Comments on: Preview: Festool Domino Joiner

by: Reinhardt Quelle

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 05:38:31 +0000

I just used this tool to make a mantel shelf for a two-sided fireplace. The shelf itself was 1.25″ thick, 6″ deep, and one leg was 5′ and the other was 3.5′. The two pieces were mitered. Now, what kind of joint to use here? Biscuits are great, but not strong enough for pieces of this size, and (by design) they have side-to-side play, so they don’t work so well to align a miter along the joint. Splines and pocket holes are less than optimal in this application.

A loose tenon is perfect, and the Domino was just the ticket for cutting the mortises in the end of the long pieces. Very tight fit - with the glue swelling, it took a nice amount of force to push the joint together. Perfect tool for the job. Yes, its just a loose or floating tenon joint, but as easy to make as a biscuit joint. I suppose you don’t have to buy the Festool dominos dowels - you could make them just like you make loose tenons. But the Festool parts are less than $0.10 each, and there is no way I can make them for that cheaply, or to those tolerances with the glue flutes, etc.

Now, is the whole system worth the price? I don’t know - to be frank, I borrowed my friend’s. And what a friend - he hadn’t even used it himself, yet.

You’d have to use it quite a lot to make it worthwhile, but I can see a number of other uses I’m looking forward to trying it out with. In particular, I’ve never been happy with standard cope-and-stick (aka rail and stile) cabinet doors, and I’m going to try to use the Domino to make that into a cope/stick + tenon joint.

In response to Rick: I don’t see why you couldn’t use the Domino to cut a mortise, then cut your own tenon in the mating piece, though I’d question why one wouldn’t just go ahead and use a loose tennon instead. And the disadvantage to a dedicated mortiser (or even a router mortising jig) is that it is very hard if not impossible to use them to cut mortises in the end of very long pieces like table aprons (or mantels).

NrChris: the tenons aren’t square - they have a rounded edge. Also, they have a bit of fluting, like purchased dowels, to alleviate hydraulic lock in the joint.

Like all Festool product (I have several, and have used many more), this is an extremely well engineered and built product, with a price to match.

by: Chris Murray

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:44:03 +0000

The Domino is one of those tools I see increasing in value over time, the more you use it, the more time you save, and you will end up reaching for it more often.

A reliable, easy way to do floating tenon joinery, hmm it sounds like an easy decision to me.

I would not compare this tool to a biscuit joiner, a floating tenon is much stronger!

by: Michael

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:26:31 +0000

Basically it’s just a way to speed up making a floating tenoned joint. It might seem to be expensive, but it’s a production machine, not a hobbyist tool. That’s about half a weeks pay for a guy good enough to do decent mortise and tenoned joints.

FYI, the Dominos are pretty cheap (ranging from about .13 cents to .04 cents a piece) when bought in bulk, so I don’t know if you could (or would want to) make ‘em cheaper for yourself.

Seems like a great tool for production furniture making. I prefer old fashioned mortise and tenoned joints, but I’ve been blessed to be able to find customers that will pay the extra bucks for them. If I had guys working for me I would definitely look into one of these to increase speed and accuracy.

by: nrChris

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:08:39 +0000

Proprietary tenons? Square ones at that? Uh, how come no one pointed out that with such a high end tool you are surely capable of making your own shop made hardwood tenons? Or did I miss something on this one?

by: Rick

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:28:09 +0000

Yeah, I don’t see the point here..
Seems like an excuse to sell the domino biscuits at a premium price (only one source) - Now, if it could cut any size mortise, to accept a tenon you cut from the piece you’re joining to it, that might be good.. and well worth the price if you could set it up to say - cut a 2.5″ deep mortise 1.5″ long and 3/8s of an inch wide. Then cut it multiple times in multiple pieces..
Then go back and cut your tenons on a table saw or whatever your preferred method to fit. But for this domino biscuit racket - I don’t think so.

For a dedicated mortising solution, for use without biscuits, and cutting tenons instead I’d rather just spend less money on a dedicated mortiser like this one from Delta - assuming you have the room for it in your shop.

by: Rob

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:24:50 +0000

I like the sound of this tool. Sounds a lot like loose tenon joinery. In a pinch, I’d bet you could make your own. On the other hand I don’t see where this would work much faster than my current biscuit joiner.

by: Jim

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:23:55 +0000

I recently used this tool in the 220V version in a friend’s commercial shop in Switzerland. It is a nicely designed tool. It was louder than I had expected from a European designed product and it was slower cutting than I expected. But, great results. It is accurate and provides position registration, with no rotational or lateral movement as with a dowel or biscuit. Spring loaded pins in the face allow quick and repeatable fence positioning. Within the shop, it received high praises and dramatically increases productivity and accuracy. Clamping setup is much easier and it creates a strong joint. It is not cheap and the tenons must be single sourced from Festool, but again it increases productivity, is highly accurate and produces a strong joint.