For the wooden dowel...go somewhere they sell black powder items and buy a dowel of STRAIGHT Hickory. Thats what Bucksinners use..not that Home Depot ****...
Take some thin wall brass tubing from the hobby store...about the same OD as the hickory rod is... and cut off a piece of the brass tubing about 1" long....and gently sand down the last inch of the hickory rod until you can just barely slide the brass tubing onto it.
Mix up your 2 part expoy and cover the end of the dowel rod and slide the brass tubing onto it. Wipe away the excess with paper towels and some alcohol
If ya want extra insurance you can drill the brass tubing with a TEENIE TINY drill and use some very small ( I used #2's) wood screws countersunk ( use the end of a larger drll) into the brass tube and the wood shaft ( It dont take much to really add to the holding power)
Let sit for about 2 days and then...then ...soak the whole thing in kerosene for about a week. Remove it...hang it up to drip and dry off. You can actually take a 4 ft long piece of hickory treated this way and bend it into a full circle and it doesnt break!
Dowels come in various diameters so dont be using a 1/4 inches in a .50 caliber rifle....no no...