page_title: Dowel
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Dowel / Wood dowel / History
caption_attribution_description: Hand cut wooden house construction dowel. 8"
context_page_description: A dowel is a cylindrical rod, usually made from wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is called a dowel rod. Dowel rods are often cut into short lengths called dowel pins. Dowels are commonly used as structural reinforcements in cabinet making and in numerous other applications, including:
  Furniture shelf supports
  Moveable game pieces
  Hangers for items such as clothing, key rings, and tools
  Wheel axles in toys
  Detents in gymnastics grips
  Supports for tiered wedding cakes
context_section_description: The word dowel was used in Middle English; it appears in Wycliffe's Bible translation (circa 1382-1395) in a list of the parts of a wheel: "...and the spokis, and dowlis of tho wheelis..." Cognates with other Germanic languages suggest that the word is much older (deuvel in Dutch, Dübel in German).
  Wooden dowels have been used in manufacturing and woodworking for many centuries. One of the earliest documented uses of wooden dowels was in Japanese shrines in AD 690, which were constructed using only wood, wooden dowels and pegs, and interlocking joints. Around AD 1000, Leif Erikson sailed across the North Atlantic in a ship that was largely constructed of overlapping planks held together by wooden dowels and iron nails. The wooden dowels did not rust and thus were more reliable than iron for long expeditions.
caption: Hand cut 8" dowel, c1840
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "6016", "Image ImageLength": "4000", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2018:10:13 06:51:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "308", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1036", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1150", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2053", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:10:13 06:56:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:10:13 06:56:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "790241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "86797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/10", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "3/20", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF SubSecTime": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "60", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4863", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1247", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1004", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "36", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}