Tell me why I should buy a Domino

[Cary Falk]

Because track saws have gotten so much cheaper since non-Festool variants came out? Yeah, you can buy a cheap Grizzly one, but every other reputable brand is in the same price bracket.

I'm into my DeWalt + short track for $310. Dewalt accessories are much cheaper also.

I'll wait for the Bosch Domino clone.

[Cary Falk]

He didn't say sloppy fit, and it's not a sloppy fit.

The Domino is incredibly precise. So much so that there is no play at all, so if your two mortises are off by 1/64", then your parts will be off by 1/64". The Domino lets you cut the mortise slightly wider, so you have a little side to side room for alignment.

Say that you use 8mm x 25mm dominoes. The wider slot option will give you something like 8mm x 28mm (just guessing off the top of my head).
The domino is 8mm thick, and still fits very tightly. It just gives you a little room to adjust the side to side alignment of your parts.

If I have side room for alignment then it is a sloppy fit.

[Art Mann]

I used to use M&T joints. I cut mortises with a hollow chisel mortiser. I cut the tenons on a table saw. It worked well but it took a lot of time. Several years ago, I bought a Dowelmax doweling jig and I haven't cut a M&T joint since. I think a Domino would be faster than a doweling jig but not as strong as using multiple pins. The Dowelmax allows using an array of pins in a single large joint without any accuracy problem. I don't know how accurate multiple Domino mortises would be but I would like to find out.

[Tom Ewell]

Bought a Festool tracksaw early on, found it highly useful
Bought a Fein multimaster early on, found it highly useful.
Bought a Festool Domino early on, found it highly useful.

What they do is not something I couldn't already accomplish using other means and methods but what they do allows for more efficiency.... for me. The actual benefit in acquiring these tools is unforeseen by the user until they actually have them in hand. They can change the way one goes about doing the things they always done and discover ways to do things they've not yet done.

Same could be said about motorized mitersaws, jigsaws, tablesaws, pneumatic fasteners, cordless drills and the like.

[Prashun Patel]

The slop is in the width not thickness. The part of the mortise that is loose is usually end grain so you don't sacrifice any glue strength.

If you wish to make your domino tight because you want mechanical strength from a tenon that fits in all dimensions, you can do that too. The domino supports either method.

You can control the slop.

[Harlan Barnhart]

To the opening post, everything done by the domino can be accomplished another way so it is not essential but rather a matter of convenience or efficiency. I've had one for years and I use it several times a week, but I could do without. I find it most useful for small jobs where set up for other methods would eat up too much time. For big jobs, say doors for whole kitchen, its not that useful, but for a small project, say six doors or less, it can save a lot of time. Its also most useful for working with solid wood. It can be used for working with sheet stock but I find other methods faster for that. Perhaps the greatest strength of the domino is that it is designed to work well in so many solid wood joints, tabletops, legs and aprons, face fronts, doors (cabinet size and full size), chair parts, drawer boxes (not the easiest method, but I have used it for special applications), ect... For the type of work you are proposing, making furniture to suit yourself, at your own pace, from solid wood, I think you will find it useful. When you are finished with it, sell it and get 75% of the cost back.

[mreza Salav]

If I have side room for alignment then it is a sloppy fit.

first of all you can get a very tight fit all around but if you have a series of slots to make in a line (doesn't matter how you make them, by hand and chisel, domino, etc) it would be very difficult to get the spacing all accurate and there is no need to as that space on the side is end-grain to face grain join.

[Mike Henderson]

If I have side room for alignment then it is a sloppy fit.

You don't have to make the mortise wider than the Domino. But there's a reason some people do it. Let's say you're putting in five Dominoes across a board. If your layout is exact, it all goes together fine. But if you're a slight bit off with one, the two boards will not go together. Festool recommends making one mortise small, then the other four on that board a bit wider to make sure the boards go together okay. All five on the other board are made small (tight).

I did that after I got the Festool training but then switched to tight all around and haven't had a problem getting boards together.

Mike

[Marty Schlosser]

Hi, Jon,

Machines such as the Domino are designed to save time in the shop. As many others have already mentioned, there are other, reasonably efficient ways to achieve the same precision without having to invest in such a machine. But they're more time-intensive. If the extra time you'll save in using a Domino is important to you, then you should consider it. Someone has already mentioned that they were able to borrow one to try it out in their shop, and based on that trial, concluded they needed one. Perhaps that would be a good approach to consider, as this is a fairly large investment for many woodworkers.

There are others who look upon their woodworking not so much as the work they create, but the journey. For such craftspersons, many prefer to do as much of their work as possible using hand tools. For such individuals, a Domino is not something that would appeal to them.

Floating Tenons vrs Traditional Tenons. Then there's the issue of the style of joint the machine creates, which is a floating tenon joint (meaning that you make mortises in each piece to be joined and slip in a tenon; that's why these are often referred to as slip tenon joints). Many others will tell you that floating tenon joinery is not as strong as traditional tenons, which may be a consideration. I'm not one of those, as much of my work involves angled and curved work, where a tenon that is formed out of the end of the male section would be weakened because of the significant amount of cross-grain wood which would result from such effort.

I should mention here that I own a Felder slot mortiser as well as a Domino 500. I also own several routers, some of which I used to use to rout mortises before I purchased the Domino. In my shop these tools all have their places. I prefer the Domino for the smaller joints and the slot mortiser for those projects requiring larger and deeper mortises, especially on curved work where the work needs to be clamped down to achieve accuracy on such joints. For me, the Domino 700 wouldn't be a good fit. But if efficiency was not a consideration, truth be known, I could get by with routers or evena brace and bit and chisel.

Mortising door frames.jpg

[Greg Mann]

Interesting no one has mentioned virtually 100% dust collection.

[Susumu Mori]

LOL. Very true. We now take it so much for granted.

[Tom Ewell]

Interesting no one has mentioned virtually 100% dust collection.

Yer right!
Maybe that's included in the efficiency part of the equation.
Suppose now we'll all need to discuss the virtues of dust free operation along with cutter longevity and the mortise being cleaned out and ready.

[glenn bradley]

So the rest of us won't feel dumb for having spent so much to do such a simple job . Just kidding . . . I'm trying to avoid temptation.

[Tom Ewell]

I guess for all who only work in the shop, not as much 'need' but I found the thing really handy for installing staircase parts, especially when aligning and locking position of the rails using the domino in combo with Seneca's self centering jig before tightening the bolts. A single cut with the Domino replaces the need to bore two dowel holes to prevent twisting of something like balusters.


The door and fixed panel of this under stairs 'dog cage' is completely assembled with dominos, didn't have to be..... but dry fitting the 'bars' was much simpler, less chance of miss fits because of on site angle conditions (had to match the angles of a 80 plus year old staircase) the beaded frames aligned perfectly and the customer paid enough without having to pay the 'extra' for me to cut and fit fixed M&T joints or boring extra dowel holes to lock the 'bars' particularly for the angled tops of the fixed panel.
Scale wise the door frame is 5/4 with milled 5/16 bead and the 'bars' are a just shy 3/4 by enough width to appropriately accommodate the 5mm domino mortise on tight setting.
dog door.jpg

No way am I inferring that this thing could not be done without a domino but putting it together with one worked well for me, it got out of the shop on time and all parties are happy.

[Jon Endres]

Thanks for all the replies. I think that, to convince myself I need one, I'd probably have to use one first. It appears to be a reliable substitute for hand- or machine-cut mortise and tenons. It's certainly acceptable for the type of furniture and cabinets that I want to make.