# Using dowels?



## jkay (Jul 13, 2015)

Hello, I am building a desk and the legs and skirt are going to be walnut. Legs are 3.75"x3.75" and the skirt is 1" thick and 6" wide. I was going to use Mortise and Tennons for joints but after finding new drill press won't work with my old Mortising kit and I don't have the extra $ at the time to buy a new one I'm left doing something different.

So my question is if I want to use Dowels instead should I use .75" dowels or .5" dowels? Also how long should the dowels be? My main concern is that my top is very heavy. I am using a 3" thick maple bowling lane as my top.

I will send the link to my plans. These are very similar to my plans but I have made a few adjustments such as the length and width of the total desk as well as height. http://jenwoodhouse.com/plans/DIY-ehlers-desk.pdf

Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you


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## distrbd (Sep 14, 2011)

I would use 3/8" dowels 1.5" to 2" long 4 dowels in the 1" x6" skirt,I would also incorporate the use of pocket screws in places that are not visible just to reinforce the joints.


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## jkay (Jul 13, 2015)

Thank you


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## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

Put as big of a dowel as you can and as many as you can. It will carry the load of the joint and needs as much glue surface as possible.


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## pjones46 (Mar 1, 2011)

+1 Ken with excetion to pocet screws. Use a leg corner support/reinforcement something like the below along with the dowels:


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