The wooden dowel has been the backbone for man’s wooden creations for thousands of years. The wooden dowel has assisted us in travel, architecture and manufacturing. The word dowel itself originates from the Middle English equivalent "doule", which literally means "part of a wheel". By definition a wooden dowel is a solid cylindrical rod. When in original manufactured form, a dowel is called a dowel rod.

Commonly in woodworking applications, wooden dowels are cut to form dowel pins. These pins are of high importance because they are used to reinforce joints and supply additional support for areas of high stress. Some woodworkers create their own dowel pins, while others prefer to buy their pins precut to certain required length. Dowels are used for a number of diverse situations. Some dowels are used for axels in toys, knitting needles, structural support for wooden boats and even support for large wedding cakes. Next we take a brief journey through history and see how wooden dowels have been instrumental in building the world we have around us today.

We start in 690 AD were wooden dowel pegs in association with interlocking joints where used in shrines in Japan instead of nails as we would see in structures today. These shrines were built every twenty years according to certain ancient beliefs. In the year 1000 Leif Ericson sailed across the North Atlantic in a Viking ship that consisted of sturdily constructed overlapping planks. These planks were held together with iron nails along with wooden dowels.

Fast forwarding to 1394 Henry Yevele is credited to have rebuilt Westminster Hall. In this rebuild a 660 ton hammer beam roof was constructed. What made this structure so unique was that it was not supported from below. The structure was solely held by the industrious use of wooden dowels. In 1641 a Dutch fleet sank in the Sargasso Sea because the ships that they were sailing consisted of wooden nails and spikes. These spikes and nails disintegrated over time causing the ship to sink. This accident influenced the Dutch to build a ship that fully incorporated the use of hardwood dowels.

As you can see this seemingly invisible tool has played an important role in helping construct the world we know. Today wooden dowels can be found in many items including desks, fences, balusters and many more items. Even after thousands of year’s wooden dowels are still the backbone of many boats manufactured today.