New Product: "Dowelmax" bringing doweling to new heights

When I set out to review this "new doweling jig" I was a little skeptical. I am not a person who uses dowels. In fact, I have 20-30 years of disliking dowels.    When biscuits came in, I jumped to join the biscuiters — anything was better than dowels, or so I thought.    BeadLock brought an even better method to the shop — loose tenons with deadly accuracy and ease.    So why did I take on the Dowelmax? Simple: because of its precision. It is one very nicely machined tool. It is quite a kit.  If it works as well as it is described in their WebPages, it will be a winner.
	The package I got from them was a "press kit" and contained some very beautiful props — real doweling joints. They were as intricate as they were beautiful. The picture at the left is from their WebPages. I was amazed at all the joints they could make. It seemed clear to me their purpose was in making strong joints.
As we usually do, we start by reading the instructions. This time, I suggested that Beth look at the film demonstration on their website. It is blurry and low res. but the "live" demonstration shows the basic method very well. [click here to start demo]
	Now we can start our real learning of the Dowelmax System.    Beth spreads the parts of the kit in a clean spot. Also  displayed are the samples that they had sent.
The instruction book shows that this is a good joint to start on. It is a "face type joint" and one that we could use in countless different applications — such as face frames. It has often been said that biscuits offer more value as alignment rather than strength. Good dowels can offer both. The key word is "good". In the past, I have had too many dowels that caused misalignment, rather than alignment.    She is studying my first testing of the jig. It was easy for me to make perfect joints from the start. Now it is Beth's turn.
	Beth starts by checking the drill bit's depth stop. This dowel has a "half-way" mark which helps setting the stop.
She installs the drill bit in the only corded drill I have in the shop. It has a speed at 2200 rpm which I prefer over cordless drill's slower speeds for drill guides such as this.
	The instructions for the Dowelmax say to put the boards together as they will be assembled. Several  specific marks are suggested .
On the ends that will line up with each other, Beth places a checkmark.
	On the faces that will be drilled for dowels, "X's" are marked.
On the end of the jig, there is a checkmark that is a good indicator of where your checkmark should be.
	It is easy to place the Dowelmax on the board with the checkmarks aligned and the unit flush with the wood at the checkmark.