wn

woodchucker

01/11/2014 5:12 PM

I now know why I stopped using dowels

It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than
a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.

I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.

He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be
doing it with better construction technique, but not better sticks.
Lot's of old worn sticks.

--
Jeff


This topic has 10 replies

Pp

Puckdropper

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

03/11/2014 1:43 AM

woodchucker <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:


>
> Yep, I wound up planing the edges down by hand, so I can now use the
> plate joiner. Was not looking to do that originally.
> Now I have a good clean joint. I am certainly worrid about the
> longevity of this since it will shrink and expand..
> But this is a 22 year olds idea of a night stand, when he finds a
> woman and settles down, this will go into the basement with his other
> hockey gear.
>
> I used to play too... His speed skating though has made him extremely
> fast. He's a defensive player....
>

It'd be interesting to see how hockey sticks in that application move
over time. They usually start straight and stay that way. I left a
couple old ones outside for a while and they haven't moved.

Did you use all wood, or have a mix of wood and composite? Many
composite sticks are hollow all the way down, so you've got maybe 3/16-
1/8" of material to hold a fastener. I wonder how that would work with
biscuits. (You might have to use "Lew Glue" aka epoxy to hold things
together.)

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

LH

"Lew Hodgett"

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

02/11/2014 6:40 PM


"Puckdropper" wrote:

> It'd be interesting to see how hockey sticks in that application
> move
> over time. They usually start straight and stay that way. I left a
> couple old ones outside for a while and they haven't moved.
>
> Did you use all wood, or have a mix of wood and composite? Many
> composite sticks are hollow all the way down, so you've got maybe
> 3/16-
> 1/8" of material to hold a fastener. I wonder how that would work
> with
> biscuits. (You might have to use "Lew Glue" aka epoxy to hold
> things
> together.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wouldn't have used either dowels or biscuits, rather would have
epoxied
pairs of sticks together.

IOW, if you start with 32 sticks, 1st pass yields 16 sets of 2 sticks.

2nd pass yields 8 sets of 4 sticks.

3rd pass yields 4 sets of 8 sticks.

4th pass yields 2 sets of 16 sticks.

Final pass yields 1 set of 32 sticks or finished top.

Dowels can be dry fit for positioning only, no epoxy needed or wanted.

As for surface prep, a 4" right angle sander with 24 grit discs does
a great job of surface prep of epoxied surfaces.

Lew

Ll

Leon

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

02/11/2014 8:25 AM

On 11/1/2014 4:12 PM, woodchucker wrote:
> It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
> My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
> edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than
> a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.
>
> I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
> going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.
>
> He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be
> doing it with better construction technique, but not better sticks.
> Lot's of old worn sticks.
>

That is an inherent problems with dowels but this company has solved the
friction along the whole length of the dowel.. They have significantly
shortened the friction distance with out shortening the dowel.

http://millerdowel.com/products/index.html

Probably no help now but maybe in the future.

Nn

"Nick"

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

11/11/2014 5:55 PM


"woodchucker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
> My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to edge
> glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than a
> biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.
>
> I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
> going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.
>
> He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be doing
> it with better construction technique, but not better sticks. Lot's of old
> worn sticks.
>
This looks a nice job.
Can't comment on dowelled construction, it's always worked well for me.
If I were undertaking such a task I would ensure that some working ends of
the sticks were included as features.
Feet/drawer handles/decoration etc.
But I'm not, so I won't.
To be brutally honest. Unless you knew that Bauer et al made hockey sticks
(and I don't know that) what would an uninformed viewer make of this piece?
This is not derogatory in any way. Just my thoughts.
All the best,
Nick.

wn

woodchucker

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

02/11/2014 1:20 PM

On 11/1/2014 10:50 PM, [email protected] wrote:
> On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:12:04 -0400, woodchucker <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
>> My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
>> edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than
>> a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.
>>
>> I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
>> going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.
>>
>> He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be
>> doing it with better construction technique, but not better sticks.
>> Lot's of old worn sticks.
>
>
> I can't speak about the dowel issue - but be sure to clean-up
> all the glue-joint-surfaces - for wax and tape residue ..
> I always treated my new stick handles with a good rubbing of fine
> steel wool - then rubbed in wax. This was mainly to save the
> palms of the hockey gloves - from the wear & tear - of the rough
> paint & fiberglass finish. Young players seem to do a lot of fancy
> tape-jobs - that likely leaves residue ..
> John T.
>
>
>
> --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: [email protected] ---
>

Yep, I wound up planing the edges down by hand, so I can now use the
plate joiner. Was not looking to do that originally.
Now I have a good clean joint. I am certainly worrid about the
longevity of this since it will shrink and expand..
But this is a 22 year olds idea of a night stand, when he finds a woman
and settles down, this will go into the basement with his other hockey gear.

I used to play too... His speed skating though has made him extremely
fast. He's a defensive player....

--
Jeff

h

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

01/11/2014 10:50 PM

On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:12:04 -0400, woodchucker <[email protected]>
wrote:

>It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
>My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
>edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than
>a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.
>
>I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
>going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.
>
>He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be
>doing it with better construction technique, but not better sticks.
>Lot's of old worn sticks.


I can't speak about the dowel issue - but be sure to clean-up
all the glue-joint-surfaces - for wax and tape residue ..
I always treated my new stick handles with a good rubbing of fine
steel wool - then rubbed in wax. This was mainly to save the
palms of the hockey gloves - from the wear & tear - of the rough
paint & fiberglass finish. Young players seem to do a lot of fancy
tape-jobs - that likely leaves residue ..
John T.



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: [email protected] ---

dd

"dadiOH"

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

02/11/2014 12:41 PM

"Leon" <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> On 11/1/2014 4:12 PM, woodchucker wrote:
> > It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards
> > together.
> > My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
> > edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower
> > than
> > a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.
> >
> > I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
> > going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.
> >
> > He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be
> > doing it with better construction technique, but not better sticks.
> > Lot's of old worn sticks.
> >
>
> That is an inherent problems with dowels but this company has solved the
> friction along the whole length of the dowel.. They have significantly
> shortened the friction distance with out shortening the dowel.
>
> http://millerdowel.com/products/index.html
>
> Probably no help now but maybe in the future.

Sure might help me. In the near future.

I've used a fair number of trunnels ("tree nails") over the years, just
whittled them myself, but this is sure easier, not to mention more
precise.

Their site mentions them being available in around a dozen species -
including mahogany which would be my need - but only offers four domestic
spacies for sale. I'll have to check further.

Thanks, Leon.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

Mj

"Morgans"

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

03/11/2014 9:21 AM



"woodchucker" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than
a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.

Seems to me like you could stack all but the outer edge of a panel of them
and use a long drill bit and drill the whole stack and use a long dowel for
all of them, then add the outer stick. Alternatively, rip off a veneer of
the stick and apply them to a piece of birch plywood.


---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

GG

Greg Guarino

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

11/11/2014 4:50 PM

On 11/1/2014 5:12 PM, woodchucker wrote:
> It's been a long time since I doweled something to put boards together.
> My son wants a nightstand made out of hockey sticks. It's too late to
> edge glue them together. So I thought I'll use dowels. Much slower than
> a biscuit joiner, and while fitting them together they get so tight.
>
> I was dead on with alignment, but after doing just two sticks, I'll be
> going to a plate joiner. We'll see how that goes.
>
> He wants this http://hockeystickbuilds.com/nightstand/ but I'll be
> doing it with better construction technique, but not better sticks.
> Lot's of old worn sticks.
>
My current project has 224 dowels, and of course, 448 holes. I built a
series of jigs and setups that made it go pretty quickly, although
certainly not as quickly as biscuits. This one would probably have
worked for hockey sticks:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdguarino/14285906933/in/set-72157644207411490

GG

Greg Guarino

in reply to woodchucker on 01/11/2014 5:12 PM

11/11/2014 4:54 PM

On 11/11/2014 12:55 PM, Nick wrote:
> To be brutally honest. Unless you knew that Bauer et al made hockey sticks
> (and I don't know that) what would an uninformed viewer make of this piece?

I was thinking the same thing. Might there be some way to work the
business end of a stick into the design somewhere?


You’ve reached the end of replies