The three large holes you see were there already, presumably from the factory. They were plugged with thin disks with hollow spaces beneath. Two of those are still there.
I needed to drill and fill screw holes to put the new pad on, and one of the disks dislodged when I tried to put the 3/8" dowel in the drilled out hole. I removed the small dowel, filled the large hole with a 3/4"dowel and then drilled and filled a new hole for the 3/8" dowel. It was more complicated than I was anticipating when I got started.
After I put the 3/4" dowel in, I started worrying about differential expansion in the types of wood. I looked up dimensional change coefficients, and took some reassurance that red oak changes less than Walnut. (See chart)
Nonetheless, I was not totally satisfied that I had done reasonably. Thus the question to you all.
I'm not sure I entirely understand the rule your describing. Would you clarify?
