# I accidentally drilled my dowel holes 1/32" too small and then banged them in...will it be okay?



## Jimothy (Oct 29, 2015)

So I have done this a handful of times before, using 3/8 fluted dowels in 3/4 Pine plywood to reinforce an already-glued up butt joint (end to face) from the night before. Figured i'd just drill through both pieces at the same time and have a visible dowel showing through instead of spending more time having the dowels hidden with matching holes on the inside. I have a lot of experience doing this and no issues so up until now, my dowels have always gone in nice and easy without being too loose or too tight.

However this time, I accidentally put an 11/32" instead of 3/8" bit in my drill and drilled the holes. I had already put glue in all the holes and all over the dowels and once I tried to put the dowels in I noticed they were alot harder to get in than usual, I can usually get them in by some hand pressure or a small tap, and this was considerably more difficult to get them in. Only after I finished putting them did I realize I drilled them with my 11/32" bit instead of my 3/8 bit, so mystery solved there, the holes were 1/32 too small…. but my main question/concern is this:

Taking into consideration that Pine is soft and quite forgiving i some regards, will the dowel joints be effective and as strong as correctly sized hole size dowel joint? Or did the fact that having the dowel bigger than the hole will essentially create some hydraulic pressure that it will essentially push all the air/glue out the nearest exit, which in my case was a slight crack/inconsistency in my joinery on the butt joint and another spot between the plies on the other end of my piece. I didnt see any glue coming out of anywhere else other than those two i just mentioned, but that doesnt mean much, i could have just not seen it, or it is lurking somewhere bet ween the plies. I am worried that all the glue got pushed out and now theres basically a dowel in there being held by friction only and basically doing nothing to add the strength I intended to add in the first place.

So what do you guys think? Even though the hole was 1/32 too small, did the forgiving and soft nature of pine make it okay and will still be a sound joint? Or did all the glue essentially come out somewhere and I should I just redrill them all with the correct 3/8" bit and restart. This is for a customer so I can't risk it breaking on them. I am unsure of how bad the 1/32 size mistake made the project less strong.

Thanks everyone!!!!


----------



## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

If you had to hammer it in, it ain't coming out.

Friction is as strong as glue in this case. There is glue in there rest assured.

What pull force is going to exceed the force you used to drive it in? Nothing.

Don't worry, it'll hold.


----------



## Jimothy (Oct 29, 2015)

Well yeah if I were to redo them I would just drill correctly sized holes where the current dowels are and redo them. What I need to know before I end up doing that is if the dowels i put into the smaller hole still added strength by wood to wood glue adhesion same as if the holes were the corrent size not 1/32 too small. If the dowels scraped off all the glue on the way in and are just in there using friction, that's not exactly what I want.


> If you had to hammer it in, it ain t coming out.
> 
> - Madmark2


----------



## fuigb (Apr 21, 2010)

Friction is not a bad option. Thi k about draw boring as an example. Further, if you've constructed in this the driest of seasons then just image how much tighter things will be when humidity returns. My vote: roll with what you have because it will never weaken let alone fail.


----------



## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

i wouldn't worry about it,those dowels are in damn tight if the wood didn't split from the pressure it probably never will,or maybe not? hey whats done is done i wouldn't lose sleep over it.


----------



## tomsteve (Jan 23, 2015)

your holes are 1/32" too small. that would be 1/64" on any side. try sanding a small flat on the dowel for glue squeeze out. you could also try wrapping some sandpaper around the dowels and giving a quick twist.
personally i wouldnt worry about it. coat the dowel with glue and get r done


----------



## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I would leave them in. Removing them and re-drilling the holes may result in the mating hole being offset, in which case the holes would not line up.


----------



## Ocelot (Mar 6, 2011)

The only thing I would worry about is splitting the wood.


----------



## Jimothy (Oct 29, 2015)

the dowels are already in though haha


> your holes are 1/32" too small. that would be 1/64" on any side. try sanding a small flat on the dowel for glue squeeze out. you could also try wrapping some sandpaper around the dowels and giving a quick twist.
> personally i wouldnt worry about it. coat the dowel with glue and get r done
> 
> - tomsteve


----------



## AMZ (Jan 27, 2020)

I wouldn't worry in the least. Now, if you said the holes were 1/32nd too large, well you would have problems!


----------

