If you have ever gone to renovate your house or build a cabinet yourself, you must be familiar with dowel rods. Dowels are used as reinforcements for the structural pieces in your home. They can be used for reinforcement in building cabinets, supporting furniture, as moveable game pieces, hangers for different items, and more such tasks.
With the help of dowel rods, you have to use the screws, nails, and other items used in joining stuff less often. Dowels come in various materials such as wood, plastic, and metal.
By using dowels for securing joints of different items, you get a sturdier build that is stronger than the one joined using nails and screws or glue. Dowels are perfect for joinery as they form joints that do not slip, and when the work is done correctly, the joints look very neat.
But there is one question that plagues the mind of everyone. Do dowel rods come in different sizes to fit the various projects in our home? Keep reading to find out all about the sizes of dowel rods.
Can Dowel Sizes Be Modified?
Dowels will help you reinforce joints of wooden projects at home, office, or some other site. You can buy these rods in standard sizes as available, or you can purchase large dowel rods and then cut them down to the size you need for your project.
The main issue in the measurement of dowels is in width or diameter of the rods. The lengths are easier to manage as rods even made with metal can be cut down to adjust according to the required size. You can easily cut the plastic dowel rods as well with a knife. The width, however, is harder to manage and change. So, the dowels must be bought with particular attention to the width.
What Sizes Do Dowel Rods Come In?
The sizes of the dowel rods may be measured in millimeters or inches. The dowel pegs are available in millimeters, but the rods are measured in millimeters and inches. The widths of dowel rods lie between 3.175 mm or 1/8 inches and 50.8 mm or2 inches. However, you can sometimes find them in larger widths and 304.8 mm or 12 inches.
What Are Standard Dowel Sizes?
Dowels cut into standard sizes are usually 6mm or ¼ inches in length and 30 mm long. They also come in sizes of 8 mm or 10 mm in width and 40 mm in length. These sizes match the standard sizes of drill bits, drill stops, and center points.
How To Choose A Dowel?
Dowels are usually built from hardwood, such as mahogany and beech. Softwoods are also used sometimes, such as pine. The names do not mean that softwood is soft in structure. These names are given based on the foliage structure f different trees.
To know about the strength of the wood dowels are made from, look at the density. The higher the density of the wood, the more weight a dowel can hold. Besides weight, you might need to be considerate of the color if the dowel is visible from the outside.
Conclusion
Dowel rods are one of the best materials for use in joints of different pieces at your home. They give you a sturdy structure and a strong finish. They end up looking clean, and the joints don’t slip. Moreover, they come in different sizes and colors for you to choose from.
Make sure to buy a denser dowel rod if you want to use it for joints of heavy items. Happy DIYing.
