Exposed dowels?

there's nothing wrong with that

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365787994/

>>1125765
As already stated there nothing wrong with it. It's just that most woodworkers don't use dowels when joining wood at 90 degrees, so it's never an issue. Dowels are generally used for joining planks that will be side-to-side or end-to-end, for marking larger pieces out of smaller ones. In that case you can't have an exposed dowel, so you just never see it.

The real question is where do you get the nice contrasting dowels?

>>1125851
the obvious answer would be to buy dowels and stain them

or use a plug cutter

>>1125881
>buy dowels and stain them

Not if OP has to flush cut them after installation. Even heavy sanding will expose the unstained core.

>plug cutter

Better. But OP doesn't have a drill press. And plug cutters are tricky to use with a hand drill. Just buy dowels of a darker wood species.

>>1125981
>Not if OP has to flush cut them after installation. Even heavy sanding will expose the unstained core.

measure closer/cut them shorter to minimize any trimming and use a vacuum to help it penetrate deeper

end grain always sucks up more anyway

>But OP doesn't have a drill press
the person who asked about them didn't say they were OP, they might have one or know someone who does...

I don't know how much other dowels cost, but be prepared to shell out a lot more
another alternative would be to buy small strips of the desired wood, saw them into rough squared pieces, then round them over by sanding/file/shaving....it would be slightly rustic

they can even be made faster by cutting, and then literally pounding through a hole in a piece of metal to scrape off the corners

>>1125765
go buy a dowel jig ffs. they are like 20bux

>>1125994

Op here. I've used those cheapo jigs. They're junk. Anyway regarding the different contrasting colours, i don't care about that although i do think it looks neat. This is just a one off project. Ordinarily i would cut dovetails. The idea is to put it together nice and speedy but a little less half assed than pocket screwing it.

Thanks for the replies folks. I'll go ahead with the exposed dowel idea.

>>1126007
For light wood (maple, oak, ash, etc) buy a 3 ft walnut dowel from any wood working store. Use maple dowel for dark wood. Bye a forstner bit of the same diameter. Take 5 min to build a dowel cutting jig. Sand the dowel and dry fit each one (if a small enough dowel, chuck it in a drill and hold 220 grit around the spinning body). Drill it out and set the dowel with glue. Flush cut the end. The challenge is the finish - the end grain of dowels will soak up finish unless you take it up to 800 grit before finishing. This can create some issues with contrast of the face wood as you might sand a bit of it while sanding the dowel end.