They are tiny, wooden, rod shaped, and you probably hardly ever see or think about them. Despite that, they have had an unmistakable impact on your life and many of the things in it, from the house you live in to the desk you sit at. They are wood dowels, and while they might be small and easily ignored they are hardly insignificant.

Every day, the wood dowel is used for a diverse range of applications ranging from wall plugs and shelf supports to axles in toy trucks and joints in just about any kind of wood product imaginable.

However, it goes a bit deeper than that. Without wood dowels, our worlds would actually be much different. Why? Because iron and steel haven’t always been used in construction. Nails haven’t always existed. Naturally, another solution was required, and that solution continues to be used prominently today. Without the wood dowel, many products and tools would have been drastically different, if possible at all.

Whether we choose the historical context of artisans making furniture, shipwrights making boats, or woodwork in the present day, wooden dowels were and continue to be the fastening pieces used to keep it all together. In fact, in many applications throughout history where the "product" must stand up against moisture and weather, the wooden joints created with dowels are often preferable to metal screws and nails because they eliminate rust as an issue. When the metal nails rust in a wood product, not only does it look ugly, but the rust can rot the wood. This drastically undermines the quality and dependability of the entire product – whether it’s a chair to be left outside or a large boat.

For an example of wooden dowels in a modern-day context, we consider one of the latest sporting trends: stand up paddle boards. Stand up paddle boarding (SUP) is all the rage across the country because of how easy and accessible the sport is. While many of the SUP boards are manufactured with inexpensive foam blanks, which are then fitted with fins and "glassed" with expoxy, some higher quality paddleboards use wood as a more sturdy, beautiful, and durable medium. For both wooden surfboards and paddleboards, a wood skeleton is created which is then used to anchor the various parts of the board, ranging from the deck (on top), the bottom, the rails (the sides), and the tail. To keep all of these pieces in place, many designs call for the use of wooden dowels, which – as explained before – eliminate the need to worry about rust while also weighing less, and contributing to a seamless wooden aesthetic.

In addition to the basic benefits of wood dowels, specialized builders and woodworkers pride themselves on sticking with all-wood construction to this day, producing everything from wooden furniture and cabinetry to log cabins and cottages using nothing but wood. Contrary to the beliefs of many, while this method of doing things is indeed an homage to proud woodworking traditions throughout history, it is also a simple method of joining materials that is as effective and sometimes more effective than using nails and screws.