If you have the Jessem, have you gone to their site recently.?.they have a cool new workstation and a way to make loose tenons on that station, plus it will hold the doweling jig too. Kinda nifty.
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If you have the Jessem, have you gone to their site recently.?.they have a cool new workstation and a way to make loose tenons on that station, plus it will hold the doweling jig too. Kinda nifty.
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A dowel is a loose tenon of no width. Face grain to face grain gluing area is what makes joints strong and that's where true tenons of any type have an advantage. I'm well aware of the test results by Dowel Max, et al, that show superior strength for their doweled joints, but they needed to use many dowels to do it. And that's the real issue, especially for someone with hands that don't work as well as most people. Having to hold a drill to drill all those holes is not going to be easy. And then if you have to move the fixture to put more joints along the length or width of the part, you have more opportunity for errors in alignment to creep in. Loose tenons by their very nature are tolerant of slight mismatches in alignment, and very tolerant in the width direction. And that's a huge advantage for the Domino, or any loose tenon option, over dowels. My HRM eliminates the need to hold something like the Domino since the workpiece is clamped to the bed of the machine, which makes it even easier for someone with tremors to easily use.Originally Posted by Will Mullendore
John
Moderator
While simple dowels and the Dominos might serve a similar purpose, the "beef" of the Domino in size and length can be substantially more supportive and provides a much larger glue area. And as John mentions, the width of the Domino more represents a typical loose tenon and that has advantages, too, over dowels, even when they are larger dowels. Please note I am not saying that dowels are bad...they are not. One should choose the method that best supports the structural needs of the joinery in question.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
[OP]
Member
Thanks for the chuckle Andy!
In my younger days, I was quite the coffee addict - for a while, I even grew and harvested my own coffee beans, and it was rare not to see me without a coffee mug in my hands during business hours. When I first noticed I was getting shaky, I took the plunge and went zero-caffeine for a full year with it didn't make any difference at all. Nowadays, I have a cup or so of caffeinated coffee daily - my doc tells me it's healthy - and my shaky hands just seem to be progressively getting worse a little at a time. It seems to be hereditary as my mom had a similar issue when she was alive, and so does my older sister.
I try to get a lot of dexterity exercise in my routine and that probably slows down the progression, but it's still really frustrating. My oldest son noticed a few Thanksgivings ago when I struggled to carve the family turkey. This past weekend, I was replacing a garage door opener and I couldn't hold my hand steady enough to drive a bolt into the chassis while I held the unit with my other hand...what should have been a five-minute task turned into a half hour of trying to figure out how to prop the damn thing in place so I could use my other hand to keep the screwdriver steady enough to get the bolt installed.
I'm not really that old (mid-60s), and I guess I feel blessed that this is the only thing wrong with me. I learn to adapt, I guess - so far, I haven't gotten so frustrated that I just give up. My doc tells me there are drugs that can help, but they apparently have lots of side effects and you can't take them forever. Maybe ten years from now I'll feel differently.
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Hi Vince. Don’t know whether this will help. I’ve had essential tremors since late teens, 76 now. Just a few years ago my wife bought me a flatware set for this problem. I was very skeptical to say the least. To my surprise it helped a lot. I was able to keep soup in a spoon. The only difference is it is heavy. I transferred this to my woodworking by wearing a 1 pound wrist weight, the kind for exercising. Not a complete cure but much better. Inexpensive to boot. Give it a try.
Jim
Contributor
And thank you for such preposterous humor.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
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How I became a woodworker:
My father had what was called essential tremor in both hands that got progressively worse as he aged. He was depression-era farm boy used to doing everything by hand.
Back in the 1970’s there weren’t many hobbyist alternatives to hand cut joints. But he had sons, and he showed us how to do things and took up a management role in his own shop. The hand shake used to really frustrate him.
The domino makes me a better woodworker now, and with it I have cut so many slots that one cutter now looks like its chromed. I have made 25 doors and 30+ shutters with mine and all are still tight and solid.
[OP]
Member
Thank you for that - I will definitely give it a try!
Moderator
That's really interesting, James! My daughter's SO has a bit of a hand tremor...I may ask him to try the weight thing when he's doing "detail work" as I noticed the small shake got in the way of him using my small drill/driver when we were doing some small customizations of their teardrop travel trailer. (He's only 25 yo, too)
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Contributor
Dowels are great for a lot of things. I use them often in various applications. But "no different than a Domino" is, in my opinion, respectfully overstated. The width and length options of the Domino and the absurdly simple use/speed of the tool is what sets it apart. I can domino a complex cabinet in a very short time with perfect alignment much faster than I can with my Jessem doweling jig. In particular the wide 8m or 10mm make for excellent long-grain to long-grain glue surfaces that substantially strengthen the joint. For waterfall miters they are a godsend. True artisans do this all by hand but for us mortals the Domino gets us all the way there without the bragging rights.
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I have had essential tremor for at least 30 years making woodworking an exciting challenge. I was first diagnosed by a family doctor. He asked me if a glass of wine made it go away and when I answered yes he said essential tremor. I have since had the diagnoses confirmed by a neurologist. The tremor eventually forced me out of the lab( I am an analytical chemist) but not out of the shop. Essential tremor is quite well known these days and a neurologist can suggest ways to minimize the shaking. They include medications, surgery and in some cases botox.
Member
Having a tremor also, I sympathize with you. If you go the domino route watch the Sedge videos on the proper way to use it or you will wonder why everyone but you loves it. It's very easy to get inaccurate placement. I use it but it isn't my go to tool. Sadly, the Kreig pocket hole is right now my go to tool.
I bought the Incra router table with all the bells and whistles, and that's supposed to be insanely great for dovetails, haven't tried yet. Been busy on other projects. Maybe tonight I'll try it.
Bought the Porter Cable dovetail jig, don't bother. It requires careful lining up in two places, which I can't get quite 100%.
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Noooooooo!
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
Contributor
I would look into using metal working tools. Much better accuracy and repeatability. hands stay well away from the cutting action. The president of Grizzly uses a vertical mill for some of his hobby work.
His special wood mill is just a bridgeport style vertical mill with a slightly higher then standard rpm spindle. A worn out bridgeport will be more accurate then most new wood working machines
Bill D.
https://www.grizzly.com/products/gri...wer-feed/g9977
Last edited by Bill Dufour; 07-14-2023 at 2:13 AM.
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Making accurate mortises has always been a challenge for me. I have a CNC router for carving my logos and personalization of my products. So I decided to try carving mortises on the cnc for some walnut benches. I found the process rewarding and not at all un-woodworkingesque. Cutting accurate tenons on the table saw is fun and does not expose my lack of hand tooling talent.bench.jpgUntitled.jpg
Best mortises ever!
Ask a woodworker to "make your bed" and he/she makes a bed.
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