Sometimes a little project can return great savings in time and accuracy. That is the case with my dowel cut off box. I went through a period of furniture making where I used light wood–mostly cherry and maple–which was accented with walnut dowels. These tables and doors had hand cut mortise and tenon joints that were hidden from view. Cabinetmakers of yore used to drill peg holes and use green wood for the pins. The peg hole on the tenon was a hair inset so that the pin would draw the joint tight. These were called “draw bore tenons”. Not only did the joint tighten up, the green wood peg would bend a bit and the crook made it impossible to move when it was dry. I thought that using these contrasting dowel pins would be attractive and also draw attention to the joint underneath.
The table legs were large enough to have two pins per M&T, so do the math. Two pins per joint, two joints per leg and four legs total. That meant that I needed sixteen small dowel pins of uniform size. Well I usually cut dowels with a coping saw because it gives me good control. I put the dowel in a smooth faced vise, hold the cutoff end, and saw with my other hand. But this technique is tedious when large numbers are involved. Of course, I could use the bandsaw, but one time a dancing dowel jumped into the blade and shot up into the air. Something like that out of the blue will really shake and wake!
I noodled the question a bit and my sleeping brain came up with a solution-the dowel cut off box.
I planed a vee groove into a 2×4 scrap and then cut a chunk off the end, leaving a 1/4″ bottom. Then I hot glued a box around the bottom. I made a bandsaw cut about one inch into the side and past the vee groove.
And then it was ready to go. I could place the dowel on the vee groove to hold it steady, cut it on the bandsaw, and watch the dowels fall into the box.
Sometimes I eyeball the length and sometimes I use a small clamp as a stop. This little box helps me cut dowels uniformly and quickly. I even put a hook eye in one end so I can hang the box on the pegboard. That is important because I lost the first one. Infrequently used items are easy to store and misplace. Having the box out in the open helps me find it when I need it.
So if you need to add a touch of authenticity to your projects, use a dowel to pin your M&T joints. And make a dowel box to speed up the process.