- 1
Select a straight-grained piece of wood.cutting wood image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
Select your wood stock and ensure that it has straight grain running lengthwise. Select a length of wood 1 inch longer than your finished dowel will be. The wood should be 1/2 inch thicker than the desired diameter of the dowel. - 2
Mark the center with a pencil.Pencil image by Alla Chichkina from Fotolia.com
Find the center of the base of the wood using a center finder. Mark this spot with a pencil. - 3
Secure the wood to the lathe.machinery image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
Insert wood into the lathe chuck, and tighten by turning the chuck key clockwise. Insert a live center into the tailstock of the lathe, and lock the tailstock to the lathe. Rotate the tailstock wheel clockwise to advance the live center into the wood. The point of the live center should make contact with the pencil mark you made in step 2. - 4
Use calipers to check for correct diameter.caliper image by laviniaparscuta from Fotolia.com
Turn on the lathe and use a roughing gouge to cut the wood, leaving it about 1/8 inch thicker than the finished diameter will ultimately be. Use calipers frequently to check the thickness of the wood by turning off the lathe and putting the calipers up to the wood for measurement. - 5
Wrap the sandpaper around a straight block of wood.sandpapier image by Thomas Aumann from Fotolia.com
Wrap 100-grit sandpaper around a straight block of wood and apply to the spinning dowel. Rub the sandpaper left to right across the dowel and check frequently with calipers until the wood is a uniform thickness at the desired diameter. Sand lightly with 220-grit sandpaper. - 6
Use a parting tool to remove the desired length of dowel.Ciseau 2 image by rolero54 from Fotolia.com
Part off the desired length of the dowel by using a parting tool, or remove the dowel from the chuck and cut to length on a bandsaw.
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