# Dowels for outdoor furniture joinery



## USNDALGE (Mar 27, 2011)

I'm building an adirondack chair and am trying a few different things as I go on this project. My goal is to use no hardware of any kind and I'm almost there. I would like to attach the seat slats using 5/8 oak dowels. My plan was to properly space the slats, lightly glue them in place and then when they are dry, drill holes, then glue the dowels through the slats into the leg support. I'm using white oak for the whole project. Any thoughts on how well this technique might stand up to outdoor weather over time? I will use tite bond 3 glue.

Thanks

Tom


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

USNDALGE said:


> I'm building an adirondack chair and am trying a few different things as I go on this project. My goal is to use no hardware of any kind and I'm almost there. I would like to attach the seat slats using 5/8 oak dowels. My plan was to properly space the slats, lightly glue them in place and then when they are dry, drill holes, then glue the dowels through the slats into the leg support. I'm using white oak for the whole project. Any thoughts on how well this technique might stand up to outdoor weather over time? I will use tite bond 3 glue.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Tom


If you can get them or make them I would use White Oak dowels.












 







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## dummkauf (Jun 11, 2010)

USNDALGE said:


> I'm building an adirondack chair and am trying a few different things as I go on this project. My goal is to use no hardware of any kind and I'm almost there. I would like to attach the seat slats using 5/8 oak dowels. My plan was to properly space the slats, lightly glue them in place and then when they are dry, drill holes, then glue the dowels through the slats into the leg support. I'm using white oak for the whole project. Any thoughts on how well this technique might stand up to outdoor weather over time? I will use tite bond 3 glue.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Tom


Did almost the same thing with my outdoor chairs I recently built, however not for the slats. I glued up the chair and then any tenon that didn't go all the way through got a dowel put through it.

One note though, I also built mine out of white oak, and I could not find a source of white oak dowels. Every dowel source I found listed their oak dowels as a mix of red & white oak so I wound up buying a dowel plate and pounding out some myself. If you find a source for all white oak dowels do let me know.


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## Patiosclotures (Nov 10, 2011)

The clover chairs are awesome and these are truly beautiful patio sets. I love seeing what people can create with their mind and seeing it in actual form, it is so inspiring.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

I sometimes make dowels on my router table, running all four sides of a piece of wood except for the very ends on both sides to ride flat on the table.


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