Turner makes his own dowels. These are of ebony, and are used to pin the tenons of the apron to leg joints. Probably not necessary for strengh, they do provide a bit of visual interest, and are in keeping with the historic design of tables of this type. When working ebony and maple as a combination, it is necessary to use only a handplane to trim the ebony dowels, lest the black sanding dust of the ebony dowels stain the light colored maple. Planing ebony endgrain requires a very sharp plane iron.