Wood Dowel Bending Strength/Grade

[akastud]

Does anyone know where to find design values for a 1 1/8" dia. hardwood dowel that you might find at a home depot? I am designing some ladder rungs and need some design values.

akastud

 

[TLHS]

Call the manufacturer and ask what grade of material they manufacture their dowels out of? If they don't know, then you're probably out of luck unless you want to test them yourself.

Honestly, I'd probably assume they're not particularly high grade wood, identify the species and then just use the lowest grade listed in whatever wood handbook you prefer. See if that works. I've never tried, but I assume it will work with a reasonable sized dowel. You're allowed to make ladders on site in prescribed ways without an engineer's input and I don't think there are grade requirements on the wood being used.

If it doesn't work, then figure out if it's worth the time and money that you'd need to classify or test these things, or if it's easier to find a source of graded wood where you'll have the documentation available.