Wooden Dowel Rod - Mandrel Alternative

I’m a little dissapointed with this dowel, I had assumed it was tapered, maybe it’s supposed to be, but mine wasn’t. I bought blanks in sizes 8.5 and 10, so I got the large size and the 8.5 just slides right off, it doesn’t get snug anywhere along the length of the dowel. I made it work with a lot of tape for the size 10’s, but I wouldn’t have purchased this if I knew that I wasn’t going to get a tapered dowel.

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I choose to purchase the wooden dowel rod, because this was my first ring and I needed a low-cost steppingstone to this craft. I'm happy with how it worked in my makeshift setting. I actually used the box it shipped in to hold the dowel while I worked on my ring inlay.