Frank D.
Established Member
I don't know if this is available in the UK, but I did a little review of the new LV dowel cutter on another site, which you can see here: http://www.lamortaise.com/modules.php?n ... pic&t=3602 Since it's in French I'll stick a translated version here in case any of you were wondering how this tool performs.
Here's the tool on the Lee Valley site:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... at=51&ap=3
First, I wasn't sure what to expect from a $20 CDN (what's that, about 9 pound?) tool. Lee Valley has another version which has been available for a while, but it costs $200 CDN for the basic kit (which allows you to cut several diameters, however). But when I unwrapped the tool I was pleasantly surprised: it is considerably more substantial and heavier than it appears to be on the pic. I was impressed so far. The blade is carbon steel and the tool comes with an allen key to adjust it. An adapter to hold the blank in a drill is available at a minimal price.
I sharpened the blade, which needed it (quite normal), and I flattened the back (which was slightly convex, so it took me more than an hour; oh well, at least you don't have to do it twice...). After the first test run, I adjusted the blade. If you look down the hole where the dowel goes in, it's quite easy to line up the far side of the blade with the exit hole. After just one adjustment everything was working perfectly.
For my first try I used straight-grained hard maple. The dowel measured about 8" long (by 1/2" in diameter, the size of the dowel cutter I bought), and the results were just about perfect. Just a very light sanding is needed. The dowel seems quite straight also:
How's this for a cool shaving?:
Then came the real test, a 16" dowel made from 2 tropical hardwoods (bloodwood and yellowheart). Here's the result:
The results were good enough, although not perfect. First, there was tearout on the bloodwood on about half the dowel:
You can't see it all on the pic, but it made about half the dowel useless. But I must say in the tool's favor that the grain was quite swirly where it tore out, and on the other half, where the grain was straight, the results were close to perfect. Even my best planes have trouble with bloodwood when the grain reverses and changes direction, so I don,t think I could expect a dowel cutter to perform any better. First lesson learned: use straight grained wood (nothing new for dowels...)
The second minor flaw was that the dowel was slightly crooked. Over 16" there was about 1/16" (or a little more) concavity:
Not so bad all things considered. The blank was quite long, which caused some vibration as I was feeding it into the cutter, and I did stop half way through the cut. I also didn't use any outfeed support, contrary to the recommendations in the instructions (I didn't see the need,and I still don't but maybe I'm just thick-headed). Luckily I didn't need such a long dowel, I just wanted to make a long one to cut into appropriate lengths. Next time I make a long one I'll just provide some infeed and outfeed support (a little hassle but to be expected I guess).
So I think all in all it's a very good tool at a great price (at least here in Canada). I hope it will be available soon in the UK for you to enjoy.
Here's the tool on the Lee Valley site:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... at=51&ap=3
First, I wasn't sure what to expect from a $20 CDN (what's that, about 9 pound?) tool. Lee Valley has another version which has been available for a while, but it costs $200 CDN for the basic kit (which allows you to cut several diameters, however). But when I unwrapped the tool I was pleasantly surprised: it is considerably more substantial and heavier than it appears to be on the pic. I was impressed so far. The blade is carbon steel and the tool comes with an allen key to adjust it. An adapter to hold the blank in a drill is available at a minimal price.
I sharpened the blade, which needed it (quite normal), and I flattened the back (which was slightly convex, so it took me more than an hour; oh well, at least you don't have to do it twice...). After the first test run, I adjusted the blade. If you look down the hole where the dowel goes in, it's quite easy to line up the far side of the blade with the exit hole. After just one adjustment everything was working perfectly.
For my first try I used straight-grained hard maple. The dowel measured about 8" long (by 1/2" in diameter, the size of the dowel cutter I bought), and the results were just about perfect. Just a very light sanding is needed. The dowel seems quite straight also:
How's this for a cool shaving?:
Then came the real test, a 16" dowel made from 2 tropical hardwoods (bloodwood and yellowheart). Here's the result:
The results were good enough, although not perfect. First, there was tearout on the bloodwood on about half the dowel:
You can't see it all on the pic, but it made about half the dowel useless. But I must say in the tool's favor that the grain was quite swirly where it tore out, and on the other half, where the grain was straight, the results were close to perfect. Even my best planes have trouble with bloodwood when the grain reverses and changes direction, so I don,t think I could expect a dowel cutter to perform any better. First lesson learned: use straight grained wood (nothing new for dowels...)
The second minor flaw was that the dowel was slightly crooked. Over 16" there was about 1/16" (or a little more) concavity:
Not so bad all things considered. The blank was quite long, which caused some vibration as I was feeding it into the cutter, and I did stop half way through the cut. I also didn't use any outfeed support, contrary to the recommendations in the instructions (I didn't see the need,and I still don't but maybe I'm just thick-headed). Luckily I didn't need such a long dowel, I just wanted to make a long one to cut into appropriate lengths. Next time I make a long one I'll just provide some infeed and outfeed support (a little hassle but to be expected I guess).
So I think all in all it's a very good tool at a great price (at least here in Canada). I hope it will be available soon in the UK for you to enjoy.
