How to make a Square Peg Drawbore | Paul Sellers
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Square drawbore pegs are a feature commonly used in craftsman style furniture. Paul goes through how to drill and then square the exterior of the hole and shape the peg to fit.
See the related video on Drawbore Mortice and Tenons here:
• How to make a Drawbore...
This video was originally created for and posted to woodworkingmasterclasses.com
I've been watching so many hours of Paul Sellers videos that when I planted a tree today I started the hole in the ground with a knifewall using my spade....
Nick StokesLol!! I suppose it was perpendicular to the adjacent fence.....
+Nick Stokes (Coach Nick Stokes) LMFAO
+Nick Stokes (Coach Nick Stokes)
LOL !!!
Hahaha...floored me
class .. i salute you sir. 😂
I can watch Paul Sellers videos all day.
So that's how you put a square peg in a round hole.
Great video as usual!
Found the Dad.
Thats what i want,watching master craftsman at work,theres no reason if you don't learn,nice sir seller,,,
I love to learn buy watching you. You are truly a blessing and a joy to watch. Thank you for your time to teach.
Nice !! Another clear and concise demonstration Thanks Paul
How can anyone dislike this or any of his other videos? The man is a true skilled artist in an art that's fading away by the way of machinery.
I wish I was able to do this level of quality work by hand but I am a mere mortal man and rely on power tools.
Love the videos Paul.
Great to see these old techniques Being passed along super work Paul love your channel.
His joinery is always perfect. Ugh. Something to aspire to.
only a master can put a square peg in a round hole. Well Done!!!!!
I have just started wood working and have been more project driven, interested more in getting things done rather than the process and manner of construction. Your videos have peeked my interest in the latter. I am definitely going to start investing in some manual tools and learning how to make truly fine crafted pieces.
I finally got around to working a bit of wood since learning so much from Mr. Sellers. Was brilliant. not perfect, but brilliantly close, and closing in. Love this square peg idea, will be applying that soon as well.
I love Watching Paul Sellers Video's Mr Paul Your A Awesome Teacher
I've done plenty of this with handmade dowels but really enjoyed watching the 'square peg' method. Done so nicely too.
Thank you for such a good guide on the square peg.
Awesome tutorial sir!! Brings a whole new meaning to square peg on round hole 👍
square peg in a round hole ... Paul, you're a genius!
Very interesting technique! Thanks for sharing!
A master class in woodworking, thanks.
maestro!!! gracias. es un placer verlo trabajar, se aprende a cada paso. gracias
Love the old shop.
Really nice end result! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so nice ! I needed this tips !
Beautifully done as always.
Such a Master !
Paul Sellers…., que aula, que aula, MAGNÍFICO eu adoro esses tipos de cravos, lembro quando criança, ia até a empresa que meu pai trabalhava e a estrutura de madeirasse telhado, as tesouras, eram todas ficadas com cravos de madeira, isso já faz muitos anos, e meu saudoso Pai, já não habita mas esse mundo…muitas saudades ❤️
Abraço aqui do Brasil 🇧🇷
Very good!
Thanks for sharing yours knowledge!
Really impressive work.
That is superb, thank you!
Very nice! Thank you!💜
Sempre um verdadeiro show, muito competente o Amigo, uma aula e tanto ❗️
Abraço aqui do Brasil 🇧🇷
Simply fabulous.
Arts and Crafts furniture is fasinating, thanks for posting.
Thank you.
Thank you Mr.Sellers
Bravo maestro!!
Who the heck down-voted this? Very well done video!
Paul can you talk a little about earning a living making carpentry? I am trying to start my own carpentry business but know very little about practicalities, like what qualities you need the products to be in and what sells, how to sell a piece that is guarantied to need no more touching from the carpenter for all its future etc
Square peg in a round hole... Cool!
Thank you Sir for the knowledge!
That's a handsome joint
Thanks Paul !
"Check the joints"
Glances at them for a half second.
"Joints are perfect."
When you been doing it for 50 years.
I am inspired, very nice.
Thank you for sharing!
I can't get enough.
I like this; really cool variant(though certainly old school!) Thank you Paul...rr in Normandy
It always looks so easy to do, but as soon as you try it yourself... :)
love your videos.
I'm adding you to my Bob Ross playlist
I'm impressed
As usual Brilliant...I have to ask ! Do you have heat in your shop ? You seem to be dressed in extra layers today. Lol
Thank You
Good to know that a square peg does in fact go into a round hole, my mother was wrong I knew it. Joke aside was a interesting video, thanks for sharing.
muy bueno maestro
For anyone who has ever wondered how to fit a square peg through a round hole, here's your answer! 11:35 :-P
Paul, is there any chance you will make a video on how to build a table? Or a desk? That would be fantastic.
This bloke really knows how to use his tools and total respect to him bu....ut I can't help thinking he has really made a big performance out of something simple. English joiners use round dowels for their M&Ts, but in a lot of Europe the joiners always use square pegs. It isn't a fancy technique, it's done on any old bit of M&T or panel and frame work. The technique is to saw (or cleeve) square pegs the same width as the round hole or a touch thicker, give them a slight taper and round the forward end then just drive them in with a hammer so they sit diagonally to the grain. a little practice will give you a good tight fit. Then saw off the extra length and finish with a chisel to a raised diamond. It's quick and simple, unlike what you see above.
This makes a lot of sense. Particularly with square oak stock so readily available. Seems to me that anything inserted in two offset holes will achieve the objective of pulling the joint closed, but a square surface presentation looks so much cooler than round. I appreciate Paul's skills etc but his seems like a lot of extra work.
Paul is demonstrating a nice furniture finish, if the dowel grain is deliberately set diagonally to the plank to stop it splitting then the dowel will not look good when the plank is planed, in my opinion the grain of the dowel should match the grain of the plank, but the square peg head is a decorative feature, that is self evident. If one uses a square dowel, I think you would struggle with a hardwood dowel in to a hardwood plank
A good tip is to taper the hole on the tenon to help the peg find its way
hi, i'm a furniture maker and i never round my peg.
all my traditionnal pegs are square all along and my holes are round and no probleme of splitting in my wood, just been carefull don't hammered the peg in diagonal but the side parallel and perpendicular to the grain, never in diagonal because it could split
Jolly good lad.
Perfect!!!
This is really cool, out of interest, what advantages does this give over just using a dowel? is it purely aesthetic?
I think it's just aesthetic. Square pegs are a common feature of Craftsman and Greene & Greene style furniture and are often done in a contrasting colored species (like ebony) so they become a design element.
How is the bevel of the peg oriented with respect to the offset hole? Does it face away from the shoulder on the tenon?
Great stuff, and quite hypnotic, but why so many tools in the background...is it to make those of us that possess just a dozen or so feel somehow inadequate? The (mainly American) videos with an arsenal of huge power tools simply to make a .... shelf?, ...now Paul is doing the same thing....help! Brilliant work as ever, and deliciously time consuming.
Paul: Check my joints...
Me (to myself): the joints are perfe--
Paul: The joints are perfect.
Me (outloud): OH SH*T! lol
I have that jumper too =)
I thought pegged joints are used so you can later take the piece apart. Can you melt the white glue with steam?
Is there other motivation to do this but the looks, when comparing to regular draw bore pin?
No.
Why would you want to leave the other side round? If I knew I was going to do that I wouldn't have bored all the way through. I think it makes more sense (while you're there with the chisel) to just make square holes on both sides and make your square peg taper by 1/16 inch right?
HVALA
At the very end, It was hard to tell from the video if the square head of the peg was flush or if it stuck out like a dimple. Also, I'm guessing the purpose of the square head is not at all functional but just for Aesthetics.
Paul, what is the name of the tool that you hammered the peg through to round over the peg shaft? Is it a glazing knife?
traderjoes I believe he made it from an old tool (knife?)
traderjoes Yes, we call it a hacking knife. Toward the back edge is softer and not hardened. But, I've used hinges and washers too. They all work for this. Any mild steel works for this method.
a.k.a. "Dowel plate", e.g.: www.axminster.co.uk/lie-nielsen-dowel-plates-ax20396 £50.76 to you sir. Or do as it appears Paul did and just drill a hole in piece of mild steel, cost...£0? :D Simpler yet: I saw a guy use a large *washer* as a dowel plate in one youtube video last week - as Paul mentions above - no need to drill and you can use the washer as a washer afterwards! Excellent :) ... continue below...
Nice dowel-plate mounted on youtube: ua-cam.com/video/pePDGQ20g08/v-deo.html
BTW Greenwoodworkers sometimes mount dowel plates permanently in the top or seat of their shave-horse/bowl-horse, stool or bench (example use: tines for a wooden rake). Optionally with a bucket underneath to catch the tines/dowels :D
It's really just a pre-drilled hole. you can drill hole sizes to match your dowels. 3/8 (9mm), 1/2" (12mm), 5/8" (15mm) and so on. Just use a steel bar and then drill the holes.
Can you make a video with combinations squares. Thank you.
Was it just a shadow on the video or was that a wide open shoulder line in your finished joint?
+rory lobban Probably closed it with a couple of hammer blows after the video.
The camera is very cruel.
would it be easier to make your own dowels or doing the square pegging?
Hi Rok. It is a matter of personal preference.
Is this mostly decorative?
am i terrible at joinery or is the drawboring in the tenon supposed to be going away from the shoulder line to actually pull it in deeper?
No. The hole goes towards the edge you want to get drawn, or tight. Think of the opposite edge that the peg "pulls". The tenon hole is closer to the shoulder than the cheek holes so the peg needs to align all three holes so it pulls the further one, the tenon in line, so drawing it closed...
I don't recall ever seeing Paul Sellers wearing suspenders, only belts. So I'm puzzled why he would glue up a pegged tenon, particularly a drawbored joint. Can anybody give me the rationale?
Mr. Sellers, from Argentina I am using the google translator, so please excuse my sistaxis. I am looking for models and information to make a bench for piano, of rectangular ones. By chance he has done some work that serves as a reference that has been uploaded to youtube.
My regards from the South
Please can someone tell me if there’s an advantage in using square pegs over using round? Or is it just aesthetics?
Wach some of Peter Follansbees videos. They split the pegs and shaved them to size if needed and drove them into round holes. You can see this if you look at old furniture.
The square pegs are faster to make and bites ino the sides of the hole and wont fall out even without glue. My parents have some simple chairs made this way from pine and they have both square drawbore pegs in the tenons and square pegs holding on the seat boards
the old square peg into a round hole trick huh?
Outside of aesthetic considerations, is there any structural reason to peg a mortise and tenon joint?ThanksFrank
+Frank B no.
Yes, since the joint is drawbored, the peg will pull the joint tighter than if you used glue alone to keep it in place. The peg also provides some mechanical resistance to the joint pulling apart.
The mortise and tenon is a very stable joint with a huge glue surface. If properly constructed a 1/4 inch dowel just cant add much. If you clamp it snugly you wont draw it tighter with the pin.
+Frank B But what if you don't use glue? I personally prefer to avoid glue, it feels like cheating. A mortise and tenon joint will be strong enough if pegged correctly without the use of glue.
I hate using glue for the same reason. I've seen videos where so much glue its used that one would think they own a glue factory.
At the end you mention squaring the other side by leaving it short? So, then you just add in your own square "peg-head" at the other side fixing with glue. Or did I misunderstand?
Rico S I am pretty sure that's what he means, I can't think of any other method that would work.
Rico S He meant you do the same thing from both sides. Two square heads knocked in from either side.
Really? Surely that would reduce the draw effect of the drawbore?
Rico S I meant make the peg shy of the other side, the first peg, instead of going all the way to the other face, and make the square end only and saw it off at say 1/4". Cut the square recess the same way and glue the false head in place.
Aye, that's what I thought you meant, but wasn't 100% sure - thanks for taking the time to clarify. I think I'll try my first drawbore this weekend to see if I can master it. Up until watching your videos, I assumed the dowels on furniture were just for extra support rather than to pull the pieces together. It's great to learn these things, and your videos are much appreciated.
it did not draw the piece down tight, as it was supposed to!! see @14:39
Why is it better if the end of the pin is square? I would just make with the all-round sticks, that i can buy in the most of the screw shop.Yes, I am lazy :D
Fine woodart as always, Mr. Sellers, but at the end there is a little gap. Not your usual precision ;-) I think it is too warm for working, or?
How often do you sharpen a chisel?
As often as it needs it....
I'm surprised to see that only the head of a "square peg" is square. The rest of the peg is round (cylindrical).
Why square peg?