Joining Timber Sleepers with Oak Dowels | TRC Garden

[@pauloroarty1799]

Hello. I've watched all the Videos that relate to the Patio Sleepers and have to say what a Precise and Thorough job you've done.The Dowells really did the trick and I admire your determination to get it all right. Thank You.

[@Ends_Of_Invention]

Planning on building a (slightly simpler) sleeper wall and these videos were super helpful, especially regarding things I never would have thought of myself like anchoring with bolts and concrete, and driving the dowels through. Thanks!

[@slick0000]

Same mate. I'm about to do something similar to level off my garden and having to do it myself instead of being ripped off! Thankfully ppl are willing to show how to do it yourself on here.

[@shanedraper240692]

I joined mine using a half lap joint and used a 23mm broom handle and 22mm spade bit. They were softwood sleepers though

[@alexegoavil7590]

At 4:54 your dog wants to find out if the red ball is the tool you were looking for lol

[@laurabutler6253]

Alex Egoavil that's funny but I was going to say it was time to play. Lol

[@dogmandoug1715]

Still my favourite series on KZbin.

[@KDeverest1]

I learn every diy from you watching again love it

[@anguswheaton20]

Such a pro. I just grabbed a few little off cuts and mashed them into the hole I made with a splade drill bit to allow the coach screws, then bashed it with a hammer to flatten it all out. This guy is so ahead of my level. He's the Bergkamp to my Jensen.

[@juleboole]

Beautiful work and I have been looking at many other retaining wall ideas and I really like the look of your wall. I think I can manage doing this one myself.

[@richardlock89]

Thank you for these videos. I managed to successfully replicate this in my garden and the results look great. I picked up stainless screws and drill bits from Screwfix, I needed to use a 14, 20 and 25 mm bits to get through the sleepers even with a 1500W 6.3kg SDS drill. I sourced sleepers through MKM and dowels from plugit. I finished it all off with a belt sander followed by a quick oil.

[@michaelbermingham4502]

Hello, thanks for info. Were you able to get 25mm dowels? I can only find 1"

[@Andwegoagain]

25mm is 1inch

[@noahschmartz2354]

gd video mate, I find lubricating of screws helps decrease friction, i find vaseline the cleanest option but lots of things would work im sure.

[@thedoubleoutoftrouble]

Great video ,Bosch auger bits are the best to use in any oak timber . Erbhauer ok in softwood .

[@Morpheus0000]

This has all been really useful. Thanks.

[@woodworkwonders4835]

Great video - I've heard for driving dowels, linseed oil is a good option, acts as a lubricant and also swells the wood when in place to create a really tight fit. I can't imagine those sleepers will be going anywhere though!

[@alanphoenix494]

great vids very helpful tanks steve

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Hi Steve, glad you found them helpful.

[@ram1brn]

should have rubbed bar soap on the dowels it would have been easier to drive them in

[@CurvedSlightly]

And for them to come out?

[@krcarpentry2610]

Quick tip with the dowels just measure the sleepers probably 100mm x3 is 300)measure 350 mm on the dowel or 400 and sink them in see if you have 50-100 left sticking out you know you winked them

[@metamorphasishypnotherapy]

Could have marked by wrapping coloured tape around the drill to see how far you needed to drill and stop. Also vacuumed out the saw dust/filiins, so you could tap to dowels in.

[@jwheeler91]

Mini digger to grade the front driveway before hardcore

[@marcus577]

I would like to put sleepers all along the garden 150ft in a U along the fence boarder. Got a quote from a garden/maintenance £3100. Would this be the going rate. Let a professional to do it. After seeing this I'm off to the garden center tomorrow. My question is. How does the sleepers stay on the grass. Does it have a stake in the ground? Have you got this in your videos. I've got a project I must do to save money.

[@TheHackmo]

love your vids. thanks from the NZ. owe you a beer.

[@scobiemacd]

The chances of that ever happening?

[@eddiegallagher1360]

Hi would this type of dowels be ok for a raised sleeper pond will be timber locked as well

[@sherinethomas581]

Hi. what is the size of the sleepers?

[@MarcusT86]

Hi Tim, why didn't you use stainless steel dowels?

[@chrisd0407]

I will be making my first venture into oak wall supports soon with similar size sleepers, probably 3 in fact like in in the video. This video will help me achieve that so thanks. I am just wondering if the joining may be easier if you join the bottom two first (which will hide and first time mistakes) and then the top sleeper to the ones below. I have drilled into oak and know how tough it can be!

[@Yvellkan]

What drill do you use for drilling with that augur. My augurs jam all the time

[@mattseymour8637]

I find the auger drill bits are good in most stuff but think anything struggles with hard oak

[@brianyerington3798]

Any thoughts on using 1 inch Red Oak dowels on Redwood (heart) timbers for a raised bed garden? I can't find redwood dowels. In doing this, are there any problems you might anticipate?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

I would use white oak if possible but in short, no. Usually you would use hardwood pegs in a softwood timber frame so no different really.

[@tammybarrett4198]

Would you be able to do this project without the dowels? I don't have a drill that is powerful enough

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Yes, most just use landscaping screws.

[@jel5034]

Maybe stupid Q of the day. I have softwood tanalised sleepers that make up the upper frame of my impending gazebo. Can i still use oak dowels and would you advocate using wood glue? I'm going to make a feature of the dowels by leaving them 10mm proud. Great video btw.

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Always best to use harder would for the pegs so that would work fine. Remember, sleepers tend to be ‘wet’ so not ideal for glue and will shrink. Best to treat it like a green timber frame of you are building a structure.

[@stevewilliams3955]

Doing a similar task although not a retaining wall. Having trouble finding auger bits to match the dowel diameters available. Any ideas?

[@neilrollason]

Thanks for vid,can you give me size and type of stainless steel screws and fixings. Cheers

[@acewhitey9862]

Hi, quick question, the top layer of sleepers - were these only connected on top with dowels or was there some connectors from underneath? Love your videos by the way, really motivate me to build best garden for my family plus they are really relaxing 😌

[@michaelbermingham4502]

Thanks for video, great. In UK I can only find 25mm auger bits and 25.4mm oak dowels so am worried it will be too tight. Was your auger bit exactly 1 inch?

[@kiddyzheng]

How to remove the dowel later?

[@terryive]

With a drill, perhaps?

[@georgeh738]

That's a very neat way to lock them together - looks great. Would such a technique work on a sleeper bench (similar to one of your videos, I just don't fancy doing a mortice tenon joint), and if so, for a pine sleeper should I use oak dowels?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

It may work but best to mortise. Hardwood dowel in softwood is good practice yes. 👍 similar to a timber frame.

[@jlight1965]

WD40 to help the dowels is a huge help

[@thefilthelement]

04:53 enough work, play!

[@mohsinu89]

Hi, could you confirm what side dowel and auger bit you used?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

This was 25mm, I imagine 18mm would be sufficient though.

[@TheDranny]

Did it smell good whilst drilling? I'm re-positioning some old skirting just now and the smell is awesome when I'm jigsawing the floor scribes.

[@trevorpoile3001]

Were did you get the 25 mm dowels from as want some that size and can only find 19 mm many thanks trevor

[@TheRestorationCouple]

eBay possibly. Can’t remember exactly.

[@mikebohan1]

Admire your patience

[@markcooper7480]

Really like your videos and you inspired me for my project, so firstly a big thank you! Quick question if you don't mind; is there any benefit in drilling a 25mm hole and using a slightly smaller (say 24mm) peg, then letting the Shrinkage of the oak to make a really tight join?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

If it is a dry peg/dowel that will work as you suggest yes. 👍

[@markcooper7480]

@@TheRestorationCouple Thanks so much for taking the time to get back to me. 40 oak sleepers have been delivered today! Thanks again for all the information that you have shared.

[@darshunchauhan1264]

Great video, I've found it really useful. I chose not to use any metal fixings with my oak sleepers. But then found using 25mm holes impossible to drill, even with an SDS drill. The solution was to drill a pilot hole first that was a bit smaller than the centre of the auger bit. This lessoned the torque required of the drill and it drilled far easier. I also had issues with hammering in the dowels. I ended up using the table saw to cut shallow grooves up 80% of them, reducing the friction and rounding the ends much more. They are looking great now. Do you have any recommendations on finishing. Ideally I'd like them to stay the fresh golden colour they are. Do you think oil that has some UV protection would work?

[@joachimschreiber7835]

how did u get the surface so smooth? the sleepers i bought are tarish /full of creosote and have a rough surface. only with the hand plane? or with a thicknesser?

[@terryive]

These are new whilst yours are used I expect. If used are full of tar urine oil creosote and chemicals- Yummy.

[@joachimschreiber7835]

@@terryive for Outdoor use that doesnt matter. The reason old sleepers are so durable ist BECAUSE of creosote and for so Long because IT STAYS IN THE WOOD. I never intended either licking them nor making furniture from them...

[@terryive]

@@joachimschreiber7835 You asked how he got them so smooth so, in trying to help, I answered that question for you. As I said its '𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰' I merely mentioned their contents in passing so a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. Anyway. Happy woodworking :D

[@richardwong2573]

I have the same size oak sleeper and I don’t know where I can get the stainless Steel Screws and how long are the screws I looking for. And the sleepers are oak do I go for oak dowel or hardwood dowel

[@robinturner2300]

Try tapered dowels just under size and drive a wedge down into a slot in the top sleeper section.

[@garethbayiey624]

be a little bit careful using an auger bit. they can snag unfortunately the drill doesn't stop and could possibly damage your wrist. how do i know i saw a gentleman tear the tendons in his wrist.

[@frederikgrunta3058]

Everywhere I look is selling 25mm dowels as 25.7mm (1 inch, as you said in your video)... but you then buy a 25mm drill bit... does this still work when its 0.7mm out?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Yes that’s prob what these were. Better fit if slightly over.

[@sillywabbit]

Is this not a over kill for 3 sleepers high :S?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Probably... you could just uses landscaping screws as mentioned however I wanted the look of dowels and thought I may as well use them to join.

[@thespanielinquisition7167]

Those Bosch blue drills are gutless, they are nicely balanced and ergonomic but I've always found them to be lacking 30% of the power of similar sized 18v drills

[@ealingbadger]

By sheer lucky coincidence I am in the planning stages of just such an oak sleeper project myself. Where did you get your sleepers and oak dowels from please?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

The oak sleepers are from Bradfords however depending on where you are you may need to look more local to you. The oak dowels were off eBay. They were seconds and various lengths but we're perfect for the job. Hope that helps.

[@ealingbadger]

+The Restoration Couple Thanks for that. Are your sleepers treated or untreated please? I've found a source of 2,400 x 200 x 100 oak sleepers for £19.50 (+ delivery) each but they are tanalised and I am currently trying to decide whether to go for them or not.

[@TheRestorationCouple]

+Tony Colliver I would be surprised if they are tanalised oak as new oak sleepers are not usually treated. If tanalised they are more likely to be softwood. Softwood sleepers are slightly easier to work with and you can just use landscaping screws rather than the dowels.

[@ealingbadger]

+The Restoration Couple I was surprised to, but the suppliers eBay ad is very clear on the point. I am with you on the question of what is usual. I plan to visit the supplier's yard and check for myself before placing the final order.

[@TheRestorationCouple]

+Tony Colliver I found the ad and it does say that however they look very much like green oak sleepers to me, perhaps just an incorrect copy and paste from their other ads. In order to tanalise oak you would need to kiln dry and then pressure treat it, this would be sure to cost a lot lot more than green oak. (I may be wrong). In my opinion the reason to use oak is for it's natural resistance and durability.

[@thebeardedfishermanUK]

cracking video i am a new sub mate. Could i please ask ive just recently done a retaining wall out of old reclaimed railway sleepers for a friend, they are laid flat 4 levels high would you say i should dowel them even tho on each level of sleeper they have 6 8" timber screws. Great video again and love the channel buddy. all the best Kurt

[@grabmint]

I enjoyed your video, but I'm curious why do they call them sleepers ?

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Just what they are known as, at least here in the UK. They are similar to rail sleepers or rail ties as I think they are called elsewhere. Hope that helps.

[@ryanh3285]

Good job someone will be cursing you in many year's when they try and remove these lol.

[@26raa01]

why have you not put the oak dowels wood grain in the same direction of the grain that's in the oak sweepers

[@TheRestorationCouple]

voodoo audio ? It's end grain so can't be the same.

[@26raa01]

ok then i would have made some plugs out of the spare oak you have from the off cuts if you are going to all that trouble to do this this is what I would have done for a 100% finish use the oak dowels but make them 1" short then use the oak off cuts and make some plugs with the grain going the same Direction

[@thespanielinquisition7167]

You're thinking of pellets to hide screws, these are dowels - and its hardly a cabinet job is it, bit of rustic charm is called for

[@ZanderKaneUK]

How will the oak fair with the British climate? Is oak like say Cedar with natural oils/tannins to prevent rotting?

[@TheTreeOctopus]

yes

[@azycray4801]

What about termites? Laying a nice tasty piece of oak on bare ground where I live is an invitation to termites.

[@robinturner2300]

Azycray termites are not a problem in the uk. Oak will last for centuries even exposed. In water it can last for millennia

[@fi5ht4nk]

George groves double of him

[@marksparkes1]

Silicone spray would have helped

[@thespanielinquisition7167]

Its poisonous to wildlife and will sink into the wood and resist any kind of finish you might add later leaving it blotchy - can ruin a project. Whats wrong with a good old fashioned finishing wax

[@chrismorris7341]

B

[@alanh3081]

How much are sleepers? ££

[@TheRestorationCouple]

Depends on softwood or oak. Think we paid £20-25 depending on quantity in each batch. 200x100x2400

[@tom-fp2fv]

That’s good prices. Soon as I seen the dowels I thought I hope he whips the ends to a slight point on the belt sander. Good recovery though chap.

[@sosolidsod88]

@@TheRestorationCouple could you tell us were you bought them from please. What site? Having trouble finding quality reasonably priced oak sleepers

[@keepitreal897]

Who stole your hair?