Little Shop thing - Base for the LN Dowel Plate

I bought the little Lie-Nielsen dowel plate in English units a couple months back, with the goal in mind to use it to create the dowels that will peg the leg tops to the case of Adriana's cabinet. I tried using it a couple weeks ago to make a simple 1/4" dowel. It takes a lot of work unless you've got the pre-dowell pretty close to the proper size. This can be somewhat tricky to do without sneaking into the 'inside diameter' area and giving your dowel an unsightly flat.  But the biggest thing is you really need to be able to clamp this thing down over a hole or a gap in your bench so it's nice and stable while you whale on the predowel piece.  So I got a nice thick old piece of oak, planed it smooth and flat on all sides, chamfered the edges and drilled a series of holes in it so the dowel will go through. Then I attached the LN dowel plate to it using the handy-dandy counter-sunk screw holes LN included at the ends of the plate. 

This makes the plate about 300% friendlier to use. And so much easier to clamp.