Steel Dowel Pins: Two from One Piece, Necked, Hardened and Ground (Stanley 1919)

Die makers made their own dowel pins two at a time: one piece of steel is turned, necked in the middle, hardened, ground dead straight to size from each end, then snapped in two at the neck. Frank Stanley described the practice of one die shop. Source: F. A. Stanley, Punches and Dies (1919), pp. 417–419. The choice of tool steel and the forge for hardening are ours; the passage gives no hardening heat. Picture: Stanley's Fig. 610, grinding dowel pins.