metal dowels in timber house-Pros and cons

The reason may be the thickness and length of the dowels. The beams hung on them. The beams can hang on the nails after they dry out, and the nails will not give any rigidity (try bending them). And it’s doubtful that they’ll pull the beams together just like that (these are not studs).

I think I agree about the fact that “these are not stilettos.” A very powerful detail. I felt it when I was unloading the 18x18 timber.
The timber there is probably very uneven. This is me watching the laying of timber two weeks ago. So, I think it’s too early for the timber to “hang” on the dowels from drying out.
What should you pay attention to so that such a situation (hanging on the dowels) does not arise, say, by the spring of next year?

Here I have more news I wanted new topic I can’t even open it, but for now I’m writing here: We had a strong thunderstorm (really strong, the rain poured down for three hours without stopping, the neighbors’ fence was blown down and my outbuildings were broken, my greenhouse was broken... - This is me so that it’s still clear , that it was not an ordinary rain. Simple rains are not uncommon and this does not happen. This is the first time, but still, it’s worth writing. In the morning - an oil painting - the entire western wall - the bathroom, the wall of the steam room and the rooms on the second floor are wet through from the fifth-sixth crown and down. The bottom pair are generally black from moisture and squelch. I press with my finger - it oozes. And at the seams and just in the mass! But in the sun, the heat is again over 30 and in a couple of hours it all dried up, if it came later I wouldn’t have noticed, but here - here they are!
The question is serious. If it gets so wet, then in the fall, which is just around the corner, this western wall (prevailing winds) will constantly get wet. Again, it is unlikely to dry out; autumn is not summer after all. Then the frost hits and what do we have? - a frozen log house, as I understand it. What are the options, what to do? A lot has been written here about vapor barrier - they say it is very important - steam comes from inside and the walls can get wet... This is cooler than any steam, to get so wet, there should at least be a laundry room inside. How to solve this problem? Has anyone encountered this? Or am I the only one lucky

The "problem" is very interesting. We also need to consider this issue for ourselves.
I'm not a builder, however. But I can guess the reasons.
Firstly, there is no mention of the thickness of the timber. Maybe he's 10 cm
Secondly, it seems to me that a normal timber cannot allow moisture to pass through itself for such a short time. And for another, longer time. This is not gauze or a colander.
Thirdly, “after a couple of hours it all dried up.” Here, in my opinion, keyword"dried up". Exactly, 1-2 cm of timber has dried out. The timber cannot “dry out” in a couple of hours. It’s not for nothing that houses are left to shrink for more than six months. During this time, perhaps, it can “dry out.”
So. Ideas on this matter.
Perhaps the timber does not have a chamfer. And water flowed (and will flow) between the timber on inner side walls. Perhaps there are cracks there as thick as a finger. Perhaps the inter-crown insulation conducts water very well.

Most traditional material for the construction of a private house - timber. It can be made from a wide variety of woods. Recently, laminated veneer lumber, which is made on the basis of new technology by using adhesive compositions. The section of timber for building a house is selected based on climatic conditions and the purpose of the building: whether it will be used year-round or seasonally. The question: “How to lay timber?” can be answered. The timber is placed in two ways: “in the paw” or “in the cup”. Last option also called "in the oblo". Both of these installation methods are difficult to work with and require certain knowledge and experience in working with log houses. It is better to entrust such work to a recognized master, since not every builder will undertake it. But, nevertheless, you can build a house from timber with your own hands if you master alternative ways: “in the groove” or “in the key.”

Laying timber "in the groove"

For external walls, timber with a cross section of no less than 150/150 is used, and for internal walls - 100/150. It is laid on a waterproofing layer, which is often roofing felt laid in two layers. The lower plane of the timber can be impregnated with bitumen. Internal walls put on tow. In order to connect the ends of the beams, a recess is made in one of them - a groove. The second beam is cut to the width and length of this groove, and inserted into the first one. Please note that the connection must be tight. If necessary, add a layer of tow

Laying timber "into a key"

Notches of the same size are cut at the ends of both beams. It must be taken into account that the sides of the beams must form a right angle. By aligning the notches, we get a hole into which a wooden die is driven.

When building walls, each next row of beams is laid on a layer of tow. All its hanging ends must be tucked into the cracks. It is necessary to ensure that there are no vertical deviations. The side edges of the beam must form a single plane. The ends should also form a straight line. Simultaneously with the construction of the walls, floors are installed. Why in wall beams provide recesses for laying beams. After assembling the house, all seams are caulked using tow.

Fastening timber with dowels

This method is one of the most common. To understand how timber is laid, you need to know how to fasten it. A dowel is a wooden or other part that is driven into a hole drilled in a beam. For a 150/150 section, the length of the dowel must be at least 260 mm. It can be either regular or polished. Instead of wood, you can use pieces of cut reinforcement with a diameter of 8 mm. A hole is drilled in the timber for it using a 10 mm drill. If you take a smaller diameter, the reinforcement will “hang”. Then the timber is laid, the holes are aligned and the dowel is driven on top. Then a hammer is taken and the reinforcement is driven deeper another 2-3 cm. Holes in the beams can be made before laying, on the ground. The main thing is to accurately measure their location.

The connection on the dowels looks very aesthetically pleasing in appearance, because it does not reveal the presence of any fastening device; it seems that the parts hold on to each other by themselves. What kind of little thing is this and why it is so popular in the household, now we will figure it out.

Do we know what this element is?

When we say “fastener” we mean that it is used to firmly fix some parts that can only be separated aggressive methods. Such reliable products are screws, bolts, etc. But there is another category of fasteners that work for stabilization and positioning, without at all interfering with the disassembly of connected parts in a certain direction. An example of such a group is a dowel. This is a small cylindrical product, sometimes with notches on its surface.

Most often you can see this product in furniture; you've probably had to assemble at least a bedside table with your own hands. Some parts and hinges are attached with screws, but before that the main parts of the structure are assembled on the basis of wooden pegs, for which there are already factory holes. This is a furniture dowel; as a rule, it is made of wood, because it fastens parts also made of solid wood or its derivatives (chipboard, MDF). Sometimes plastic dowels are involved in furniture assembly.

Furniture dowel - production and parameters

External simplicity does not mean that this fastener is made using a handicraft method. Woodworking machines are used for turning dowels; there are even special dowel cutting machines. The fact is that their sizes are clearly calibrated in mass production, and for those cases when urgent minor furniture repairs are needed, a metal template is used, which has many diameters. Having chosen the one you need, you punch a wooden blank through it, thus making dowels with your own hands. As for plastic fasteners, they are cast in special molds.

To ensure that such a cylinder holds better in the hole, corrugations are applied to its surface. They can be longitudinal, transverse, helical or complex (mixed). You can also find such corrugations on plastic. The diameter of the dowel can be 4-30 mm, and the length can be 1.5-20 cm. You can, of course, make the product yourself at home according to the given parameters, but this is quite a troublesome job to get a round cylindrical piece of wood. All sizes are available for sale, and the price, of course, is quite affordable. It's another matter if you need more exotic species this mount, we will talk about this below.

Elements for timber - features of use

When building a wooden structure, log dowels are used for safety fixation of logs, and sometimes the only one. They are significantly larger in size than furniture ones; you need to order them or make them yourself, and you often need to make holes for them yourself. If any other fastening is planned, and this method is only a way of orientation and insurance against mobility in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the dowel, then you can do everything yourself.

For a log with a diameter of 18 cm, the holes and the diameter of the fasteners should be about 2.5 cm, so you should take a drill. If you don’t want to grind for a long time to a cylindrical shape, you can make dowels for the timber with square section 2.4 cm. At least 3 holes should be made in one log (two at the edges and one in the middle), if it is very short, then two will be enough. It is advisable to maintain the same depth, so make a mark on the drill so as not to drive it too deep. It is advisable to make do with a depth of 4 cm.

The disadvantage of square dowels is that shrinkage of the house is inevitable, and if it does not occur in proportion, the logs will begin to move freely. In the case of round products, this probability is much less. Especially if you have the same type of wood, but this is not a guarantee, because they may have different ages. Sometimes to minimize this effect glue is dripped into the holes or the surface of the dowel is coated.

There is another fastening option for the construction of houses made of timber. At first glance, a metal dowel seems more reliable: it does not shrink, it has quite definite dimensions both at the beginning of construction and after many years, it is very strong, and will not crack due to any uneven changes in the geometry of the building. But this product is significantly more expensive in cost, and also will not help with shrinkage of the material of the house itself. Still, they are abandoning it in favor of natural wooden fasteners.

What is a lamella?

There is another one under construction interesting option such fasteners - a flat dowel. In wide circles it is more often called lamella, which is how it can be found in stores. Its essence is that it is not cylindrical, but really flat, it is also attached using specially made grooves, and often sits on glue. The holes are made, of course, not with a drill, but with a special router. It is used in cases where the possibility of twisting of parts relative to the axis of the dowel cannot be allowed.

In general, this connection will be the same as in the case of a round fastener, quite reliable, resistant to cutting, and, moreover, allows the installation of very thin parts. True, you need to be more careful when assembling. Since it is best to glue with glue on water based, and due to the thinness of the fastener, its deformation will be significant, then you should not hesitate, it is important to quickly place the lamella in the hole. You can, of course, use synthetic adhesives, but very few assemblers choose this option.

Dowel connections - should I use glue?

Assembly using dowels is possible in two options: dry or glued. Each case has its own characteristics. If we have ready-made parts with holes, then we don’t need to drill anything ourselves. All that remains is to arrange the parts in the required order, then drive a dowel into one of them, tap it a little so that it fits in firmly and is located in the hole, and then put the second part on it, and again knock on the part from above so that the second end entered firmly. This connection does not hold the parts in tension, only in shear, so the fastened structure should be immediately placed in the desired orientation, and not upside down or otherwise.

If installation is carried out without glue, then such an assembly can be disassembled after some time. If there are no such plans, but you want to feel a little more confident about the strength of the fasteners, then you can put the dowels on the glue, and the notches on its surface will improve this technique.

You should not fill the holes with glue so that the product will squish there, it is enough to lubricate the end on one side, and then also treat the other end. Moreover, if there are several fasteners located on one side of the part at once, then first install all the dowels with one end into the holes, after lubricating them with the composition or dropping a drop into the hole. And then coat the protruding edges with glue, let them thicken a little (literally a minute or two) and attach the second part, carefully aligning the holes on it with the protruding ends of the dowels. Lightly tapping the mounted part will better distribute the glue and strengthen the structure. Remember, it is not dismountable; if you want to dismantle it, you will only have to break it.

How to make dowels using an electric drill.

Tenon connection of parts during manufacturing wooden furniture used quite widely. This old classic way

assembly of furniture parts is still the most reliable and durable connection.

All thorns can be divided into two large groups,

inserted and radical. Insert tenons can be

flat and round (dowels). Easiest to do

round insert tenon.

A round insert tenon (dowel) can be made using

electric drill, or a fairly powerful screwdriver.

To do this, you first need to make blanks, these are bars

cross section 11/11 mm. and length 300-400 mm. . One end

The bar must be sharpened into a cone, the other rounded.

You will also need an M12 die. We clamp the die in a vice

flat so that the hole is completely open.

We clamp the rounded end into the chuck of an electric drill. Drill

the end of the workpiece into the hole of the die and slowly drive it

When using an M12 die we get a dowel

with a diameter of 10 mm. . If you use dies of a different size,

then you can accordingly get dowels of a different diameter.

But in practice, it is not advisable to make dowels in this way

with a diameter greater than 10-12 mm. .

Safety warning.

1. Choose bars - blanks with a straight texture, otherwise they

During the operation they can split and injure the technician.

2. Take your time, go through the workpiece while holding the drill straight.

If the workpiece is long and begins to vibrate, immediately

turn off the drill. If there is strong vibration, the dowel may

We make our own wooden dowels

It was necessary to make wooden dowels to make plugs for connecting to a miter screw using a Wolfcraft Undercover Jig. I studied several methods and settled on the simplest one for me.

12 Comments for “We make our own wooden dowels”

Hello Andrey, it’s an interesting device, but I would like to know about the plane, how it works for you, they sent me a defective one, or the sole with a V-shaped groove rises crookedly((((((((((((((

In my plane, I exposed the stationary part of the sole, placing pieces of bronze foil and washers between it and the body of the plane, so that if you put a ruler on both parts of the sole (movable and stationary), there would be no gaps. And initially both parts of the sole stood in a “house” ^ - like this. After that I re-set the knives. Now it planes normally. The moving part, it seems to me, is more difficult to bring to mind.

and the thickness of the layer being removed is not adjustable. 

It turns out. The fact is that initially the front and back parts of the sole are not parallel. After the rear fixed part is aligned parallel to the moving part, when moving the moving part (i.e. when adjusting the removal amount), the parallelism is maintained.

Andrey good video! I also tried to make dowels in a similar way before, the hole in the pine also broke, I replaced it with cherry, but the quality of the dowels still did not suit me. Eventually I learned how to make dowels from any wood using a circular saw. 

I saw this method from a Japanese guy (nickname noho91 on YouTube). He also has a video about dowels on a band saw - I think it’s safer. For large diameters one of these methods must be chosen.

The dowels that I made were intended for sealing sinuses when connected to an oblique screw with a WolfCraft device and have a diameter of 9.5 mm. the quality of the dowels was not critical here. 

So I remembered from the Japanese and I saw the metal with band saw I just don’t have a ribbon, a circular saw also works well, especially with soft wood.

I'll have to try it. Sorry, Japanese more videos He doesn’t post it because his health seems to be really bad. From what I understand from reading his blog through a translator, he broke his ribs when he fell. It's a pity, very interesting person with extraordinary thinking.

Yes, I agree that many of his ideas were implemented using a regular drill.

Andrey, why don’t you use a router to make dowels?

It seems to me that it's easier this way. I know two ways to make dowels using a router. First: using a radius cutter - not suitable, because I needed dowels with a diameter of 9.5 mm, but I don’t have a cutter of that radius (4.25). Second, when the cutter is used instead hacksaw blade in a device similar to the one in my video. You can use a circular saw instead of a cutter. This method seemed more cumbersome to me. Or do you mean some third method with a router? 

I made it using a radius cutter, but if you need a lot of dowels, it’s easier to use a router, and if not a lot, then a jig should be enough, but since it’s made of wood, it’s not durable. You can try using metal if you’re lucky enough.

There is a video somewhere in which a jig is made of metal, he cuts the blanks and just punches them if you are interested, I’ll look for it 

Dowels for timber: do-it-yourself manufacturing process

As a rule, the construction of any wooden building associated with the use of fasteners in the work. They help create strong, monolithic structure, independent of the type of building. Dowels, or dowels, are an integral part of any building. Their quality determines the reliability of the structure. You can make dowels for timber with your own hands, following a certain technique.

Scheme of inter-crown connection using a dowel.

The dowel is a small element, but it is impossible to do without this detail. It provides reliable fastening of timber and log walls. These fasteners were called dowels back in ancient times by carpenters from Vyatka. In the 18th-20th centuries, the construction of huts made of timber and logs began to actively develop there. In that era, one could observe the active development of woodworking production, which resulted in a construction boom.

Back then, houses made of natural wood were built using birch spikes. The construction of log houses in those parts and throughout the territory of our country began to be carried out using precisely this type of material. Any carpenter knew this.

Purpose and features of dowels

Diagrams and sizes of various dowels for angular fastening of timber.

Wooden dowels are specially designed for fastening log walls pins. They prevent such natural processes in wood as drying out, as a result of which the wood changes its original properties and becomes deformed.

The use of such bolts will help to avoid the process of displacement of logs in the wall. Their correct installation will provide the structure with stability; the bars will be positioned as they were in the initial position.

The most popular are dowels made from hardwood. Birch or oak dowels cannot be broken if they are correct installation. Most often they are given a rounded shape and a size corresponding to 24-25 mm. Wooden nails should be even and smooth along their entire length.

​Nails are a material that helps hold a wall in a certain position. Dowels are used without fail, regardless of whether the building is log or timber. The most widespread are birch thorns.

These wooden bolts cannot be replaced with other components such as nails or screws, the use of which will only worsen the situation. In addition, you should not use dowels on metal base, which are most often reinforcement. As a result, it is possible to observe the interaction of materials with different degrees of thermal conductivity.

As a result, condensation may appear on the inner surface of the beam, and this is completely unnecessary. In this case, the reinforcement will begin to rust and the wood will rot.

Manufacturing Guide

Wooden dowels should be smooth and round in shape.

You can make dowels for timber yourself; it is only important to know about some nuances. To do this, you need to take birch logs of a given length and split them into many parts, creating square-shaped blanks. Then manually trim them, giving them a rounded shape of a certain diameter.

If available lathe All elements can be carefully and quickly turned. In addition, you can use disused cuttings from shovels as a base for the spike. To give them the desired shape, you just need to cut them and make blanks. Round spikes can also be made using circular saw.

Installation sequence

The procedure for working with wooden tenons comes down to the following points: first you need to find the middle on the desired plane and mark the future hole.

1. By using drilling machine it is necessary to make a recess. A spike will be inserted into it. The diameter of the drill should be the same as that of the dowel. Depth - 1.5 timber.
2. If the fastener is too loose in the hole, it will not be able to fully perform its function. If the dowel is too dense and protrudes above the surface, problems may arise as a result of the natural shrinkage of the building.
3. When machining a hole, you need to ensure that the angle of the drill is perpendicular to the base. This will help avoid problems when connecting parts. The dowel connects 2 beams or logs, and this must be done in a checkerboard pattern along the perimeter of the log house wall. In this case, the permissible distance between them will be 1000-1500 mm.
4. From the combination of bowls and openings it is necessary to make an indent of 300 mm. During installation, the moisture level of the dowels must match the moisture content of the timber itself.
5. It is necessary to insert core buttons into the resulting hole, intended for marking the hole on another board. In the absence of such a part, it is quite possible to resort to independent production. To do this, you need to sharpen the rod in the form of a pencil so that there is a needle in the middle. Insert it into the hole.
6. Then the two boards are laid on a flat surface and lightly pressed against each other. Thus, markings appear on a clean board for drilling a recess for a tenon.

The dowel must sit tightly and without bevels in the grooves of the timber, otherwise it will not fulfill its function.

For such purposes, you can use a marking thicknesser. Here it is important to correctly find the middle of the desired surfaces.

You need to insert a rod into the resulting holes, treat parts of the boards with glue, connect the workpieces and clamp them into a clamp. Then you need to dry the structure.

1. Holes for dowels should be made correctly. This connection has its own peculiarity: it cannot be changed at the time of assembly.
2. A prerequisite is to drill the recesses strictly perpendicularly.
3. You should not make too deep holes, this can lead to the dowel coming out of the board. They shouldn't hang around.

The use of dowels in the construction of houses and baths

Wooden dowels are used in the construction of various structures with log or timber walls. Their use is approved by regulations construction organizations, projects of wooden houses. In practice, the use of birch thorns provides wooden bases perfect connection. It is distinguished by the mobility of the vertical level. However, this does not prevent the wood from naturally shrinking.

In the process of building wooden houses, they often resort to making dowels for timber with their own hands.

Round birch nails give the building strength and security.

The build quality and reliability of the walls will be at the highest high level and will please anyone.

So although self-production Doweling seems at first glance to be something complex and labor-intensive, but in fact it is a primitive task. Here it is important to be clear, planned and follow the instructions.

How to treat wood against mold

Cover the house with overlapping boards

How to properly cut a log into boards?

Assortment of modern lumber

How to make a guide for a circular saw with your own hands

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A good remedy. I treated the bathhouse two years ago, everything is still perfect.

Looks presentable, environmentally friendly and if damaged it’s not difficult to replace) great)

The timber was lying there and it turned black. How to treat it?

Photo: birch products with a diameter of 25mm.

Birch dowel is one of the most common and necessary materials, used in wooden house construction to tie timber crowns. If you wish, you can do without jute rope when finishing and painting a house, but you can’t do without a dowel. First of all, this concerns timber houses and other structures for the construction of which wood is used.

This is what he tells us experienced builder engaged in wooden house construction– construction wooden houses with your own hands - for many years, Nikolay Pervachev: “The dowel is an indispensable thing in construction wooden house, acting as a kind of frame, or holder of walls made of timber. The dowel is a cylindrical pin or stick, the diameter of which depends on the size of the wood material used. As a rule, a dowel with a diameter of 2.5 mm is used, and therefore it is the most common and can be easily purchased on any construction market. Moreover, very often ordinary cuttings for a mop or rake, sold in a hardware store or at a garden market, are suitable for these purposes. The main thing is to pay attention to what the cutting is made of. Most the best wood for dowels, birch is considered, as it has all the qualities necessary to fulfill the purpose of installing dowels. Birch wood is quite durable and strong, has a uniform structure, but at the same time it is easy to process and is quite elastic and elastic. But birch and wall wood - pine and fir - should be treated using fire protection products for wooden structures.

The need to use dowels is primarily due to the fact that when drying, the timber begins to twist and turn out, which occurs due to uneven drying of the material and for a number of other reasons, for example, when the paint for the log house is applied incorrectly - very early. If a bending dowel is used in construction, the beam only collapses in horizontal planes and does not rotate. A piece of dowel that is suitable in size is called a dowel, and the technology for its use is quite simple; even a beginner can cope with this task, you just need to follow certain rules installation of dowels.

In carpentry, hardwood is of great interest. Birch is one of these materials. You may notice that it is very difficult to find in construction and in any other industry. This can be explained by its characteristics, disadvantages and advantages.

In Russia, 4 types of birch are mainly used in production: common, dwarf, downy and silver (due to their size). But, in general, there are more than 100 varieties of it. They are slightly different from each other in properties and application. Mostly birch is white with a yellow or even reddish tint. Its structure is homogeneous, layered without the presence of natural resins.
Common birch is used to kindle stoves, or as coal for making shish kebab (due to its high calorific value). Skis, plywood, and pressed boards are made from fluffy and droopy fibers, because... these trees are more durable and are not afraid of moisture. Regardless of the type, birch has good physical and mechanical characteristics.

Benefits of birch wood

The advantages of birch wood are:

1. Strength. She is not afraid of mechanical impact (impacts).
2. Hardness.
3. High wear resistance, practically not inferior in this parameter to powerful oak.
4. Beautiful texture of the material.
5. This material bends easily, but in a steamed state.
6. Birch stains well when etched, so it is often used to imitate valuable wood species.
7. Resistance to biological microorganisms.

Lack of birch wood

There are also disadvantages to this wood, due to which it is not found in the construction industry:

1. If she is in a room with high humidity, it will easily succumb to rotting processes.
2. Low density.
3. Moisture permeability. Wood, after getting wet or being in a room with a humid climate, takes a long time and does not dry well.
4. When temperature changes, birch begins to warp.
5. Processing birch wood is not easy. It is a hard and highly drying rock.

Birch wood is rarely used for building houses due to its fragility. But if, nevertheless, it is decided to purchase this material for the construction of a building, then it is recommended to lay the first crowns of the log house with oak or larch logs, and then lay birch. Birch is great for holding finishing works indoors, for the production of furniture, plywood, creation flooring(floor boards, parquet), production of auxiliary construction structures.

Before installing the dowel, first prepare a series of holes of exactly the same diameter as the diameter of the dowel. The dowels connect all the crowns of the building in a checkerboard pattern - three crowns through the crown, and are located at a distance of one and a half to two meters from each other. It is also advisable to pay attention to such an issue as the degree of humidity of the dowel and the wood of the structure. The dowel should be slightly drier than the base material, then after drying the dowel will be firmly wedged in the body of the beam and will not move there.” In this way, strength and mobility will be ensured. wooden walls and the inter-crown wood sealant will remain, the wooden dowel will not be able to damage it.