OK i thought i had everything for this elmo cake i need to start putting together in about 5 minutes but i am out of dowel rods. what do i do the cake is going to be a madd hatter cake 10 inch 8 inch and 6 inch help me i am 20 minutes from the nearest store!!!!!!!! 
Ok this might sound weird, but in an emergency my husband came up with bic pens. He got them from a gas station. It's the white kind with a black lid. All you do is take the ink part out and cut the top of the plastic flat. That leaves you with a white hollow, sturdy plastic tube. Just pull it apart and wash then use like a dowl. It worked for a huge wedding cake when I arrived with out my last set of supports. Good luck.
Where do you guys buy dowel rods? Are these the same as the ones at the hardware store?
Skewers would work also..or Chop Sticks... 
Where do you guys buy dowel rods? Are these the same as the ones at the hardware store?
The dowel rods you get at a cake supply store are different than the ones at a hardware store (I'm not sure EXACTLY how). I work for a cake suppy store as a teacher and she explained to me that the dowels wilton sells and they sell are food grade... the wood is treated differently and inspected to be sure it is food safe.
can u actually trust STRAWS to hold up your work..i've thought aout it, but then i chicken out before it comes time to actually use them...aren't they too flimsy??
Where do you guys buy dowel rods? Are these the same as the ones at the hardware store?
The dowel rods you get at a cake supply store are different than the ones at a hardware store (I'm not sure EXACTLY how). I work for a cake suppy store as a teacher and she explained to me that the dowels wilton sells and they sell are food grade... the wood is treated differently and inspected to be sure it is food safe.
Well actually, because thethe Wilton ones have FDA approval, they were tested to be food safe. Since the wooden dowels in a building supply store were not being sold to use for food use, they are not tested and therefore do not have FDA approval, but this doen't mean they are not safe. But are they treated wood, no, they don't use wood preservatives on wooden dowels, so wash them off and you are good to go. I checked this out with Home Depot and Rona, my brother-in-law is in management. One thing I did find though, the Wilton ones seems to be a harder grade of wood. But I often use the building supply dowels and they are far cheaper.
Other wooden items at these supply stores may well be treated with chemicals to preserve the wood or pressure treat them, but doweling is not.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
Bubble Tea straws would probably work too. You know the big jumbo straws you get @ The bubble tea cafes?
Princess
It's this trendy chinese thing. LOL... kinda like "chinese starbuck" They make tea and put tapioca pearls in it. So you need heavy duty straws to suck them up.
Here is a link for you
http://www.bubbletea.com/
Princess
You know, I normall use dowels but you guys gave me ideas b/c I HATE cutting those things!!
Susan, why didn't you just ask to borrow some from me? I would have brought them over!! LOL!! Just joking w/ you girl!! I have plenty of dowel rods on hand. I'm always afraid of running out so I buy a pkg every time I go to the cake supply store!
Ya'll had some great tips!!
I have ALWAYS used chopsticks, they are FREE!! my husband loves yoshinoya and always brings me some, that's what I alwasy use
I ALWAYS use straws..the sanitary kind that are wrapped in paper.
Then when I became a STARBUCKS addict, I'd buy the VENTI LATTES so I could get those big tall straws..
When they have them out by the sugar...I always take a handful..( sorry..I realize that's stealing, but paying 8 and change for 2 cups of coffee??lol)
I use them ...I use them in the same ratio as dowels.
IF have a "stacked" cake...I have a pencil sharpener in my cake kit, I sharpen 2 dowels and insert them all the way to the bottom of the cake.
2 shapened dowels will keep the cake from "SPINNING"....as just one in the center..and driving over the long country distances that I had to drive in Pennsylvania..the cakes would start to "spin" around the one dowel!..lol
I use both, the skewers and dowels...like the skewers the best.
i use straws and I have had no problems with them. They are cheap and much easier to cut.
Hey Yall!
I have always Used Straws and had great luck with them.
I am however confused as to why you would sharpen the dowels??? I am sorry, it may sound Silly, but I haven't used them so I don't know much about them.
& I would FREEK out if My cake started SPINNING around on the delivery trip.. hahahha..
But I do know what you mean about country roads.. 
~Sweet~ 
Hahaha Dale, you always crack me up!
The sharpened dowels are for the centre dowels that you make the length of the cakes and boards that you are sticking them through, to stop the cakes from sliding off during transport or set-up. You sharpen the end that you will gently tap through the boarded cakes down to the bottom cake.
Personally I will use straws for smaller tiers or two tiered cakes, but I trust the wooden dowels more when making a larger heavier wedding cake and such. Either that or the plastic dowels. They are also easier to see and to remove, in my opinion.
When you don't want the centre dowel to show through the top of the top layer, cut it slightly shorter than the height of all of the cakes and stack the bottom layers, place the centre dowel through them, but before you board your top tier, cut a hole in the centre of the board. Now make a hole through this centre hole from underneath so that you now have a hole about half way through from the bottom up. Now looking underneath, feed the centre dowel through this top cake. You will end up with it stable but no hole showing from the top of your cake.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
ok so the only straws i had were the flexy straws!!!!! so i didnt have time to run to walmart before leaving to take my cousin to the airport. sooooo on my way home from dallas i stopped at a walmart and bought some dowels stayed up way to late working on the cake only for the stupid middle layer to try to fall apart on me. i wanted to scream oh well it all worked out in the end.
LOL!! I used flexy straws on my cake Susan.. only because I wanted to try it. It did work great! I did use 2 dowels through the middle of the whole cake though. I had to travel around 80 miles so I didn't want to chance it. I did learn that whimsical cakes need more dowels then regular stacked cakes do.
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