A dowel is a solid cylindrical rod, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is called a dowel rod.^{[citation needed]} Dowel rods are often cut into short lengths called dowel pins. Dowels are employed in numerous, diverse applications including as axles in toys, detents (e.g., in gymnastics grips), structural reinforcements in cabinet making, and supports for tiered wedding cakes. Other uses include:

For modest manufacturing volumes, wood dowels are typically manufactured on industrial dowel machines. Such machines employ interchangeable cutting heads of varying diameters, thus enabling the machines to be quickly retooled to manufacture different diameters of dowel (e.g., ¹⁄₄ in or 6.35 mm, ¹⁄₂ in or 12.7 mm, 2 in or 50.8 mm, etc.). Each head consists of a hollow chuck with cutting knives protruding inward, through which the wood passes as the knives cut it into cylindrical shape. The mechanism is open-ended, with material guides at the machine's entry and exit to enable fabrication of continuous dowel rod of unlimited length. Some dowel machines have powered feed devices that automatically feed material into the machine, while others require hand feeding.