I'd just drill the hole needed for the dowel size. The drilling will leave a burr which will cut the dowel stock. The burr goes UP. If it dulls, drill another hole.
1/4" stock might bend as the dowel stock is driven through. Might wanna think about some thicker stock.
Don't forget about putting a bucket of sorts under the doweler. If ya don't, you'll have dowels all over the floor.
Bill

 

It looks to me that you have to drive your wood through the plate to get a dowel. You could only make short dowels that way.

I saw a vid on youtube of one that a guy made from a plane iron. It looked like a large pencil sharpener. I tried it, but my entry hole was not exact, and my piece broke either before being cut, or broke after the cut. I ended up turning a bunch on my lathe. I'm using small branches for the dowels. I'm using them in my bowl turning, and want the pith to be seen in the dowels.

Put in your search engine, dowel plate, and look for dowel plate images. Keep looking until you find the cutters that look like cones with wings with screw holes to mount to a board. That's high tech. ............ Jerry (in Tucson)

 

I've done this several times and yes there are several good YTube vids one the proccess. I use an old 10" saw blade and drill the appropriate hole 1/4, 5/16, 3/8. Saw blades are hard so you need a good bit(s). Rip your stock to the appropriate size and round the corners as much as you can with a small hand plane. The less you have to force through he hole the better your dowel will turn out. Taper one end slightly. Chuck the other end in a drill and have at 'er.

 

I've done this several times and yes there are several good YTube vids one the proccess. I use an old 10" saw blade and drill the appropriate hole 1/4, 5/16, 3/8. Saw blades are hard so you need a good bit(s). Rip your stock to the appropriate size and round the corners as much as you can with a small hand plane. The less you have to force through he hole the better your dowel will turn out. Taper one end slightly. Chuck the other end in a drill and have at 'er.

I hate it when I double post.

 

If you really want to make a strong dowel,the wood needs to be rived,And pushed thru the plate.That way the grain Doent run out in the middle of your dowel.Very important when drawboring.If they are just accent pieces then it doent matter.
If you do not rive the wood and try to hammer it thru a piece of metal they breack a lot.Marks suggestion is a good one for making accent dowels.

 

" Riving is the splitting of wood in the direction of its long fibers."

From, http://www.greenwoodworking.com/RivingArticle ^

Awesome, learned a new term today, thanks Aj2!

 

Here's a video from John Heinz on making a dowel maker.

It's an interesting method that creates the cutting spurs by drilling extra overlapping holes. If you rived the stock first you'd have strong dowels with this or Mark's method.
A scraper with the appropriate size hole cut halfway into the edge like a scratch stock would probably work to scrape the stock down to near round depending on how careful you are.

 

http://lumberjocks.com/search_results?cx=017914489645407774653%3Agwwk-zif3wk&cof=FORID%3A9&safe=high&q=shop+made+dowel+plate&sa.x=0&sa.y=0

HTH

 

Most of the dowels I make are for drawboring.So I have a lie neilson plate.The pegs that come out are not perfectly straight kinda wormy looking.But they fit nicely and having the curve is sometimes an advantage when drawboring.
Ya know then saying fair and square I heard it a shipwrights term.When hitting in pegs or making them.one should try to hit fair and square.Always with a wooden mallet or brass hammer,Taking care not to damage the dowel plate.

 

Another alternative …

 

I've made several plates to make dowels and have used the drill and the mallet methods. These work OK for short dowels. I now make all my dowels on the router table and am well pleased with the speed, accuracy, and finish.

 

I have a flea market dowel plate that works well - it is literally just a block of steel with holes in it (I always rive the stock and then round them a bit with a knife before driving them through). Roy Underhill suggests drilling a slightly larger hole partway through from the underside (not all the way through) or you could taper the hole so that only the very top is the exact size, although I've not tried a dowel plate made that way.
Like several have indicated, the method provides strong, accurately sized dowels, but you can't make long ones and they're a it wavy because they follow the grain.

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm planning on riving the pieces and using the material I have to get this done. I always like to challenge myself with new stuff like this.

 

This is my version and it goes up to 1/2". I did not have a good 5/8 drill but left space.

 

Tom did you just drill those holes straight through or is there a taper on one side or the other?

 

I drilled straight through and on the underside of the smaller sizes I did a little counter sink. Did not bother with the 1/2 and 3/8 holes though.

 

I made one to make dowels for drawboring the doors on my tool cabinet. I made it from 5/16" brass stock and I also did a countersink on the bottom side. I completely agree with a couple of comments above that mentioned riving the wood for the dowels; those will yield the strongest possible dowels and will ensure they do not break or crack when drawboring.

 

Thicker plate better than saw blade I would think.

A local welding shop would probably give you a little piece of 1/4" thick steel.