Dowel plate from

NAREX

This dowel plate combines several advantages in itself. Often, the focus is merely on the invisible connection of components. In this regard, it’s a positive aspect if even smaller pieces of wood from your own scrap collection can be meaningfully repurposed.

However, if a dowel remains visible, there are two options. On one hand, you can attempt to make it almost disappear visually by selecting matching wood, or you can craft it from a contrasting, differently colored type of wood, thus highlighting it as a design feature.

You can take the optimization of an object to the next level by precisely matching the diameter of the dowel to its surroundings. In the custom design of a project, the aforementioned aspects should not be underestimated, especially because most woods are not available as ready-made dowels, and certainly not in a desirably larger selection of diameters.

Using the solid dowel plate with a polished surface is as easy as can be. The more or less square base material, which is slightly larger than the required cross-section of the dowel, is simply driven through the plate. A mallet or wooden hammer, or a carpenter’s mallet, works well here.

Approaching the round cross-section can be facilitated, for example, by rough pre-turning, using a plane, chisel, or carving knife. We recommend chamfering the end to be inserted and making the length of the raw dowel slightly longer than needed. If the raw dowel is chosen too large, you can also start with a larger hole and work your way toward the desired diameter. In later applications, split wood demonstrates greater strength due to the largely continuous fibers compared to sawn pieces.

Because the holes in the plate taper conically towards the underside, friction is minimized, and the required force is reduced. At the same time, a sharp edge is created on the top side, where the excess lateral material is sheared off.

Should it ever become necessary in the distant future to refinish the top of the hardened steel plate with a water stone or a diamond sharpening plate to refresh the rounded cutting edge, the moderate widening of the hole downwards usually results in a negligible enlargement of the dowel diameter.

With two chamfered holes on the side, it is advisable to build a kind of stand or box that allows use on any surface. The height is determined by the maximum required dowel length. However, you can also keep it simple by placing the required opening over a bench dog hole on a workbench.

Technical Specifications:

• 13 possible dowel diameters: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 mm
• Material: A2 tool steel,
• hardened to up to 61 HRC
• Dimensions: 125 × 43 × 8 mm