(Woodworker wannabe here)
I had a blowout on my recliner the other day. I preceeded to unstaple the
upholstery to find out that a crossmember had developed a split and the
attached bracketry came undone. To fix the issue, I swapped all the spring
retainer clips, and two metal brackets onto a new piece of wood. The ends
needed to be drilled to accomodate two dowels per end. The old ones were
3/8" OD dowels with some kind of spiral cut in them. I went to look for
some of these at Home Depot and I found I had two options. I could buy a
three foot hardwood dowel for 79 cents or for a dollar-fifty I could buy
some fluted, precut dowels in a bag. I bought the ones in the bag, thinking
the flutes may be better at holding glue.
What's better; the smooth dowel or the fluted dowel or the spiral-cut dowel?
What drill size would you use on a 3/8 OD dowel? Is it better to drill the
nominal size, a slight press fit, or a loose fit?
I drilled the holes using a 23/64 drill bit, slathered the fluted dowels in
Elmer's glue, and assembled the pieces using a furniture clamp. It's still
curing so I don't know how well the hold is going to be, so while I am
waiting, I figured on getting your dowel filled opinions.
Relz
On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:47:20 -0600, "Relz" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>What's better; the smooth dowel or the fluted dowel or the spiral-cut dowel?
>What drill size would you use on a 3/8 OD dowel? Is it better to drill the
>nominal size, a slight press fit, or a loose fit?
Fluted. Drill 3/8. An overworked topic for discussion, but no
stress, and glue is stronger than wood. The dowel is basically a
guide. The wood/glue/wood bond holds it together. The snug-fitted
dowel would be a large factor in shear stress if there was no glue
...but there is.
Relz wrote:
> What's better; the smooth dowel or the fluted dowel or the spiral-cut
> dowel?
The flutes/spirals are to permit excess glue to escape. You can split
what you are doweling if smooth dowels are tight and there is too much
glue.
__________
> What drill size would you use on a 3/8 OD dowel? Is it better
> to drill the nominal size, a slight press fit, or a loose fit?
I don't use dowels much but when I do I drill the nominal size. If I
have a dowel that is actually that size (most are not) I use a handscrew
(clamp) to very slowly push it in....the excess glue is actually forced
through the pores of the tropical hardwood dowel and comes out the top.
____________
> I drilled the holes using a 23/64 drill bit, slathered the fluted
> dowels in Elmer's glue, and assembled the pieces using a furniture
> clamp. It's still curing so I don't know how well the hold is going
> to be, so while I am waiting, I figured on getting your dowel filled
> opinions.
It should be fine.
--
dadiOH
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