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Tools That Change the Way We Design & Build: The Festool Domino
Hi Mark. I just read your comment, and since I was one of the users Rain is referring to, I thought I should weigh in. I think that your point about the value of the alignment rather that structural integrity being the real value is partially right, but you're wrong about the part where you say it doesn't contribute strength. There are many types of woods such as Teak, or Cocobolo that are very oily, having more surface area to glue to is valuable. There are also a number of very porous woods that soak up glue a bit more that others. These types of glue ups can absolutely benefit from having a tenon in it. Think of it this way.... you can increase the surface area where the glue contacts the wood by double if not more by using the Domino. Biscuits are sloppy, and don't provide the same strength when being glued. When all said and done, isn't it more valuable to have a tool which provides great alignment as well as structural integrity you can count on?
Well, it's risky to over-generalize, and I don't want to say tenons can NEVER help in edge gluing. It would depend on board thickness, tenon size and spacing, etc. But the post cited 8/4 "slabs", and suggests dominos as replacements for biscuits, so let's assume similar spacing -- maybe one every 24"? Do the math and you'll see the tenon is adding ~5% glue area -- not much. And critically, this glue area is very close to the neutral line (I assume you understand structural basics), and adding even 10% glue area just 3-4 mm from neutral line will yield no useful strength increase. Basically, the tenon/slab glue interface will not be subject to any stress until after the outer board edge glue line has completely failed. I'll concede that a tenon will prevent complete edge separation (boards literally falling apart) in the event of complete glue failure, and there are a few applications where this is useful, but I don't think any furniture falls into this category.
Mark, the point being made over and over in the articles I've read for this tool, is that for the most part you can skip the alignment step and avoid a lot of sanding you'd have to do using a biscuit joiner. No it doesn't make a stronger edge joint, but it can save a tremendous amount of labor, especially for a hobbyist or small shop cabinetmaker. I think that's what has people excited about it.
Great post, indeed this is a big secret tool of high productif wood workers but you better have a dust extractor like this one http://festool-dust-extractor.com so you can be safe from dust harm
Thank you
is cheaper than Domino joiner , it prices under 200$
I love my domino and all things Festool. I too use it for gluing up large projects. Jory's been at it for much longer than I have and it's good to see someone else had a similar idea about edge joining boards. I too have saved a TON of time in my setups and in building complex pieces without having to worry about custom cutting tenons. I do wish i could justify having the big one, but I don't do enough just yet to warrant having one.
It's a great tool, but your example of joining 8/4 slabs is a poor one. In fact, this is an application where the domino adds the least value, and biscuits work fine. The domino is a great mortise and tenon tool, and one doesn't mortise and tenon board edges. A mortise and tenon contributes great strength where members join near near perpendicularly, like chair leg/rail joints. In long edge joints, like 8/4 slabs forming a tabletop, all the joint strength is in the glued edges. The biscuits (or whatever) solely exist for alignment convenience during glue up.
Hi Mark, the joining slabs example is drawn from interviewing a Domino user, and is listed, as written, as an example of where one can gain accuracy; there is nothing about strength claims made in the two paragraphs discussing that example. As far as your statement that "one doesn't mortise and tenon board edges," I have to disagree. Stay tuned for the next article in this series where you'll see an example.
To clarify, I meant (professional) woodworkers don't typically use mortise and tenons to edge join boards. Mortise and tenon work fine for alignment, but no better than biscuits (or nothing with proper cauls, etc). You can obviously use a domino for this, but it's not showing any the domino's great or unique capabilities, which appeared to be the point of the post.
I hemmed and hawwed about the more-than-modest investment required for a domino setup, but it has undoubtedly changed the way I work - design and build - very much for the better. I use it so much more than I thought I would - once you know the tool and what it can do, new ideas take shape around the system.