Atlas Dowel Origin and Evolution

Atlas Dowel has been prosperous and has maintained success for several decades. 

For this blog post, we sat down with Pete Puttmann and discussed the history of Atlas to get a more comprehensive glimpse into how our company has grown and expanded through the years. 

We will also detail what Atlas Dowel is doing now and what is to come next.  

Our Origin 

While our heritage dates to the 1920’s, Atlas Dowel & Wood Products became a standalone company owned and operated by Ray Wurtzelbacher setting up shop in the western suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1949.    

Our primary focus was on making quality bungs, buttons, and plugs until the 1970’s when creating wooden dowels came into the picture as well. 

In the early 1980’s, we hoped to continue making dowels in the industry standard sizes of 36” and 48” in length, but manufacturers went out of business due to cheap overseas imports. Therefore, we shifted our attention to custom manufacturing, which includes many secondary operations such as cross-boring, tenoning, rounding, pointing, and end-boring. 

By the late 80s, we switched from lathe turning to centerless grinding, which is very common with metal but semi-rare in the turning of wood. Centerless grinding, a manufacturing process used for drumsticks, spindles and pegs, produces very tight tolerances with a natural smoothness associated with high-quality sanding.   

If you want to learn more about centerless grinding, click here!  

We invested in a centerless grinder but then later designed our machines so we could make higher-quality products. Centerless grinders were initially designed to make pool balls. Our Centerless grinders were used to make wooden balls, spindles, pegs, drumsticks, etc.  

In 1999, Pete Puttmann bought Atlas and continued to grow the company. 

Where We Are Now 

First and foremost, we are dedicated to our customers.  

We have maintained the same customers from the beginning, and they know firsthand that Atlas Dowel is committed to the highest quality and service in the industry.  

Custom centerless grinding drives our business. We are a leading manufacturer of wood dowel rods, spindles, and print media dowels and parts.  

If you want to learn more about our banner dowels, click here! 

Customers regularly request specific dimensions, wood types, or finishes for their product designs. We help them by following blueprints to custom-create specific specs for all your project needs. For instance, we produce custom products for Furniture companies, food processors, and industrial equipment manufacturers.  

Furthermore, our wood dowel products are made right here in America, and we are committed to responsible forest management. We also ship internationally by request. We have been decreasing our carbon footprint in every way we can, utilizing our natural resources to the fullest potential while reducing waste 

The Future of Atlas Dowel 

We have several aspirations for the future of Atlas!  

First, we want to further enhance our centerless grinding department to produce even more intricate, higher quality products and go after more markets. This would help position us to offer more stock items and custom parts.  

Our future is bright, and we are thankful for your continual support throughout the years! 

Atlas Dowel & Wood Products Made for You 

At Atlas Dowel, we have produced the finest manufactured hardwood dowels, buttons, wood dowel rods, banner dowels, and print media dowels and parts since 1949!  

Why import if you can make it homegrown? Atlas Dowel has you covered! We are thrilled to continue producing products for you. The quality of the products you use in all your projects matters to us! 

For custom wooden dowels that you can buy in bulk, Atlas Dowel is here for you. Click here to view our selection of dowels and wood components now!  

For more wood dowel tips, follow Atlas Dowel on Facebook and Twitter today!  

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