The dowel is made from solid wood. Dowel rods are often cut into shorter lengths, called dowel pins.

Dowels can be used for:

• Furniture shelf supports.
• Supports for hanging items such as clothing, key rings, tools etc.
• Joinery.

Dowel-based joinery typically employs fluted dowel pins. A fluted dowel pin has a series of parallel grooves cut along its length.

Why are the dowels fluted?

The fluting provides channels through which excess glue (which is used to secure the dowel pin in its hole) can escape as the dowel is inserted, thereby relieving the hydraulic pressure that might otherwise split the timber when clamped together.

 Benefits:

• Using more than one dowel per joint, will strengthen the joinery and allignment.
• Using a jig will make joinery with dowels a lot easier and speeds up the process.