Free Tip #12
Posted by Jennifer on Monday, May 24, 2010
Using Dowels
A dowel is a small cylindrical piece of wood used for making wood repairs. When gluing together a chair rung or foot, or any other two pieces of wood for that matter a dowel is needed. Why is a dowel needed? Most structural wood repairs involving small pieces of wood need more than just wood glue or epoxy. If the glued area is load bearing like a chair, simply gluing the piece and clamping it will result in the same break many times over. Yes there are industrial strength epoxies and crazy glues out there that mention they have the strength of gorillas, but without a dowel the repair will not last.
A dowel is used after the glue and clamps are in place. A drill bit is used to create a hole the size of the dowel down into both pieces of the repair. Once the hole is drilled, use more glue on the dowel and insert it in the drilled hole. Dowels come in many different lengths and sizes and are easy to purchase at any hardware store. After the glue has dried, remove all clamps. Saw off the end of the dowel and if done right will only require a simple touchup to hide the raw wood color of the dowel. As always, if any trouble arises call us here at Furniture Works, LLC for help.
A dowel is a small cylindrical piece of wood used for making wood repairs. When gluing together a chair rung or foot, or any other two pieces of wood for that matter a dowel is needed. Why is a dowel needed? Most structural wood repairs involving small pieces of wood need more than just wood glue or epoxy. If the glued area is load bearing like a chair, simply gluing the piece and clamping it will result in the same break many times over. Yes there are industrial strength epoxies and crazy glues out there that mention they have the strength of gorillas, but without a dowel the repair will not last.
A dowel is used after the glue and clamps are in place. A drill bit is used to create a hole the size of the dowel down into both pieces of the repair. Once the hole is drilled, use more glue on the dowel and insert it in the drilled hole. Dowels come in many different lengths and sizes and are easy to purchase at any hardware store. After the glue has dried, remove all clamps. Saw off the end of the dowel and if done right will only require a simple touchup to hide the raw wood color of the dowel. As always, if any trouble arises call us here at Furniture Works, LLC for help.