By Rupert Goodall
Article in Australian Woodworker, May/June 2003 edition.

I remember with glee when as a young boy I had a new wooden pencil to sharpen with a brand new pencil sharpener and how those gossamer thin shavings used to purr off the cutter.

We were setting up our new dowel cutter recently, at Teak and Fancy Timbers, with a maximum to minimum diameter capability of 12 – 60mm or ½” to 2½”. Some serious horse power feeds the square diced section of timber into the cutter and out pops dowel, then a sister sander finishes the job. We have tried a bout a dozen species so far and have found slicing up, rather like a vegetable, produces some great shapes including ½ and ¼ rounds. We would recommend some form of safety fence on saws if rounds are being pushed through a saw. We always use push sticks for finger safety! They are fun to make, use up off-cuts and save fingers.