It befuddled even Jim Lindsay, a marine engineer and lifelong woodworker, more than 20 years ago. His early woodworking joinery training in Scotland had focused on mortise-and-tenons which, though he liked them, were still “laborious and time-consuming” to make.

“Over the years I began experimenting with other joinery systems and, with the exception of the dowel system, I wasn’t impressed with any of the other methods, Lindsay recalls. “The problem was, as most people are aware, that dowels are virtually impossible to align with any degree of accuracy.”

But Lindsay, who once served as the engineering officer on both the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth oceanliners, knew from experience that mechanical problems on the high seas tend to be more difficult than those on dry land. Solving them mid-voyage can require inventiveness. He decided to approach the challenge of dowel joints with the same seaman’s sink-or-swim tenacity.

And so, in 1995 he began drafting and prototyping a doweling device that would cover most woodworking applications. Sure, there were other doweling jig solutions already on the market, but Lindsay found them to be either poorly designed or cheaply made of plastic. There was one exception: a popular self-centering design that’s still in use today. While it’s functional and accurate, the jig has limited versatility.

After a couple of weeks of noodling over a new approach to doweling, however, Lindsay recalls feeling a bit lost at sea.

“I came to the conclusion that the concept was impossible. But then I reminded myself that nothing is impossible, and I decided to continue,” he says. “A month or so later the idea suddenly surfaced, and I had it solved. The strange thing was, although the problem (of designing a better doweling jig) was extremely complicated, the answer was simplicity itself.”

His breakthrough was the jig he calls Dowelmax. Made of aluminum and brass, it clamps onto a workpiece, and five interchangeable hardened-steel guide bushings provide for accurate drilling. What distinguishes this jig from some other doweling jigs, however, is that Lindsay’s design can be disassembled and reconfigured in a number of ways to suit a variety of joint applications.

“To be completely honest, Dowelmax is capable of performing virtually any dowel joint imaginable: edge to edge, end to edge, edge to end or face, and both picture frame or drawer-box style miter joints,” he says.

Included spacers can be used to center the dowel holes over a range of wood thicknesses, as well as to create offset joints. A rod-type distance gauge steps the jig off accurately when it’s used on long boards, and an indexing pin can locate the jig to repeat its drilling pattern across wide workpieces. Dowelmax also can be set up to drill double or triple rows of dowel holes for making joints on thicker stock.

“All applications are within thousandths of an inch, and most joints can be completed in less than five minutes,” Lindsay adds. “The system is accurate, versatile, reliable and fast, and it’s intended for both beginners and professionals.”

If the promise of making dowel joints more easily sounds enticing, here’s another reason to give Dowelmax a go: dowel joints are exceedingly strong. Years ago, Lindsay set out to test a German experiment that concluded that dowel joints are actually the strongest joint option available to us. He designed a hydraulic press and tested Dowelmax joints against traditional mortise-and-tenons, plus several other common joint styles. You can watch those strength tests in a series of videos Lindsay made by clicking here.

And the verdict?

“You can imagine our surprise and elation, after all the tests were complete, that the dowel joint was approximately 30 percent stronger than a comparable mortise-and-tenon joint!” Lindsay says. “These same tests have been repeated many times over during the ensuing years with the same result.”

He’s concluded, through further study, that there are three reasons why Dowelmax joints are stronger than mortise-and tenon joints: the accuracy with which they can be made by the jig, their geometric configuration and close spacing.

Here’s another interesting fact from Lindsay: a dowel joint’s strength doesn’t necessarily increase by adding more dowels to it. “Double and triple rows (of dowels) in our experience are usually unnecessary,” he says. “To illustrate this point, a single-row dowel placement is actually stronger than the wood itself.”

Lindsay’s hydraulic-press testing also revealed that Dowelmax joints exceed the strength of ordinary wood biscuits, pocket screws and even Festool Domino joints.

While the process of bringing Dowelmax to market 20 years ago has had some challenges, particularly in terms of patenting, Lindsay says he wouldn’t change it and he’d do it all over again if he had to.

He feels the patenting system in Canada, where he lives, and in the U.S. is “antiquated, overly complicated and has a multitude of flaws.” For aspiring inventors, he warns to be careful who you share your ideas with, and don’t believe that a patent protects your idea completely.

“At the most, it’s a deterrent. Patent laws are so convoluted it would appear to be easier to infringe a patent rather than protect one,” he adds. “Our patent has been infringed at least twice to date: by a Chinese company, which I did anticipate, and a North American company, which I naively didn’t anticipate.”

Still, the gratification of making a jig that truly works better has outweighed the grief for this engineer and inventor.

“The people who have (Dowelmax) love it, and we constantly receive emails of appreciation,” Lindsay says. “This is not a scientific breakthrough, but it is important to woodworkers, and it will be my legacy. I also predict it will be the future of woodworking.”

Learn more about Dowelmax, its accessories and other products Lindsay and his team at O.M.S. Tool Company have invented by clicking here.

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The sled measures 17 in. long by 10-1/2 in. wide and is constructed of durable plastic. It attaches without tools over the front end of the BladeRunner’s tabletop. The sled slides on a center groove that enables it to be pushed past the blade for easy and consistent cut alignment. A 1-1/4-in.-tall fixed fence features an integrated, easy-to-read 16-in. scale, reading 0 to 8 inches to the right and left of the blade. The fence is large enough to offer safe hand placement during cutting.

WORX’s BladeRunner Crosscut Sled (item WA0134; $24.99) is available now.

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HomeRight’s Small Spray Shelter (model C900051.M) sells for $39.99.

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Tim Inman: Ah, that life could be so simple as to yield an easy answer for you! Alas, ‘taint so. Color work in furniture is a whole specialty in itself. It is both science and art. The final arbiter is the eye of the beholder (which may and almost certainly will be different between you and the ultimate owner!). Color is a very fugitive thing. My best advice is to test, test, test. I think you will want to stain the entire piece with a light and consolidating color that will bring all surfaces to the center of the end color effect you want. Then, almost certainly, the birch will need additional color work. Maybe another staining with the same material … maybe re-staining with a new stain and color … or maybe the addition of glazes and toners. See? It is a whole world open to possibilities. Water-soluble dye stains are very nice and give probably the best transparency. They (for better or worse) usually don’t hide many flaws or inconsistencies. I’d start with a dye stain, and progressively move to more dramatic and heavier pigmented materials. But to know, you MUST test, test, test.

Michael Dresdner: Water-soluble dye is certainly appropriate and easy to work with, but let me give you a couple of suggestions to make things go more smoothly. First, even though it does not look like it needs it, sand the plywood panels through the same grit sequence you sand the solid wood, though not as aggressively with the coarser grits. You don’t want to sand through the veneer. Sanding will help it take the dye more consistently and deeply. Second, if at all possible, dye and seal the panels before you put them in their frames. If you have not used dye before, practice on scrap panel wood. Mix the color and intensity you want, then flood it onto the panel liberally and wipe it all off immediately, leaving only what the wood has absorbed. Alter the color and intensity by adding more water or more dye in whatever color you need.

Whether you stain the cherry or walnut is up to you. You stain only if you don’t like the original color. As for which color to get, that depends on the color of the wood you are trying to match, but don’t assume you can hit the color with one dye. You may have to mix two or more to get the exact tone you want, and you’ll certainly want to test it out on scrap panel wood first. I like Homestead TransTint® dyes, and whether you buy online or at the store, there will be a color chart along with the color names to help guide you toward the right purchase.

Chris Marshall: Our finishing experts are recommending a somewhat involved staining and blending regimen, Earl. But I want to encourage you to at least reconsider using walnut- or cherry-veneered plywood instead of birch. Hardwood lumberyards will often carry specialty plywoods to match their hardwood species and in the same thicknesses as birch plywood (1/4-, 1/2-, 3/4-in.). If you are going to the effort of building a beautiful liquor cabinet, why not take things that final step and start with a panel veneer that matches the species of the solid wood? It will be a much easier staining task, because you won’t be moving from essentially a blonde panel color to a darker wood tone and attempting to make everything look the same. The veneer should also take stain similarly to the solid wood and, of course, it’s grain pattern will be very consistent with your solid wood because it will be the same species. While it will initially take more effort on the shopping side of things, I think you’ll be glad you did this in the long run. And hardwood plywood probably isn’t as hard to locate as it might seem. Talk with a local cabinet shop; I’ll bet they’ll know the closest plywood sources already or maybe even sell you sheet they have on hand. And don’t forget to consider Rockler — they carry both cherry and walnut plywood in shippable, 24- x 48-in. sizes in 1/4- and 3/4-in. thicknesses.

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– Nicholas Vanaria
Romeoville, IL

See the Gallery Below:

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“As a suggestion: Move to New England and follow a winning team!” – Ricardo de Aguiar

“I get it, as a long-time Bills fan.” – Peter Nilsson.

“Try being a Detroit Lions fan, and then you will know heartache.” – Keith Valliere

“I, too, am crushed as a lifelong Minnesotan! And once again, they have stolen shop time this past fall! Shop time I would have had if I didn’t get sucked into the whole Vikings ‘this is the year’ bandwagon! 1987-1998-2001-2009-2017 are title games I remember: heartache. For that reason, all shop time next fall! I
feel your pain! (Have loved your magazine for 20-some years!)” – Gregg Scheid

“I can empathize with you, Rob! Being a St. Louis Cardinals baseball and St. Louis Rams football fan since 1962, making sawdust was better than kicking holes in the garage walls or the TV. And the great thing about it: my projects looked a lot better then the above teams. God bless & keep the great projects coming.” -Don Foley

“Hi, I¹m Artie, and I’m a New England Patriots fan. I was born in Massachusetts and, other than my time in the USAF, always lived in Massachusetts. If you followed football before 2001, then you know we were referred to as the Patsies for most of our existence. This is our ‘Golden Age,’ and it will pass. I will most likely not be on this earth when the Pats have another run of excellence. I see no reason why the Vikes shouldn’t be a team to be reckoned with, for a while. When Drew Bledsoe was injured, and Tom Brady came in, Bill Belichick was the coach, and no one foresaw this run coming. It can, and will, happen to another team in the NFL. So hang in there, and keep believing.” – Artie Fleming (P.S. I was a Fran Tarkenton fan as a kid.)

“I, too, am a lifelong Vikings fan (I’m 56, so I’ve experienced all the ups and downs they’ve had) and, like you, find my woodshop as a place for therapy. In fact, at the end of the third quarter of the Eagles game, I escaped to my shop for therapy. I was at the tedious stage of final hand sanding on a mantel I’m building for a neighbor, so I put on some good tunes, got all my sanding done and, by bedtime, pretty much forgot about the Vikings loss. There’s always next year (been repeating that for as long I can remember).” – Todd Wanous

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