This simple, shop-made apparatus, deftly manipu in (that youl), turns square blanks into rounds. Yes, it's a trick, but its a trick you can perfor jenuine magic, What else can you call this gizmo? I’sjust a block of wood. You poke a square stick into NAB round hoie in it, When the stick comes out the “or sie, ts round! And hey! W's not a fancy-schmaney och of spaceage plastic or exotic Baltic Birch plywood. lisust an onlinary hardwood block. ‘$0 What else can it be but some of that router magic? ‘Oh, ove this fixture just because it fs $0 simple, so so effective. I is what magic is: A simple piece of 14s, defily manipulated by a practiced magician 10 ce an engaging illusion. And yeah, itis a trick. Um (well you what its ‘he trick is that the holes in the apparatus are pre: sized and precisely placed in relation to one another Js the infeed hole. It gives way to the outfced hol. imersecting these two Is the bit hole. (Of course e's router involved!) ‘chuck the appropriate bit—when the time comes, Tl what bit is appropriate, and I'm going to get to wha Hs appropriate in a minute—in 2 tablemounted router. you set the fixture over the bit and clamp it.Set the ‘itheight just so, of course: Switch on the router, and poke ‘that stick in the infeed hole. et me explain how to make the fixture, then I detail ow to use it and how to achieve the best results But before | do, let me answer your question: You | rout your own dowels when you need walnut dowels, or | ‘oak dowels, or cherry dowels You rout your own when commonplace birch dowels, available for cheap at any tum- beryard and many hardware stores, won't do. And once you discover how easy its to rout your own, you may choose to perform this litte magic act whenever you need a dowel Making the Jig “The jig consists of a base and a block. You need to make a ifferent block for each different diameter of dowel you ‘want to rout. You use the same base for all the blocks.To change from one size to another, just undo the fasteners, that secure the block on the base, and switch blocks. 1. Pick the hole sizes. As I suid, there are three hotes in the block. Two are stone simple to size.The outfeed bole must be the sume diameter ay the dowel you want to pro- duce. The bit bole is no more than a hs bigger in diameter than the bit you will use, The third hole is the Mfeed bole. Tes diameter must match the diagonal measurement of the square dowel blank. For example, if you want 10 rout a !2inche-diameter dowel, you'd cut a blank that's Ys inch square (and maybe a 97DOWEL-MAKING FIXTURE EXPLODED VIEW Qty. Dimensions Material 1x36" Hardwood Wet x 3x 3644 Plywood washers, KD, See 2wing nuts, (4° : skosh over that). But you wouldn't be able to force that square stick into a Yeinehv-diameter hole. And that's because, measured on the diagonal from corner to corner, it's 4 inch across. So the infeed hole must match the diag: onal measurement of the blank. Refer to the ‘Dowel Blank/Feed Hole Sizing” chart on page 100 to determine how big the infeed and outfeed holes should be, 2. Cut the parts. The fixture consists of a hardwood block, which has the three holes, and a plywood base, ‘which positions and secures the block on the router table. While you can use most any wood, hard oF soft, for the block, hardwood will be more durable in dhe Jong run. Td suggest making several blocks right from the get-go, so you can make more than one size of dowel. Start with 2 6/4 (six-quarten) hardwood board about 18 inches long. Fluiten one face on the jointer, square an edge to that face, and plane the board to the thickness specified by the Cutting List. Then crosscut the oan into three blocks, ‘each about 6 inches tong For the plywood base, messuire the width of your 98 — Router Magic ¥ CO o router table top (from side to side). Cut the plywood same width as the blocks, and crosscut it to match router table width. 3. Drill the feed holes. The two holes must be ‘on the same axis, a shown in the drawing Dow Fixture Layouts. W's important to daill these holes before hole so that the bit isn’t deflected by the bit hole. By all means, drill the hole on the deill press. Set up Drilling two holes on the same aais is easy with the correct setup. Use a fence on the drill press to center the workpiece under the bit. Crank up the table a close to the bit as you can before starting to dril you need to use as much stroke as your drill press fas to bore a 3-inch-deep hole. Butt a stop block against the end of the workpiece, and clamp it to the fence, Drill the infeed segment of the hole first, boring about 1A inches deep. To change bits, remove the work from the drill press. The stop block and fence will enable you return it to exactly the same position for continuing the hole with the smaller-diameter bit.2 BOTTOM View is = f 16 a “dia, hole Ties for mounting bol i - BACK VIEW = w — Outfeed hole Countersunk "dia. hole 1 /é'dia. bit opening | — for mounting bolt Cea tulle with a fence and stop block to position the work: «ce, Dril the largerdliameter hole first, boring about 1s ‘decp.Then switch bits and finish the hole with the er bit, boring the rest of the way through eblock:The fence and stop block allow you to move the Jecc out ofthe way when you change bits, yet ensure you can return it to exactly the same position. That is ifthe two holes are to share the same axis. 4, Select a bit and bore the bit hole. You need to the bit now, since it must fit the bit hole in the block: without clearance. “You ean use a large-diameter corebox (or roundnose) a bottom-cleaning bit, mortising bit, or a dish eutter. intersection of the fixture’s three holes cat be seen here. The bit hole should just break into the cutfeed hole. You con't need to drill any deeper this. [ve used them all, nd I haven't discerned! much difference in the finished produc, regardless of the bit used. Tit sug {gest you go with whichever of these bits you have. ‘The bit hole isa stopped hole, as you can see from the drawing. It is the same diameter as the bit you will use Position the hole as shown in the drawing, and bore just § deep enough to break through the wall of the outfeed hole, 5. Mount the block on the base. Lay out the block ‘position on the base, and transfer the location of the block's, bit hole to the hase. At that spot, bore an oversized hole so, the bit can extend through the base into the block Drill mountingbolt holes, as shown in the layout drawing, in both the block and the base. Countersink the hholes in the base. Insert flathead stove bolts through the ‘base, fit the block over them, add washers, and then thread, wing nut onto exch bolt. Routing Dowels tried making dowels out of oak, ash, cherry, soft maple, poplar, walnut, and mahogany. All these woods run through the dowel-making fixture without a hitch, so long as the blank is straight grained. Any twists, dips, or waves lead to chipout and splintering Examine your stock carefully, and be selective for best results 1. Cut the dowel blanks. Check the dowel chart for the specs of the dowel you want. Rip a test blank to the dimensions specified for the desired dowel diameter. Now cheek its fic in the infeed hole. It must be snug, but not so, snug that you can't turn it by hand If it is t00 tight, rexip the blank, making it slightly smaller If It is too Loose, rip another blank, making it slightly larger Dowel-Making Fixture 99