Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Nov 11, 2003 07:53pm | #1

   Woodsmith #137 has a technique illustrated.

   • Begin with a 3/4" x 3/4" blank, 12" long.  Cut a 1/8"-deep dado 3/16" from the end on all four faces of the blank.
   • Chamfer the end, using a backer-board to keep the blank square and prevent chipout.
   • Cut the peg from the blank using bad saw or hand saw.

   These pegs are somewhat "flat", despite the chamfer, to be really reminiscent of a pyramid shape, but all you'd have to do to emphasize that shape is to place the dado further back from the end of the blank, and make the chamfer correspondingly bigger.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

2. 
   vacabby | Nov 11, 2003 07:55pm | #2

   Bill,

   I do this alot with furniture and A&C style cabinetry.   I make a long 3/8" square piece of material I am using for the plugs.(size of material - this example is 3/8" - it's up to you)   I have cut a similar square hole in a piece of 1/8 or 1/4" masonite. (this does not have to be a tight fit at all)   I set (and glue) the material into the pre-drilled hole in the furniture or cabinetry.   I slide the masonite over the plug material and use a flush trim saw to cut it off.   The thickness of the masonite or material used depends on the height you want the finished plugs to be.   Remove the masonite and place a thin piece of cardboard or protective material in it's place to protect your project.   Using a chisel, bevel side down I rock the chisel up and toward the center of the peg.  Repeat this on all four sides and you will get your desired results.   This is a very easy and quick process once you have practiced on a few.   You can cut individual plugs if you like but by having one long piece and cutting it off flush I have reduced the amount of waste material.  Hope this helps.   There are many variations you can do with this but this is what works for me.

   jb

3. 
   scooter1 | Nov 11, 2003 08:02pm | #3

   Get a supply of walnut or ebony.

   Cut out square stock for the final size of the plug. The length will be the thickness of the stock plus the plug size plus about a half inch to hold onto. If you need 12 plugs, make 16-20. You'll need some extras.

   Using a band saw and a fence, cut shoulders to the plug. Below the shouldder, it will be rounded.

   Take a belt sander, and flip it upside down in your vise. Grind down the area below the shoulder to a diamter of a drill bit, like 3/16ths or so. This is delicate work but will go quickly, turning the plug to form a rounded dowel like surface. Check and test fit with a 3/16ths hole to insure a good fit.

   Back to the bandsaw. Cut off the square head above the shoulder cut to about a 16th.

   Now, with a hand sanding block and some 60 grit paper, sand down the square part to form the pyramid. Takes about 1 minute per plug.

   This method isn't perfect and you will get some stinkers, but it works for me and is very quick.

   Regards,

   Boris

   "Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934

4. 
   Julmer | Nov 12, 2003 11:10pm | #4

   I am getting ready to tackle the same problem on a Morris Chair I'm finishing. I was planning on pegging the thru tenons with 1/4 dowel rod but I didn't want the round dowel to show. So I was planning using my 1/4" mortising chisle to square the top of the peg/hole (1/4 - 1/2" depth?). Then cut some ebony scraps I have into 1/4x1/4 blanks. I would use a sander to chamfer the end of the blank to a pyramid and then cut it off at the proper depth and tap/glue in place so just the pyramid portion of the plug protruded from the plug hole.

   I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions on this procedure.

5. 
   4DThinker | Nov 12, 2003 11:19pm | #5

   For a 3/8" plug, I make a stick 3/8"x3/8" by a foot or so.  I've clamped a guide board to the table of my disk sander, and put a medium grit disk on it.  The guide board is 45 to 60 degrees from the face of the disk, at whatever angle you want on your pyramid faces. 

   - Slide the stick against the guide until the facet is sanded to the middle. 

   - Rotate the stick so your previous facet is UP and visible, then sand the next face to the same line.  Rotate again, sand to the line.  Rotate again, sand to the line.  You're done. 

   - Cut the plug to length.  Now you've got a fresh end on the stick to make your next plug from.

   4DThinker