So let’s break this down quick (yeah right).  Part of the fun I have as a woodworker is trying to build little parts and pieces to make the bigger parts and pieces more fun to make.  This is an example of that.  I was making a bunch of wood dowel handles and wanted a quick way to chamfer or bevel the ends of the handles.  Round stock like dowels naturally present their own problems in milling operations.  It’s cylindrical, which means a circle is involved in the two dimension end of things.  Just look at pi, the mathematical means in which we rationalize circles (which is extremely contradictory being it’s an irrational number).  Okay, my little two cents thrown in there for the cheap seats.  But either way you choose to slice it, spheres, cylinders, and yes, circles are a bit of an enigma to the OCD minded folks.  That being said, dealing with these objects in and around the workshop present some inherent challenges.  I was in search of an easy way to bevel the ends of some dowels.  Seems simple enough based on the dramatic lead up I had to round & circular stock in the shop.  I initially came up with one solution that would remedy the one task I had in front of me.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that what I came up with ONLY worked for that one operationThe main problem with the first version was lack of support for varying length pieces.  So, bring in the second rendition.  The V-groove that was lacking in the predecessor solved that problem.  The second issue was I became limited to certain dowel diameters.  The stop block limited how I could present the workpiece to the abrasive without the jig itself interfering.  The significantly smaller base and altered stop block in the second iteration fixed that problem as well.  So what does this all mean?  The second version is better and you are a patient reader to make it this point in the paragraph.  I’m not destined to be an online social media mogul, nor do I want to be.  I’d rather have some shop talk between friends in my shop.  And if you asked me about this jig in person, that’s pretty close to what I would have told you if we were in the shop shooting the breeze.  Watch the video to understand what all this means.  I hope you enjoy it, and let me know your thoughts!

 

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6 Responses

  1. Lori Scott

    Love the dowel jig Nick! I’ve made several projects where I had to bevel or chamfer the end of a dowel. I got it done but it was time consuming to get a nice uniform bevel around the end. I’m going to make this jig. It will really come in handy when I need to do this again. Always love your video’s……..keep up the great job!!! Lori

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