
Thanks for sharing.
Hey Eric thank you for sharing you have helped me greatly. I'm 65 and have some medical issues that have forced me into retirement and I want to be a fair woodworker and your videos truly help. I wanted to buy a domino but just could not afford it so I'm hoping to master this and learn to have good skills in wood jointing. I wish I had time and could do it all over again but I guess we all say that. Again Thank you
Hi Chris! Thank-you! It really means a lot to know that you find my content useful. I do my best to demystify woodworking and make it fun for everyone. Best of luck on all your projects :)
Nice, simple, and easy to make - and best of all, effective! Thanks for posting this. If you want the dowels to be visible on the edge of the one piece as an accent, like walnut dowels in cherry, then you could square up the joint and glue it together. Once the glue is dry, drill the hole through the one piece into the next over a predetermined depth, then drive the glued dowel flush into the hole. Voila, dowel joint with an accent.
Has any one ever said you look like Matt Nagy. Both of you are brilliant in your own ways.
@Scott Alderson You're the first to say that but thank-you for the kind words! Cheers 🙂
This is it! Practical, efficient, precise, and most importantly, simple. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
My favorite type of wood joinery. Excellent video!
Nice awesome and super easy and at very low cost.
Thanks alot. 👌👌👌👍👍👍👍
I made this same jig some time ago - to mate a 3/4" apron to a 1-1/2" leg with dowels. I added a scrap piece of 3/8" laminate to the left side and drilled the guide holes 3/4" from the base. One side drills the dowel holes in the center of the leg, the side with the laminate shim puts the holes in the center of the apron. Your video explains the concept very well! Good job.
thank you so much, this will make my life much easier
Nice idea. Been wanting to start using dowel joints, this is helpful, nice and clean. Great video!
Clever jig. Gonna file that one away.! (BTW, hi, I’m Steve, and I too sometimes use pocket screws)
Congratulations, very good idea my friend, a big hug !
nice ideas.. easy to follow..thanks i just ordered some hdpe and a few threaded bushings to build a jig. will try this one first.. thanks
Awesome job, thanks for sharing
Brilliant! Thank you.
Really good that you have done this video on using Dow's, and making a workable jig. I was going to purchase a biscuit joiner, but remembered using Dow's all those years ago at school. So after seeing your video, I'm gonna jump on your cloud. Dow's all the way from now on. Thanks once again, and happy to have hit your subscribe button.
@An't no plan Good choice🙂Dowels will be much stronger! Cheers🍺
Excellent idea. I am going to use this. Thanks!
I agree. Dowel joints are my go to joinery for many of the reasons you state. I seldom use pocket holes now as I prefer dowels. I have made numerous dowel jigs for joining 1/2 inch boards all the way to joining 4x4's together and for different size dowels. I however insist on using metal sleeves in each dowel jig hole and find they never ware out or loose their accuracy as well as using hard wood like oak for the jigs for added durability. Lowe's carries an inexpensive version of the metal inserts in many sizes.
Thanks for the tip George! Metal inserts are a great idea! I agree, dowel joining with this type of jig is just as fast if not faster (and definitely stronger) than pocket holes.
Interesting jig design. I used to use dowel joints a lot. Maybe I’ll revisit them.
Excellent instructional video. Thank you. I can use this.
Perfect! That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank you, Colin
super cool video
Cottect you are, I’m enjoying these videos & will try both this & the floating tenon idea for myself, a refreshing channel 👍👍👍
You have my total atention...
You really know your stufff.
Im a good listener...learnig from the best...Thank You
I like it. Simple, easy.
I have the same orange contraption as you. And I rarely use it, for the same reason you mentioned!
im going to make this jig, pretty simple and effective
That’s cool, I’ll try it!
I totally agree, thank you so much for recording this. I love watching your videos because they're so informational and so easy to watch along. You can make the most complicated jig or project as simple as possible, for simple-minded people like me LOL I love it, I love all of your videos. videos. Thank you so much for being an inspiration to me..
Thank-You for watching @ScooterR3! Cheers🙂
smart way. thanks for sharing
VERY WELL DONE, I AGREE WITH THE MIRROR FACE THING, ITS VERY IMPORTANT
Brilliant
Awesome! quick, simple, and precise. What more can one ask.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers from Chicago
@Jose Chavez Thank-you! Peace & Love! Cheers 🙂
Thanks.
Always smart with you, and with cheap solutions. Thanks and greetings fron France
Bonjour Gilles sophie :) ...et merci bien!
As a "newbie" i bought the Kreg pocket hole jig and used it quite a bit. Pretty easy to use. Pocket hole joinery is widely "pushed" on woodworking TH-cam videos, at least IMHO. I am sure that's one reason you do not see dowels used too much.
You're right, that's probably part of the reason. It's never good to rely on one type of joinery all the time. I use my Kreg K4 pocket hole jig for many projects but you have to choose the right joint for the job. Pocket holes are not so good for joints that take a lot of stress or weight, i.e. table legs. They are great for building cabinet face-frames and cabinet carcasses.
Thank you for this simple, yet accurate dowell jig. I slapped together a quick version of your design and it helped me complete four dowel joints I needed to complete a dog gate for my son. The drill press holes were perfect, but I was challenged a bit (no pun) by the holes in the end pieces with my hand drill (I wobbled). I'm thinking of building a version with steel sleves for the drill bit to ride in to avoid the inevitable widening of the holes in a wood or MDF version. Your design is a good one and I found it easy to make and use. Thanks for your help!
Thanks @Lonnie Crook! The sleeve is an excellent idea to improve on this jig and make it last longer. I'm glad you were able to make it work for your project 🙂
Fantastic! I have a German jig, that I use to drill plumb holes without a drill press. I have not really found it that useful to make joints - pocket holes are way easier. However, I know that dowels - basically round, floating tenons - are much stronger. I think this will give me the option of using larger than 10mm dowels in bigger projects.
Thanks for sharing👍
Thanks Eric.
I have a couple like that only with metal inserts. These work so much better than the Kreg things, I do have one of those too, don't hardly use it though. A note for those who think screws are the only way to go, one of my doweling jigs is made with a hole between two of the larger dowel holes, they are for countersinking a couple long screws to pull the joint together in place of a clamp, simply fill the hole with sanding dust and glue.
Thanks Ray :) The metal inserts are definitely the way to go for a long-lasting solution. For reference, my last video shows what happens when you rely too much on screws. I've also seen tests where 2 inch dowels offer just as much strength as the average mortise and tenon.
PMG that is so easy....gonna make this so I stop swearing at trying to make dowel joints
I like the simplicity, and it looks like you could make a lot of different sizes and spacings. Without access to a drill press to keep things straight, a drill block should be used and then make it slightly oversized to fit a piece of pipe or other bushing material.
IMO ,the pipe or bushing idea is a must if you want to avoid making a new jig frequently. The design is a good one, but a pipe or bushing would make for a long lasting version of the same design.
Great idea ,provided you check the accuracy of dowels you buy or make - they can vary from the drill size enough to make the joint alignment off. Good solution.
exactly
Really cool jig! have bought one similar to that plastic one you show ans was really disapointing because is not better than do it with only neasurements and dowel markers, was already thinking about buying a buscuit joiner and now wil better do a jig like yours with some scraps. Thanks a lot for sharing :)
Thanks Eduardo! The dowels will be much stronger than biscuits, so you are making a good choice :)
Would drilling on the side of the wood with a jig help prevent the wood from breaking? I tried drilling into the side with a normal drill and the wood split.
Hi Derek, I love dowels. Why not make the jig holes slightly bigger and insert copper piping to fit each one? Jig will last longer.
Also, I love making my own jigs and agree with you about the plastic dowel jig. I had a Wolfcraft jig dowel master and although very good, I too encountered similar problems.
Subscribed to you today. Thanks for sharing. 😀
Hi Deanne Maria! Thanks for watching :) Yes, you could drill it a bit bigger and fit some tubing or piping in to give it longer life and improve the design for sure!
Show 👏👏👏👏👏
Hi Eric. Thank you for this, I will be trying this out soon, I want to dowel some short boards together with 2 dowels and I will try this using the same principle. I wondered if its worth putting a stop on the end of the jig to push the side up to and then the end of the second piece up to rather than just lining them up by feel and sight. That way you have the pieces lined up with a fence and an end stop. This could just be a dowel drilled all the way through or a block on the end. I have subscribed. thanks.
@Mike H Thanks! I think adding a stop is a great idea for the kind of joint you want to make. I didn't put one on mine because I also use it for face-to-edge joints. But, these are so easy to make, you can have a few versions to suit different types of joints.
Very good video! Question: how would I line up dowels for a piece of 24” plywood laying over a- 24” frame like a tabletop? I’ve been using a kreg jig from the inside of the frame which works okay but sometimes when I screw the the frame it has a tendency to walk out even when clamped then I go over it with flush trim bit. I screw and glue everything but I think dowels would be better for this application. Your thoughts are appreciated, t.i.a.!
Thanks Charles! For your table top, it sounds like you want it flush to the edge. If it's an indoor table or counter, I would use mounting blocks, pre-drilled and attached to the apron using dowel with screws attaching the top itself. Screws are okay for the top but generally should be avoided in the apron. There is also special L brackets you can buy that do the same thing minus the dowel.
Thanks for the tip. What I want to join large pieces of plywood in 90 degree angles? Any ideas on that?
@lohengrinknight You can still use the T-jig to do this. Just line up your parts along the joint at the edge and the face.
This is my way favorite of making dowel jigs, now about 40 years. I will also clamp wood together until the glue dries and then add holes and then dowels to strengthen the joint. I tried the plastic jig but it was garbage. The jig was 10 MM with 3/8" drill making it useless. I live in Canada, officially we are supposed to be metric but living in the shadow of the USA lots of things are still in imperial. That makes making anything here a nightmare. I really believe this is why little manufacturing remains in North America. The rest of the world is all metric.
Very nice. I use a similar approach however I drill through both pieces at the same time then use a contrasting wood for the dowel. Have always liked the look of furniture with the dowel end showing. One thing you can do is make the dowel hole larger than the bit being used then use a metal insert the dimension of your bit. Most of my dowel jigs are over 15 years old and still performing well. One other step I do is to drill a slightly deeper hole about 1/2" where the dowel is going using a smaller diameter bit, gives excess glue a place to go and not telegraph out while driving in the dowel .... cheers.
Thanks for sharing Neil! It's always good to hear what other folks have done with their jigs. Also, good tips on improving the design :)
I like seeing the end of the dowel as well neil 👍 ... bit rustic
Eric , How do you feel about using dowels as substitutes for screws where you don't want non-timber elements in your work project. I have a piece long board of timber (6" wide and 1/2" thick) mating with another piece of time 2" thick each via their face planes. You could pin one piece of timber to another by drilling and screwing through the 1/2" piece and attaching it to the 2" piece as one option but I would like (prefer) to mate the two pieces with glue on the two faces and also dowel through the 1/2", anchor it into the 2" piece and later flush cut the dowel. Strength, stability, appearance ?
@Andrew Wyatt It's a great idea! If you watch my toolbox build video you'll see me do that very same type of joinery: th-cam.com/video/x6WwDh-Wgw0/w-d-xo.html
Ikea has been riding on Dowel joints to every household. It’s far more difficult to engineer economical and (okay relatively) strong/stable joints for the masses with low cost boards. Can’t beat them, I should join (pun)them. I am a hobby DIYer generally using Dowels and pocket holes. So I am actually more curious as to how deep a dowel pin should go into either ends for the best trade off in strength vs length. It would also be interesting to see how they fair in different materials.
@Cal L The nice thing about dowel joints is that you can buy dowel stock in 2 or 3 foot lengths and make your joints as deep as you want. Your joints should be approx 1/3 the thickness of your stock. Buy the dowels in hardwoods and use at least 2 per joint and you will have a very strong joint indeed.
Eric Sorensen thanks Eric. I generally just get whatever hardwood dowel available (birch I believe is fairly common here). My day job supplies industrial products, thus My lack of patience for people doing things simply because they can or the going wisdom says so. I am looking for maximum return on time. So as long as the final product is effectively the same, I couldn’t care less how the hidden joint was achieved. If people are putting enough weight to cause a 30” plywood kitchen cabinet to fail, they need better designs and materials, not better joints. In fact I am not sure what type of animals they would be cooking for. :)
I plan to make a furniture, a tv stand.
With my drill I can make hole of 5 mm max.
I can not make 8mm holes for the pins.
If I use 5mm pins instead of 8mm on the furniture would it be strong enough?
@Tolga blue You could probably get away with 8mm if it is oak dowel going into an oak board and the edge of the joint is glued as well. If you're only using dowels for the joint strength, then I would go12mm or larger.
@@EricSorensenCanada
Eric I will use pine plates 18mm tick. As I understand 5mm dowels have no use.
Really enjoyed your video but now I have a bad case of fence envy. 0.32/4.32
Thanks paulpaul1948 :) LOL
How do you compensate for all thicknesses?
@John Smith I mostly work with 3/4" material, so one jig does most jobs. I also have one version that handles 1 1/2" material. The jig is so easy to make, you can have more than one version.
Hey Eric, where do you buy your drill bits? I live in TO as well. (Looks like you do)
Hey Chris, I used to live in TO but I now live on Vancouver Island. I buy my bits locally at a supply dealer or I buy them online on Amazon. I try to stick to carbide bits only.
@@EricSorensenCanada My parents live in Nanaimo. I take the puddle jumper when I go see them. Are there any busy bee's on the island or in Van?
@@EricSorensenCanada hey also you should show us how to do dowel joints for shelves etc... my mind struggles with things like that and I end up using a pocket hole. curious to know if you do your own floating shelves etc? I'm working on making my own design for smaller pieces like bathroom shelves for phones, or I guess I can use a French Cleat
There's Midland tools in Nanaimo, which is one of best places to find tools, bits etc. Check it out when you're back.
Floating shelves are fairly easy if you attach your cleat to the wall studs. A french cleat would work or you can get hardware designed for floating shelves at Lee Valley. I think they call it Blind Shelf Supports. Also, look up "floating shelf hardware" on Amazon and you'll find a bunch of options.
Oh no! Not after I've become accustomed to my Festo Domino system!!
@Dirk van der Merwe I have a FT domino too 😉 I hardly use dowels anymore but for folks who want a low cost alternative, this works pretty well.
Here's a cheat to the bit. Harbor freight has a bit. It comes with a stop collar that is universal.
What about using your jig on a larger piece? Say 12" wide x 48" long and 3/4"thick.
using dowels on my exoskeleton frames..
I am a newbie....could you make me one? :) I will send you something in return... a fridge magnet or a fee?
Nice idea but we all know that that jig will wear out pretty quickly.
I've had one made of MDF for a year and it's still accurate. That said, you can make this jig out of tougher material if you like - it's alright with me :)
We don’t all know that it will wear out quickly.
Never buy the hand dowel Jig or similar to that it's not worth it it's a struggle and you will be disappointed