Riven Hardwood Dowels with a Dowel Plate

A dowel split along the grain keeps every fibre running its full length, so it is stronger than one sawn across the grain. Split a straight log into sticks, dry them, rough them to eight sides and drive each through the holes of a steel dowel plate with a mallet: the sharp edge of each hole shaves the stick round. Dry dowels matter: wood shrinks as it dries, and a dry dowel takes up moisture from the glue and swells tight.