My Sr Telemaster uses 5/16x5/8" hardwood (bass wood?) for a strut, and I bolted aluminum strips to the strut. The Telemaster is a 10 lb plane, so you can size the struts accordingly. The wing has a couple of hardwood mounts and the fuselage uses the landing gear block to fasten the struts. It's better to use bolts and blind nuts to secure the struts, but screws will work on smaller planes. Dowels will work for struts, but they have a lot more drag than a flatter or more airfoil shaped strut. The WWI guys figured that out pretty quickly! Unless you make exact duplicates, it's probably wise to mark the struts "left" and "right".