Just finished 5 oak thresholds leading from new laminate flooring to
different rooms with different floors. Yes, cut, beveled, rabetted,
chamfered, rounded, stained and drilled for screws and counterbored for
dowel plugs.
PROBLEM: I guess my 3/8 forstner bit is not 3/8ths. My 3/8" oak dowels
(plugs) fall out if I turn the boards over. What should I do? Soak the
dowels in water? Glue them in with oak sawdust (did manage to sweep some)?
All suggestions appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

Get a snug-plug cutter. You can get one that will cut a nominally 3/8"
plug, but it will be tapered such that the thickest part is slightly
larger than 3/8", and you can cut them out of a strip of oak similar to
the ones you used for the thresholds. If you do it right, you can
match the grain well enough to barely even notice the plug. Should be
about $15.

Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Just finished 5 oak thresholds leading from new laminate flooring to
different rooms with different floors. Yes, cut, beveled, rabetted,
chamfered, rounded, stained and drilled for screws and counterbored for
dowel plugs.
PROBLEM: I guess my 3/8 forstner bit is not 3/8ths. My 3/8" oak
dowels
(plugs) fall out if I turn the boards over. What should I do?

Get a plug cutter and a scrap piece of oak used to make the treads, say
3/4" stock.

Using plug cutter, cut plugs about 1/2" deep using a drill press, then
cover surface with a piece of masking tape.

Use a band saw and cut 3/4" stock forming two, 3/8" thick sections.

Use the masking tape to pull the plugs away from the scrap.

You now have a group of plugs, all with the grain aligned the same way.

Use varnish as the glue to hold the plug in place after tapping in place.

BTW, be prepared to redo the counterbores in order to match the plugs.

Lew

More than likely your dowels are not 3/8 but some metric approximation
(try 9.5 mm). Full size imperial measuring doweling is kinda like hens
teeth.

Others have suggested cutting your own snug plugs. That works, I've
used the Veritas ones and the fit is great. Match the grain, tap it in
(I use a bit of Titebond, but varnish should work), cut it off with
chisel or flush saw, and you're done.

Regards.


On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 01:55:21 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:


PROBLEM: I guess my 3/8 forstner bit is not 3/8ths. My 3/8" oak dowels
(plugs) fall out if I turn the boards over. What should I do? Soak the
dowels in water? Glue them in with oak sawdust (did manage to sweep some)?
All suggestions appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

You could get some 1/2" oak dowel and sand it down until it fits and make
new plugs out of it.

Lee

--
To e-mail, replace "bucketofspam" with "dleegordon"

_________________________________
Lee Gordon
http://www.leegordonproductions.com

Or use a 3/8" dowel cutter on the 1/2" dowel.

Lee Gordon wrote:
You could get some 1/2" oak dowel and sand it down until it fits and make
new plugs out of it.

Lee

In article et,
Lew Hodgett wrote:

Use varnish as the glue to hold the plug in place after tapping in place.

*slaps forehead*
Duh..

I come here for a reason.

Of course I am not sure, but my guess would be that your Forstner bit
is indeed 3/8" and that the dowels were store bought and not a true
3/8". I prefer to make my own plugs, using a plug cutter readily
available from many suppliers. It makes matching grain and color
easier when you cut your own plugs from the same stock as the threshold
and you won't have to worry about offshore estimations of tolerances.
If you are committed to using the existing plugs, I would create a
paste composed of the finish and the swarf from the cutting of the
threshold, and push that mixture into the voids, after the first coat
of finish is applied.