dumb question...

[mikeym]

hey guys... dumb question... i'm thinking bout making a pair of hot rods... do you guys think buying dowels from a hardware store and wraping them at 3 places with electrical tape would work? or do you think the wood would be to soft? any ideas... ~mikeym

[weps]

How do you think they came up with the idea?

IF you can get hardwood dowels, great. Hickory, maple, oak, ect.
Pine is far too soft. Lightly round the cut edges.

Electrical tape tends to stretch after a while and the inner rods will move. Large shrink tubing (or a similar material) works FAR better.

I made a couple pairs before. Now I just watch for decent prices, $10-12 is a good price for commercially made rods that have the proper wrap on them.

weps

[jonnyfun]

Was gonna do it meself but ended up more expensive than buying them,
U need dowel rods, and the best think to wrap them is duct tape and then covered over the tape with Heat-shrink tubing, shud be available from electric stores.

You're better off just buying them though, Unless you work for a wood company or something.

Jon

[DED]

if you decide to make your own, here's a helpful hint.

No matter what you use to bind the rods together (tape, heat shrink, etc.) chances are you won't be able to get the rods tight enough to prevent the ones in the center from slipping out eventually. (I have this problem even with the commercially available models).

So, before you apply the wrap, apply a little wood glue to the rods and the center ones will stay in place.

[weps]

Donn,

I was going to mention about glue but was in a rush.

The glue should ONLY be applied in the area that's going to be the handle. You want the rods to move freely otherwise.

weps

[SKiezws]

Back in December I made a pair of rods. I went to a store and bought some dowels (enough that I could have 14 pieces 16" long each) I came hime and cut them downto size.
Once they were cut, I put wood glue on the handle of the dowels(making sure to get some glue on each dowel) and tied them together with twine. I let these dry for a few hours, and then I took electrical tape and wrapped the handles. Then I made a little moveable thing on the "shaft" part by taking the non sticky part of the tape and wrapping it around 2 times, then switching it and putting the sticky part on the existing tape.
After that, I took a mitre saw and sut about 1/4 of the end of the rods, so the ends would be even
I use these a lot and they hold up very very well.

It cost me less than $5, including a bottle of wood glue, which i used very little of. Good luck.

-SK