This is a great but expensive way to make DIY hardwood dowels. I quickly made 10 feet with a ΒΌ inch cherry dowel. It takes a little touch to generate the necessary pressure without breaking the entry side of the dowel, but once you've done that it should be easy. I've found that running the dowel through large holes and reducing the size by no more than 2 sizes per pass resulted in very smooth, even dowels.