Thaddeus L Olczyk wrote:

> The thing is I don't know where it's been. Though it looks fairly
> clean, there may be some machine oil or some sort of industrial
> chemical on it. If I don't finish it, then I will have to make sure
> it's clean, suggestions for doing that?

You alredy said you sanded it down. That seems adequate to me.
If you're that concerned go buy a new dowel at the hardware store that
hasn't come into contact with any potential icks.