Here's a tip, might apply there in the states - wooden dowel is fairly expensive, the cheapest wooden broom handles are dirt cheap!
My shooting sticks consist of a broom handle cut in half and joined a few inches from the top with a bolt, so the legs will fold. A couple of long batten screws were started into the bottoms of the legs and sharpened to fine points, helps them to stand up in sandy conditions and also good to poke other shooters who are giving you cheek about your broom handles. My MK 1 set of sticks had a leather yoke across the top to rest the rifle in, but I felt it was too unstable. I have leather covers laced around the tops of the sticks on the MK II version, and just sit the barrel in between.
Biggest thing with sticks is to find the best "bedding", in this case a sweet spot for your barrel in the sticks. In a perfect world, if you have the time and patience, you should shoot several groups with the barrel resting in different places in the sticks until you find the spot that gives the best accuracy. Then mark it and always rest the same part of the barrel in the sticks when you shoot.
For shooting prone some people use a little tiny set of sticks, (I guess it saves stabbing your horse and dragging it down Lonesome Dove style just to get a benchrest from the saddle?) and one broom handle could conceivably make enough sets for you and your friends.
Just don't cut up the wife's broom to make your sticks, they don't understand and the house will get messy.