Spool clamps

Spool clamps are so simple and there must be three dozen tutorials out there at least.

I bought 1 inch oak dowel, 4.5" 1/4 bolts, and regular nuts. Most of the tutorials show butterfly nuts, but using a wrench to tighten is not onerous! I guess you run more of a risk of over-tightening when using a wrench, but use common sense. The fat cork layer I used (3/8 inch thick or so) absorbed a lot of over-tightening potential anyway. It also absorbed the crookedness in my hand-drilled spools. (If you have a drill press, now would be the time to use it.)

If I had to do it over again I would use wider dowel. The 1 inch felt pretty skimpy. I don't know if the hardwood dowel was strictly necessary either -- I think you could get away with a wider width of poplar/pine regular dowel, if budget is tight.