From 100 dowels - 16 dowels fit into 3/8" hole. I had to grind the remaining 48 holes for dowels. If it doesn't work, then crap! And yes, the drill was the right size, I measured with my digital micrometer. I've also placed dowels that didn't fit in the oven to try and reduce the moisture content of the dowels in hopes of shrinking the dowels, but that didn't work either.