Making Large Dowels with a Router 

The KISS moto I've used it my entire life and it's never let me down.

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Thanks Tharemy! The DC comment can be made about all of my videos, if I'm honest!

Thanks. Yup, I need to add some DC too.

Thank you!

Thanks Clyde, I always look forward to your comments. I really like the sliding tailstock idea.

I checked the comments to see if anyone had already suggested a sliding tail stock. Glad it's already done. Jim Y

Thanks Peter!

I think its opposite tho. When you can make big pieces of wood out of small ones, your doing pretty good

Isn't that the quintessential approach to carving an elephant? You start with a block of marble (or as the case may be, whatever flavor of hardwood you prefer), and remove all the parts that aren't an elephant? In my opinion, there are three things that make an amazing woodworker (which, incidentally, are the same things required to be a fine artist, a painter, a sculpter, etc. and an engineer): 1. The ability to set something up with precision, be it cutting a straight line, or milling a certain thickness, or a carving a curve: one must prepare the stock and the tools alike and ensure they are as close to tolerance as it's feasible to achieve with the materials they have to hand. For the important parts of the piece, milling, cutting, sanding, finishing, whatever: if your setup took less time than the execution? You wanna really look at that process (assuming you're not batching out 100 of something, of course). 2. Patience. The HARDEST part of any of those skills listed is simply not rushing or taking shortcuts. It's easy to cut a piece of wood. It's HARD to cut 300 exactly the same. Often times we'll change feed rate, get a bit over-ambitious with a router plunge etc. just because we're NOT robots and feeding 2400 linear board feet through a saw it as tedious as it is nerve-wracking. 3. Willingness to fail. You will screw up. A lot. More often than not, you're the ONLY ONE who'll ever see said screw-up in the final piece. But you'll know. Beyond that, though, ever have to make a tricky cut or route a complex profile or shape into a piece you've already got 50+ hours in? Or in a piece of wood that costs more than your table saw? Ever screw THAT up? It's terrifying doing what we do sometimes. Sucking it up and doing it anyway is the only way through, but it never gets easier. I failed to notice the grain switch back on itself once while doing a simple roundover... on an $1100 spalted Roman Olive slab. Bit caught and ripped a 5" GOUGE (that can never be filled or color-matched due to the spalting) in one of the final, pre-finishing steps of a piece. I've had long-term relationship breakups that made me cry less. And the terror never goes away, never gets easier. But what else can you do? S'not like we're gonna quit working wood, amiright? Set up right. Go slow. Be brave. Manage those three and you got this.

Rather than tube bushings, you might consider roller bearings. Less friction an wear.

Thanks. That's a good idea. I might hook up a corded drill. I just need to find a way to mount it securely.

Yup, I did something similar. I made an additional tailstock and all I needed to do was clamp it in place. Worked pretty well on the first try.

@@parillaworks You could make a tailstock plate and house it in a series of dadoes inside your jig box serving to index the jig for whatever size stock you want to end up with.

Thank you, this was probably the most helpful tip so far. I think it will also save my fingers from getting caught in the predrilled holes. Thanks!!

That is exactly what I did. SR

Love the dish/bowl/tray bit idea. Surprisingly, I didn't get any tearout on the edges of the pre-drilled holes. I was expecting at least some but they were really clean.

Thank you! Good luck with it. I need to do some more experimenting with the speed of the bit and the spindle; hopefully I can get a smoother finish. Also, the other day I built the second tailstock. It slides anywhere in the jig and can be clamped into place which makes it very adjustable.

Complicated rigged lathe

Argentina. Wow es in paso bastante largo. A donde estamos nostros. Que estamos in el estado de Massachusetts an La nueva Inglaterra we los Estados Unidos. A que the dedicas mi Hermano latinoamericano?

@@ramirod2029 Estoy empezando a dedicarme a la carpintería... Tus vídeos son de mucha ayuda para personas que recién empezamos en el oficio 😊

@@exequielarcelobos4679 Que irramientas tienes? Estas bien equipado? O solamente tienes un cerrucho y in martillo?

@@ramirod2029 Hola! Tengo algunas herramientas eléctricas , de mano y unas de banco q contrui yo mismo por ejemplo adapte a una mesa una sierra circular de mano y a un taladro manual construi un dispositivo para que funcione como uno de banco... Con esas herramientas me doy mañas para trabajar

I see. Something like metal lathe carriage, that would work well if I could build it reliably.

In some things, yes. A threading attachment would be pretty interesting. Thanks for watching!!

Can't see it. Please explain how it would work.

The WWGOA video suggested stops. I didn't add them because if am making a shorter dowel, the stops won't engage before the I'm near the hardware. I'll try to think of another idea. And you're right about DC, I'll add that, too.

@@parillaworks Love your work John. I made a small apothecary chest as a gift for my Mom based largely on your designs. Keep it up.

Just checked! They actually have it on Amazon! Written 23 years ago. Router Magic

Hi Willy, thank you for sharing! That sounds like a fun build.

A planer is not normally subjected to forces parallel to the blade's edge.

@@dtriniboss Relative to the speed the dowel would be moving I don't think the lateral movement would be relevant. Most planers are around 13-15k rpm, the dowel will be doing maybe 10rpm. Assuming a similar enough radius between dowel and planer cutterhead, and that the planer RPM being maybe half under load, the vector between the blade and the work would be 700x1, blade edge moves 700 units per the dowel's surface moving 1 unit laterally. Much less than what would occur with freehand planing!

Thanks for the comment Ralph! I'm going to try to mount a drill next to the jig so I can focus on the router.

Thank you for the suggestions!

Thanks Paul! Great suggestion.

A small leaf spring on the inside surface of one of the router plate fence portions would hold the sled tight against the opposing fence part.