Use a furniture repair kit with dowel pins and drill jig

Furniture repair kits contain pre-cut dowel pins, a drilling jig, drill bits, and wood glue specifically designed for re-doweling loose joints. These kits provide a complete, guided solution for replacing broken or worn-out dowels without requiring advanced woodworking skills.

How It Works

The kit provides a self-centering jig that clamps onto the wood and guides a drill bit to bore perfectly aligned holes in both mating pieces. You then insert glue-coated dowel pins into the fresh holes to create a tight, new joint. This bypasses the old worn-out joint entirely.

Step-by-Step

1. Disassemble the loose joint completely
2. If old dowels are present, drill them out or extract with pliers
3. Clamp the jig onto the first piece and drill the hole to the specified depth
4. Transfer the jig alignment to the mating piece (most kits include center-point markers for this)
5. Drill the matching hole in the second piece
6. Apply wood glue into both holes and onto the dowel pin
7. Insert the dowel pin and assemble the joint
8. Clamp firmly for 24 hours

Tips

• Popular kits include Wolfcraft, Milescraft, and Dowelmax
• Standard furniture dowel sizes are 1/4-inch, 5/16-inch, and 3/8-inch diameter
• Fluted dowels grip better than smooth ones because they allow glue and air to escape
• Mark your drill bit with tape at the correct depth to avoid drilling through the other side
• This approach is ideal when the original dowels have snapped inside the hole and cannot be extracted cleanly

Common Mistakes

• Not drilling deep enough: the dowel needs at least 1 inch of engagement in each piece
• Misaligning holes between the two pieces: use the jig carefully and test-fit before gluing
• Using dowels that are too loose in the drilled holes: the fit should be snug by hand