What is a dowel?

Adowel is a solid cylindrical rod, usually made of wood, plastic or metal. In its original manufactured form, dowel is called dowel rod.

Dowel rod is employed in numerous, diverse applications. It is used to form axles in toys, as detents on gymnastics grips, as knitting needles and as structural reinforcement in cabinet making. Dowel rod is often cut into short lengths called dowel pins, which are used in various ways:

• As shelf supports in furniture.
• As moveable pieces (i.e., pegs) in games.
• As supports for hanging items such as keyrings and tools.
• To secure two objects together with precise alignment in a dowel joint: a hole is bored in both objects and the dowel pin is inserted into the aligned holes.