Remember when you were young, with hair and no stomach paunch, and your hammer and workbench were made by Fisher-Price? A time when there was no greater pleasure than picking up a hammer and just whaling away for hours, just beating the crap out of something? It was the purest of pleasures, and drove your parents crazy. Man, it was fun. Without a time machine, making pins for your Arts and Crafts inspired furniture is the closest you'll get to re-living that experience.

 Lots and lots of little dowels "pegs" are used when making Arts and Crafts furniture. I enjoy making my own pins, because, as I said earlier, I enjoy picking up a hammer and pounding the crap out of something– albeit a gentle, controlled pounding. In this post I'll show you how to prepare for pounding, perform the actual pounding and post-pounding steps. I'll also cover some design variables you should be aware of. So get out your hammer and lets go warm up for this task with some traditional woodworking– milling the stock for the pegs. Begin by cutting Square rough stock on the tablesaw. The dimensions should be just a lit bit over the diameter of the final pin size. I use a solid wood push block, and raise the blade only slightly above the stock to minimize any safety risks

To safely mill your stock, you may have to remove the blade guard. To make this a safe operation, I always use my rifing knife, and a solid wood push block.

Next, I cut the stock to rough length. Rough stock length is determined by adding the final pin length + waste necessary for "sharpening" the stock

Step three involves "sharpening" the stock. Just like a pencil. In fact I use a pencil sharpener. Sharpening makes it easier to start the stock through the Dowel Plate and eventually into your project.

Don't sharpen to a point (top); just enough to soften the edges

Next I shape the pin–this is the fun, beating the crap out of something part! I use a Dowel Plate for this step. Simple insert the sharpened end and grab your hammer.

Now cut the pin to final length. Than, repeat as necessary. Another thing to consider is making a holder for your dowel plate. If you want to experience the joy of your pins flying across the shop and having to search for them, this is not necessary. Personally, I enjoy seeing how far I can launch a pin across the shop. But if this is not your thing, make a holder. It will hold the finished pins and allow you to find them quickly.

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