wood pins/rods

[on_the_edge]

Does anyone know where I could find wood pins or even small diameter wood rods, say in desert ironwood or perhaps something similar? Does such an animal even exist?

 

[JTknives]

I have never seen any but that's not saying much as I have never looked for them. But I bet you could make some rather quickly will a drill and a belt grinder or if you had a lathe.

 

[Redmeadow Knives]

I've ordered 1/2"+ dowels in mohagony and walnut from Cincinnati Dowel and Wood Products, but I'm not sure how small they go. Might try them out if no one has any other leads.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

I have downloaded to 1/8 walnut and mahogany dowels

 

[Brock Cutlery]

I've been thinking about making some. Ironwood, manzanita, ebony, maybe even ivory. It might take me a couple months though. If there is a demand, I might be pushed.

 

[kuraki]

Masecraft was clearancing out some 1x1x4 ebony for $2 each I bought a bunch intending to rip them down and make some pins.

 

[Randydb]

I just make my own. Basically I drilled a series of 3 or 4 holes that start about 1/4" bigger than my desired size and work down to it. Then I use my dremil to cut some ridges across the holes, these will cut the wood when I run it through. Then I cut square rods out of the wood I want that are cut with the grain. Stick em in my drill and run them through the series of holes finishing with my final size I want. Get great dowel every time. The stuff I use for handles I send off to be stabilized. Probably could use stabilized wood from the start.

This is a variation of what I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUrj2DaW4Q

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Most all woodworking suppliers sell doweling cutters. You chock them in a drill ( drill press is by far the best) and drill into a block or square of wood. It will turn out a 3" long dowel.

Alternately, use a small wood lathe and turn them fast and easy. You can turn the dowel to nearly the desired size and then finish it up with the dowel cutter to make it perfectly round.

The main problem is that most cutters don't go as small as we would want. 3/8" is pretty much the smallest normally available.

A smiths with some ingenuity can make a pencil sharpener type dowel cutter with some scrap wood and metal. The cutter is basically a small plane blade and a tapered hole. 1095 or any similar steel will make a great cutter. A carbide lathe cutter could also be used as the cutter.
This link shows a simple one that anyone should be able to copy. It also describes the process of using it.
http://www.fine-tools.com/duebelherstellung.html
Don't overthink this. While you can make an elaborate dowel cutter from metal, a tapered hole drilled through a hardwood board, then ground/cut across a chord ( about %75), and the cutter blade screwed so it sticks over the hole will work for our needs. Look at a simple pencil sharpener for guidance.

 

[Kevin McGovern]

I was going to suggest a dowel cutter, since you may be able use the scrap scale material to make them from.

 

[Randydb]

This is my homemade dowel cutter. Works like a charm, Basically I cut square lengths of wood about 1/8-1/4 bigger than the dowel size I want. Bevel the end that is going to go into my jig, Put the lengths into my drill and run them through the holes starting with the one that is the size of the squares to take the corners off. Then work down to the size I want.

This is so fast and easy and cost me nothing. If I want a new size I just need to drill another hole and use the dremel for a minute. The dowel was remarkably tight to the sizes too. I can't see spending money buying one, or a lot of time making something more elaborate when this works so well.

 

[JAGKNIFE]

North coast knives.com has 1/4 inch walnut pin stock. I have used them and the look quite nice against orange g10 and such