Dowel cutters

[bdixon]

Has anyone had luck with this product for turning tulip ramrods?

[keweenaw]

Your image doesn't come up.  The ramrod turners that Mike Lea sells work great.

Tom

[keweenaw]

I've not used one of those but they should be fine for making untapered dowels or ramrods.  To make a tapered rod you need a cutter that is adjustable in diameter as you go.

Tom

[Jim Kibler]

What's the price of that set-up?  Looks interesting.

[bdixon]

I was going to cut a 7/16 down to almost 3/8 except for the last few inches and hand taper it to a tulip head and taper the remainder of the shaft by hand to fit it to the pipes.  About 50 bucks shipped for one size.  I purchased the 3/8, but the blades are adjustable if necessary.

[C Wallingford]

I have the 3/8 and 7/16. They work fine for me. Just make sure you feed the rod slow and rotate as fast as possible. Otherwise you will get a real rough finish.

[Leatherbelly]

 Brent,
   Tom Curran has and sells a little tool for tapering ramrods.It would work great for finishing the tulip on your rod.
  That's an interesting tool you have there. Never seen one before.I'd be interested on how it works also.Cheers.

[longcruise]

A simple way to taper a ram rod is the same way one can taper an arrow.

Take your already round stock and draw a circle around it with a pencil.  Set your small hand plane to take a very fine cut.  Put the small plane on the material with the pencil circle at the front edge of the plane.  Take a cut all the way to the end (or if you want a tulip end then don't go all the way to the end of the shaft)  Turn the shaft (dowell) just a bit with each pass and continue until you have "erased" the pencil circle.  The position of the circle will determine the length of the taper.  For a long taper, make a second circle futher up the shaft and do it again.  You will now be reducing the first taper even further.  Number of circles and placement will determine the degree and length of taper.  Your dowel should be placed on a solid surface for it's full length while doing this.

I like the dowel cutter and have been considering one to create arrows from square blanks.  But, I will want to foot the blanks with a hard heavy wood before running through the dowel cutter.  Wonder if it would handle a blank footed with purple heart or Zircote?

[jeager58]

Ive never used those dowel cutters but have a stanley 77.  it works well but a lot of hand cranking......phil

[Jim Kibler]

Who sells the dowel cutter shown?

Thanks,
Jim

[okieboy]

 Those are Lee Valley/Veritas.
 Here is my old Stanley 77 turning out 3/8 x 59" hickory rods with little effort.

[RonT]

I use these to make my RR's.  The barn siding is my jig for tapered arows, the wood plane and sanding block were purchased at a Trad. archery event.
I use the penciled concentric circle method and the thumb plane to reduce RR's smaller than the ~3/8"  that the wood plane and sanding block finish out.
R

[Rasch Chronicles]

One of the things I love about ALR is how everyone has something to show and tell!

Of course now that I've seen Mr Okie's dowel maker, I have to have one!

Thanks and best regards!
Albert
Albert “Afghanus” Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles™

[Rasch Chronicles]

Allow me to restate the previous comment on my part...

Of course, having seen Mr Okie's dowel maker, I would like to have one...

I jumped right over to eBay...

You fellows will never be able to explain to the Mrs why you needed one.

Seriously.

But honey, I really did need this Stanley #77 Dowel Maker!

Regards,
Albert "The Afghan" Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles

[okieboy]

 Be patient, Al. Watch Ebay for a while and one with only the 3/8" head will come up much cheaper, one that has had the cast iron guide plate dropped, broken and brazed will be cheaper yet. Of course if you build a Vincent and need a 5/16 head (rare), you will look for a long time and may pay as much for that head as you did for the machine. The Lee Valley/Veritas cutters weren't available when I needed 5/16" white oak dowels for a Morris chair that I was building, they look like a good deal.
 Or, if you stop by to visit on your way home, I'll grind you a couple out.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Good article here http://www.muzzleblasts.com/archives/vol2no1/mboj1.shtml

I have one of the Mike Lea tapering planes. It is a really nice and fast tool if you are making a lot of ramrods. I like the small end of mine to be 5/16" and doing that on a piece of 7/16 of 1/2" hickory is slick as a whistle.

[Rasch Chronicles]

Mr Okie,

Thank you for the offer, that is very kind of you!
I've been terrible ever since I found out I could get tools on eBay. I din't realize how many tools I didn't even know existed, much less how much I needed them now that I know they existed!

All this time with a well sharpened block plane and #53 spokeshave, I have managed to do all sorts of things... Little did I know that I needed that low angle block plane, a #80 scraper, a #12 1/2 scraper, several #61 and 65 marking gauges, a double handfull of calipers, oh yeah, a #81 scraper plane to keep the 80 company, a dozen antique auger bits...

I'm almost embarassed to keep going.

I had a bid on a post drill,
several #45s, 50s, and 55, combination planes,
Box lots of vintage tools,
I could go on!

The beauty of it is that I can now spend my time refurbishing them to their former glory and put them to use...ummm...If I need to use them that is.


Best regards,
Albert