Replies

1. 
   Marcello | Dec 19, 2002 06:38pm | #1

   John,

   Mill some square stock the size you want, long strips. The minimum size should be just a bit bigger than the round dowel it is plugging.  After the dowel is in, trace the square plug over the dowel with an exacto blade to mark the size of the plug; use the drill, drill press, or router to carve out the waste about 1/8" in depth just shy of the marked lines; with a sharp chisel carefully par the material up to but without going past the marked lines.  Get the plug in as tight as you can, if you need to hand sand or hand plane the stock to make it fit snug the better it will look.  Practice the procedure with cheap stock before the actual application.  With patience it will look good.  Have fun.

   Some one can chime in at anytime if I missed something here.

   Marcello

2. 
   jgaiennie | Dec 19, 2002 06:43pm | #2

   John,

   Try pegs that are round for most of their length and then square for only the last quarter of inch or so and then driving the peg only until the square portion just barely enters the hole.  I make mine on the bench belt sander and the roundness is not really that accurate, but then I often work in soft wood.  If you find that the roundness needs to be a bit more precise for your application, you can make them on a router table with a round over bit.  I've found that a careful fence and feather board set up are helpful for this operation for any kind of quality control.  If your dowel hole is close to the end of a piece of wood, driving a misfit peg may induce too much stress resulting in an unfortunate split.  In this case, be sure to square up the end of the hole with a chisel prior to splitting a valuable piece.

   John Gaiennie

   Baton Rouge, La.

1. 
   JohnnyD39 | Dec 19, 2002 06:51pm | #3

   Thanks for the fast reply and the information. I'll give it a try on some scrap wood first.

   Again; thanks and have a happy holiday.

   John

3. 
   AlanTurner | Dec 19, 2002 11:13pm | #4

   Another possibility is to make the hole square.  You might use a hollow mortise chisel to mark the square, then chisel to the marks.  I think this might be less work than rounding the end of a square blank.