Dowel Plate
From DT Online
A Dowel Plate (aka Dowel 'Pop') is a piece of steel (ideally, Tool Steel) which is drilled with various standard Dowel size holes. Short lengths of timber are roughly shaped then finished to size by driving them through one of the holes.
Although commercially available, a Dowel Plate for occasional or one-off use, is easily made by drilling holes in a scrap piece of Mild Steel and Countersinking them on the underside.
Dowel for most uses is normally purchased ready-made but making dowel with a Dowel Plate has the advantage that contrasting timbers can be used to create a decorative effect.