9/2/2015

I bought this Stanley no. 77 dowel machine from Jim Bode in October 2014. It took 3 months to reach me in Deep Dark Africa. If you are interested in reading the travel journal of the package it traveled in (absolutely riveting, by the way), check out this post:

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/protracted-tool-perambulations-through-sub-saharan-africa/

Anyway, this is one of the earlier models as the later versions were blue (rather than black). I am not sure in which year the colour change transpired. My came with a ¼” cutter.

It has three oil holes (sure there must be a better term), that got fed this weekend.

I found a piece of scrap wood that already had the correct dimensions to fix the main casting to. This enables me to quickly clamp it to the assembly table. When I need dowels.

I first tried Ysterhout (Olea capensis macrocarpa), but this stuff is so hard and wild that even the old warhorse had trouble taming it. That was followed by beech, which were a lot more agreeable as you can see.