How I made my wooden peg's

[Anonymous]

Hello again
I thought I'd show a few pictures to describe how I make pegs for draw pegging mortice and tennons.

Ash or oak is best to use. Raw material comes straight from the fire wood pile; these are not as good quality as I'd normally use, the best logs off this batch were already used, but these will suffice as illustration purposes. Ideally straight, clean grain, no knots, splits, rotten bits etc, best you can precure!!

Here I've marked out the log end, I generally go by eye. I try to split into 2 pieces of equal mass, your more likely to avoid the split running to one side

First split under way. I use a home made mallet, i re use the handle and replace the head from time to time from the wood pile

Next I start to roughly square up the split pieces with the axe (extremley sharp) forming a gradual taper

Then chamfer the edges with the axe to make octagonal shape.

Test fit in a hole the same size your using, adjust with a knife, you could use a spoke shave, draw knife, block plane etc, knife is quick

Finally a close up of the sharpened last inch or so, you need the small starting size so it goes through all parts of the joint without binding, before it starts the wedging action.

Hope this helps, cheers Jonathan

 

[PowerTool]

Thanks for that,Mr.S.

P.S. - your bench has a "well-used" look to it :wink:

Andrew

 

[mel]

mr spanton
does that sandvik axe keep a good edge ???
i know the opinel knife does . marvelous tool and cheap as chips
mel

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it actually does, and I give it some hard work, as you can see in the picture I use it for splitting and shaving as well (not best practice). I do a major sharpen with a small saw file, and use strop or cloth whheel to keep it in good order. I use the grinderwheel as little as possible bloody noisy thing (I'm particular about noise having lost a good portion of my hearing in factory environmanets :roll: ). I wish I could afford a tormekk one :lol: :lol: are they noisy though??
One day I might get a sweedish gransfors sort of axe. The opinel is a good little knife, that particular "legal" :roll: :roll: one is just a little small, the handle is a bit too thin, well sharp though, even leather strop and solovol autosol polish gets it up to razor+ in no time :shock: If it gets damaged I use a pocket diamond file to restore the shape.
cheers Jonathan

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for your sudgestions Jacob 8)
I'd definatelty like to see your axeing jig that you described 8) .
I know you can use a plate to get round pegs (I prefer to call them pegs not dowels) Mine are to put together a frame of 6x6's, 6x8's etc, not to go into fine furniture cabinetery; the one in the picture is 3/4 inch diameter. If you use a plate you will get circulaar pegs yes, but you'll still have to fanny about creating a gradual taper, ending with a fairly fine point to get a usable peg. If you use a blunt pencil sharpened point on a paralel sided peg, it likely WILL smash the edge of the hole in the tenon, the gradual one is able to go right through first before any wedging tension starts. I suspect the dowel plate does work well when you use it correctly, but that the dowels it produces are more refined than I need them to be. The way I did it and the shape I used is exactly the same as ones from medieaval frames, they worked then and if it aint broke dont fix it :wink: . With straight quality logs I can make a peg in about 1 minute; theres a bloke somewhere charges 15 shillings for one oak peg. Cheaper to make my own :lol: :lol: .
Some people thought they could improve on draw pegging by assembaling their joints, clamping it all up tight with "come alongs" and bar cramps etc, THEN drilling the peg hole through the motrice and tennon at the same time pegging up (no taper'd peg needed) then removing the crapms??
PS in my last house the garage side-door was "built" :roll: with 3 inchx3/4 inch dowels. It was only about 10 years old. But it was falling apart (poor homeowner maintenance) One day it were a bit windy (gale actually!) and suddenly the door took off, it failed at those dowels, the glass (6mm) didnt break :shock: and ended up stuck in the lawn by one corner, the "frame" in bits. Needless to say I replaced it with a proper morticed paneled replacement :lol: :lol: I cut the glass into 4 pieces was useful for emorying on chisels, plane soles etc

 

[Paul Chapman]

Very interesting, Mr S. Up till now all my axe work has been chopping logs for the fire but I think you've inspired me to hone my axe a bit better and do something a bit more precision with it :wink:

Cheers

Paul

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Paul
I'm a bit of an axe advocate me, its a sadly under rated and out of fashion tool. Very good to rough out shapes in green or dry wood, you can pare, slice, plane with an axe, not "just" chop or split. You can take fine shavings. When I roughed out the pegs I put my hand around the axe head same way as you would hold a saw with fingers either side 2 smallest fingers under the handle and push down vertically, you can get amazing control and accuracy, after a while you forget the axe is there. It is bloody sharp though, but I'm always careful, my Dad's neighbour cut his thumb off with an axe when I was 3 and it always left a lasting impression on me :lol:

 

[Paul Chapman]

It is bloody sharp though, but I'm always careful, my Dad's neighbour cut his thumb off with an axe when I was 3 and it always left a lasting impression on me :lol:

:shock: :shock: :shock:

What is the weight of your axe head, Mr S? I tend to feel that the heavier the better - would you agree?

Cheers (and watch the thumb) :wink:

Paul

 

[CHJ]

...snip... and it always left a lasting impression on me :lol:

So does a long flap of flesh on the side of an index finger with a "white stick thing" showing in the bottom of the groove. DAMHIKT

 

[Anonymous]

...snip... and it always left a lasting impression on me :lol:

So does a long flap of flesh on the side of an index finger with a "white stick thing" showing in the bottom of the grove. DAMHIKT

Oh dear I think the voice of bitter experience speaks :wink: What is "the grove" :? The mind boggles! :lol: What is damhikt?? by the way
Axes sure can be dangerous but so can table saws planers big routers etc (power tools still make me a little queezie at times :wink: ) You just have to be sensible. That sandvick is about 20-24 ounce's with an equal bevel. It is light but it is ALSO manuoveable :wink: A true side axe is sharpened one side only like a plane iron and is much heavier, anything up to 48 ounce's or even more, and hewing side axe's can be 7 or 8 pounds for doing beams, but they can be up to 10 inch's across the cuting edge, you need the weight to drive successfully. "weight+gravity" does its thing to help you out, but its a heavier weight to keep lifting up.....swing and roundabout trade off. I'd say go for it paul have a go, its another lost art but very useful method for some jobs.
Cheers Jonathan

 

[Alf]

One day I might get a sweedish gransfors sort of axe.

Ooo yeah, deffo. Lovely thing:

But absolutely essential to keep all your fingers behind the cutting edge... 8-[

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

Is that your axe alf? Does that LN dowel plate produce smooth cylindrcal dowels like factory made ramine ones, the ones in the pic look a litle more 'charcterful'?? :wink:
Nice solid little saw horse.
Whats that stuff like a jig saw puzle on the floor? I've seen that on a few shop pictures

 

[Alf]

Is that your axe alf?

Yep, it's a Gransfors carpenter's axe - got it for Christmas much to the amusement of my brother (and the rest of his office apparently :roll: )

Does that LN dowel plate produce smooth cylindrcal dowels like factory made ramine ones, the ones in the pic look a litle more 'charcterful'?? :wink:

No, it doesn't and yes, they are! For pegs and such, they're fine. For visible dowelling the head-on scraping of the dowel plate is a disaster. I use a lathe, or better still a rounder for larger diameter stuff - got one of these earlier this year when I was making my chair and just love it. Trouble is I want more of them now #-o Sort of thinking about trying one or two of these for smaller stuff, if I can think up some justification for doing so... 8-[]

Whats that stuff like a jig saw puzle on the floor? I've seen that on a few shop pictures

Anti-fatigue matting. Saves dropped tools from damage. Oh yeah, and it eases up the wear and tear on my back from standing on the concrete floor, but that's less important... :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[CHJ]

What is "the grove" :?

read Groove, euphemism for bright red trench sort of thing suddenly appearing on the side of the hand, D..... spell checker should have known what I meant :roll:

What is damhikt?? by the way

Don't Ask Me How I Know

 

[Anonymous]

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[Alf]

You CAN get a perfect looking finished dowel end - you have to be selective of where on the particular dowel the final cut and finished end will be

No argument - but I understood Mr S to be referring to the finish along the length. And yeah, turning them is a major PITA, but for dowelling as opposed to dowels it does give a better result. Well in theory, if my turning was up to the job... I'll have to remember that wood holding dodge next time - ta. As for mounting the plate on a heavy bench, do I infer that clamping it to the workbench isn't enough? Must admit I'm a bit reluctant to screw it down anywhere simply 'cos the damn thing's likely to rust.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Evergreen]

Mr S and Mr G

Many thanks for the pictures. This is not an area of woodwork that I've ever tried but you both make it look fascinating.

That's what I like about this site - I just dropped in for a browse and I've learnt something already. Never know when it'll be useful.

Regards.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Nice sequence of pictures Jacob 8) :wink:
That choping block loks sturdy enough whats it made up from?
Do you make your pegs (dowels as you call them) from green or dry timber?
Framers do use the metal pins but only to hold already jointed main timbers in place while secondary ones such as braces are being scribed up and fitted. The actual constructive tension comes entirely from the draw pegging procedure. Because the framer has fittled the joints so they fit perfectly while the frame is on the floor, the only thing that is required to hold the entire structure square and plumb is the tension from the tapering pegs acting like wedges forcing the offset holes back into alignment so holding the joint firmly. It astonish's me that such a small device can hold a frame in place and deal with all the loads from roof, wind, snow, climate variation etc and Still work after hundreds of years.

Just a thought alf, I remember a bloke once telling me about a turning jig device to speed up doing small components, this could include hand turned dowels/pegs how ever you want to call them. (when you mention "dowel" people think of the ramine stuff and that it is suitable for pegging up :roll: [-X ) He aparently (i never saw it used) made a simple wooden chuck that fit into the head stock end it had a square socket, slightly tapered. The blamks were sawn (or axed :lol: ) to a square end which snug friction fit into the chuck, to speed up getting them in and out the centres. He used this to do stair spindle's.
Cheers Jonathan