My rule of thumb is to use a dowel whose diameter is about 1/3rd the thickness of the board.

I have not seen a bit to make dowels on a drill press.

It is common to purchase dowels. The normal sizes match commonly available drill bits, 1/4in, 5/16in, 3/8in, 1/2in.

I highly recommend purchasing dowels or at least wooden rod of the given diameter and cut it to length.

Dowels have grooves on the side for the glue to escape. Wooden rod will be flat faced, no grooves.

 

i want them to be visible - if i buy cherry dowels/rods, they will have the grooves for glue escape? is it that important for the glue to get out? if i even use glue on them - i might not, just offset them a little to lock the boards in place.

 

Yes, you can buy jigs to make dowel rod from squared linear stock. You can also make your own. Somewhere (I think there's a link to a video here on the site somewhere) there's a video where a guy made a jig that uses a piece of saw blade mounted to a block to make dowel rod. The original stock is fed through with a hand drill.



You can always create your own groove(s) or just sand a small flat along the length. You probably don't want to do that if the end of the dowel will be exposed.

Where dowels are glued in to a non-through hole, it's good to allow room for the glue (and air) to escape. Otherwise, your dowel may not actually seat all the way down into the hole.

 

would using a rod create problems as opposed to a dowel? i guess that is a better question.

 

Sorry, I had the wrong interpretation of what you were doing.

I am used to dowels being used in the side of two pieces being joined together so oriented side to side.

I think you are desiring to use these to "pin" a breadboard end, so they will be oriented top to bottom.

If you want to pin, you can make them tight. The only need to glue is if they fall out due to changes in moisture in the dowel or the board.

If they were being glued, you would want some glue along the length, hence the grooves in normal dowel. You can also sand rod to give a loose fit.

If you were close to a Woodcraft store, they normally sell hard wood dowel rods or you can mail order from Woodcraft.

If you had a wood lathe you could turn some yourself.

You could attempt to make dowels on a router table with a quarter round bit. Leave the end square and cut off. 4 passes and you should have decent dowel.

 

Kenbo dowel jig for router

Steve, thanks for jogging my mind, completely forgot the Kenbo dowel making jig.

May be a lot of work if he only needs this one time.

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f27/dowel-making-jig-router-table-39249/

Router table and round over bit faster if dowel size matches router bit radius.

 

does such a thing exist?

need to make a number of dowels that are 1 1/8" approximate.

also, since i've never doweled a breadboard on a table, do I need to dowel the complete thickness of the top or does the 1/32" offset to lock the board in place make that impossible to line up properly?

You can make your own on a router table.


http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodwor...com/woodworking-tips/techniques/routing/make-your-own-dowels-on-a-router-table/

 

Gideon, check out this video. I love this guy. He makes some brilliant things.

The video begins by showing the router table method. About halfway through he shows the "pencil sharpener" method of making dowels. I think you'll like it.


EDIT:

Another, similar, method -

 

The new issue of shopnotes has ann article on a few dowel-making jigs, one with a hand held drill.