Festool Domino eliminate mortiser?

[Joe Meazle]

Chris,
No holy war from me I think all methods have their merits. I am installing a Veritas twin screw vise as my tailvise/end apron. I will use the bolts that came with the vise for strenth but the Dominos have made it easier to align the surface of the vise with the surface of the bench. The vise is made from a very heavy chunk of hickory. There are other ways I could have done this but the domino as very smooth and the ablitly to cut some of the slots longer was very useful in dealing with the cross grain situation. The fact that i am using bowling alley means that I am dodging nails which was much easier with the domino than it would have been using a spline or a mortise and tenon (like on a breadboand end)
Joe

[Scott Coffelt]

I have both and find I still use the bench top morticer some, but not as much as I did in the past. I find the biscuit jointer seems to be the real loser with the domino.

[Chris Padilla]

Actually, in my Tansu project, I'm using the biscuit cutter and domino quite a bit. I used biscuits for gluing on edge-banding, and the dominos for gluing in the support/divider panels.

[Chris Friesen]

I'm curious about the application in which you used dominos for alignment and not strength. Can you expound on that?

He mentioned it was for a bowling alley workbench top. I'm guessing he used dominos to keep the laminations aligned while face-gluing.

[Mats Bengtsson]

Interesting, Mats! I've been going through my 50 mm x 10 mm dominos like popcorn and all my smaller dominos have yet to be touched. You are correct, however, that there is a minimum depth of cut. However, with some ingenuity, I think you could set up the Domino to cut shallow if you need it to. Since you control the plunge action, this is possible.

I haven't yet tried cutting mortises into small pieces but there are some doohickys sold on eBay that can make this easier. They are essentially aluminum spacers with magnets that attach to the fence/face of the Domino that are supposed to make this job easier. I have them but haven't tried them.

I am mostly using the 6x40 myself (due to favoring materials around 15-19 mm). I am switching to a Leigh jig for joining some thinner pieces, but I agree it can be done with the Domino, only it will not be as easy as when using it for its preset sizes.

I saw they are going to release a new bit for the Domino, so they are expanding the range.

--- Mats ---

[Chris Padilla]

I saw they are going to release a new bit for the Domino, so they are expanding the range.

--- Mats ---

Interesting. Any links and do you know the size they are putting out? I guess they will need to provide another size of dominos, too....

[Narayan Nayar]

I'm curious about the application in which you used dominos for alignment and not strength. Can you expound on that?

To reiterate what Chris said, I also recently used dominos for alignment and not strength.

Just a week or so ago I was putting together an 18" deep benchtop from dimensioned lumber. Dominos are not going to add any strength to 3" tall face-laminations, but due to limitations in my machinery (and my back), I built two 9" sections, jointed them, planed them, then glued those together using dominos for alignment only.

And to speak to the OPs point, I don't have a mortiser, but that bench (seen here is made entirely with different flavors of M&T joinery, and the domino was only used in the application described above (benchtop alignment). If I had a mortiser, I would have used it. But I don't, so I used a brace & bit, a forstner drill, a router, and mortise chisels for the various mortises. I have other shop and home projects which use the domino exclusively.

I sold my biscuit joiner after a month of having the Domino. And since I won't be making large mortises very often, I doubt I'll get a mortiser (if I do, it'll probably be a horizontal slot mortiser for use on my J/P combo).

[Chris Padilla]

Narayan, me thinks you 'n I need to hook up...BA Bretheren! Drop me a PM.

[Bob Childress]

Interesting. Any links and do you know the size they are putting out? I guess they will need to provide another size of dominos, too....

I heard 4mm.

[Mats Bengtsson]

I heard 4mm.

Yes, it is 4 mm, and with a length of 20 mm, and the link is gone (it was posted on a french festool web page).

--- Mats ---

[Thomas S Stockton]

Not a hobbyest but make a living building furniture. It comes down to the right tool for the job and the right joint for the job. I currently have a Domino, biscuit joiner, multirouter and bench top mortiser all get used and I wouldn't want to be without any of them. I use my multirouter about 90% less than I used to since I got my Domino but for larger joints and making chairs you can't beat a multirouter or slot mortiser. My bench top mortiser gets used mostly to cut square holes for ebony pegs when I build Greene and Greene style furniture. Unless you really need the money keep them you will probably need them at some point and you will take a big hit if you have to buy the stuff twice.
Tom

[Chris Tsutsui]

If I remember correctly, a magazine tested the 3/8" mortise and tenon joint held up to like 1200+ pounds, while the Festool 3/8" domino was 800 lbs.

I never considered a domino because then I'd have to buy the right size collection of dominos. I'm also afraid that I will become addicted to Festool so I keep convincing myself that I do not do production work so I don't need it... (Money is also an issue)

I just have the Delta mortiser and will use my table saw/band saw to cut tenons.

[John Sanford]

Okay, bear with me because I'm not familiar with the size limitations of the Domino.

Behind the chair I'm sitting in is a A&C plant stand. It has 40 1/4" square M&T joints. Can a Domino do those? I built two of the stands. While the mortises were't all that deep, there were a LOT of them. Could I have cut them by hand? Maybe, who knows how long it would have taken! I used a machine, and I wished it would have been a dedicated HCM.

Keep the HCM. Stash it in a corner if necessary. If you don't use it for 3 years, then part with it...

[Rick Fisher]

I came back to this post because I said I was dissapointed.

I used the Domino again today. This time was to hold a bullnose onto plywood. It was great.

When holding and using it, I believe its the best quality tool in my shop.. It makes me want more Festool products.

I think its a great improvement to the biscuit jointer.. I will likely never use my DeWalt biscuit joiner again.

Sell the mortiser.. no way..

[Larry Edgerton]

Not in my world........

It may be a better biscuit, but it in no way can be compared to a mortice and tenon.

That being said, I have tried one and it is a nice tool, but I do not see where it pays for itself for what I do. I use biscuits on all of my trim, and the domino may work better, but the cost is more and it is already something I do that my competition is not doing, so I can not justify the cost there.

On casegoods I do M&T on all of the faceframes, cabinet doors, etc.and although the Domino would be slightly faster, thats not what I do this for, and I will continue to use traditional methods. On doors it would be a crime to use the Domino. I don't see the mortise and tenon as being slow when considering the strength gained. I have a mortiser and a tenoning setup that works pretty well, I will usually spend the better part of a day on a full kitchen doing mortise and tenons.

I have a dadoing machine I just bought from Leigh Betsch that I think will speed up my tenons again once I get it jigged up, will be working on that this week as I have a cabinet job in the shop.

Why does it have to replace it? This is not an either/or profession, every tool has its place, every technic its purpose. I can see that it would be useful, but a replacement, no way.