Dowel joints are very strong and attractive if they are, like all other joints constructed well. Dowel is also very useful for greatly increasing the strength of weaker woodwork joints such as the butt joint.

This type of joint is secured with an adhesive and a small piece of dowel. Construction also requires nothing more than a drill and some accurate markings.

To achieve perfect markings a special measuring tool can be used to measure the position of the holes for the dowel to be inserted.

The tool is called a dowel centre and they are placed in a predrilled hole to create an accurate mark on the other piece of timber where the next hole will be drilled.

The dowel joint is assembled in the same way that you would screw a regular joint together only pieces of dowel are glued and inserted into holes instead of screws. By using pieces of dowel over screws the joint becomes much stronger and can be turned into an appealing feature.

How to Make Dowel Joints