Festool Domino Joiner - Opinions

Prairiewolf · #1 03-02-2021, 12:26 PM

Hi folks.

I recently kicked off a wide bookshelf woodworking project. The project is pretty ambitious for me as I'm a hobby woodworker (ie. I don't get paid for my projects and I don't generally make things that don't end up in my own home).

This project is based on white oak so the materials are spendy and I want it to look good. I'm basing this on a design I found online where the guy (a professional woodworker) uses the Festool domino joiner extensively, though he repeatedly mentions you can accomplish all of the joinery with a doweling jig.

My question is this. Who can provide some feedback on this tool good or bad? I have trialed a few scrap pieces with the doweling jig and its slow, and arguably tough to get precise. On the other hand, it didn't cost $1300, like the domino joiner does. Is this too much tool for a hobby woodworker?

Tungsten, · #2 03-02-2021, 12:45 PM

Bisket joiner. Porter cable makes a good one. $300 ish. Good for gluing boards together. I use it quite often. But really a dado blade for the table saw will do everything. Here what I like to do to join things

riden · #3 03-02-2021, 12:57 PM

White Oak is my favorite wood to work with. It has such a warm feel to it.

I have the older Domino, and the price tag really hurt me. Now that I have it, I absolutely love it. It's much more precise than a biscuit joiner and the strength of the joints not comparable to a biscuit at all.

Very easy to learn to use as well.

tirebob · #4 03-02-2021, 01:05 PM

Festool is pricy but damn good quality. If you can spend the money you won't be disappointed with the performance, but by no means does open need to spend that much money to get a tool that will still do the job.

No different than a car... A Honda Accord will still drive you to Toronto and back no problem, but if you like a Porsche then you like a Porsche.

FCLightning · #5 03-02-2021, 01:25 PM

I don't have a domino joiner but would like one. I currently use dowels, biscuits or mortise and tenon (using the mortising machine and tenoning jig) depending on the project, but there are lots of times when I felt the domino would be faster, more accurate or stronger than what I was using.

Tungsten, · #6 03-02-2021, 01:46 PM

I had to google it. Thought it was a bisket joiner. Guess not. Way over kill for a hobby guy. If this is for the carcass the 4 outside pieces pocket joinery is quick and easy providing you can hide the pocket. They do make plugs but you’ll see them when you stain.
The dowel jig is easy and cheap.use the centring things with the point. Spend the money you save and buy good clamps.

I haven’t looked at festool in a while. Overpriced from what I’ve seen. Plenty of good quality wood working projects have been done with just basic tools.

ghfalls · #7 03-02-2021, 06:03 PM

I’m a fan of pocket holes too. You could keep them all in the bottom side and plug the holes. Quick easy strong and cheap. Not quite as classy as a festool though. If you buy the festool, it’s likely a tool you’d have for the rest of your life and might use many more times.

pikergolf · #8 03-02-2021, 08:05 PM

Your money would be far better spent on a good dado set.

Map Maker · #9 03-03-2021, 12:31 PM

To the OP, I understand your dilemma.
I too, had to search up what a domino joiner was and was quite impressed as it is a great idea/tool.

It is a new tool and it is patent pending and hence why only festool makes it and high price.

In my opinion, your in no rush to do your project and you enjoy working with wood so do your project with the dowel jig.It will take longer but be more traditional.

Good luck.

Tungsten, · #10 03-03-2021, 05:36 PM

I always now build stuff with finished gables so it hides the screws that hold the carcasses together.I haven't built anything with a face frame in a long while.Modern styles you just dont see it much anymore.

Tungsten, · #11 03-03-2021, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairiewolf

Hi folks.

I recently kicked off a wide bookshelf woodworking project. The project is pretty ambitious for me as I'm a hobby woodworker (ie. I don't get paid for my projects and I don't generally make things that don't end up in my own home).

This project is based on white oak so the materials are spendy and I want it to look good. I'm basing this on a design I found online where the guy (a professional woodworker) uses the Festool domino joiner extensively, though he repeatedly mentions you can accomplish all of the joinery with a doweling jig.

My question is this. Who can provide some feedback on this tool good or bad? I have trialed a few scrap pieces with the doweling jig and its slow, and arguably tough to get precise. On the other hand, it didn't cost $1300, like the domino joiner does. Is this too much tool for a hobby woodworker?

Im also in Calgary,If ya want to try out my bisket joiner shoot me a message.

Gerald_G · #12 03-03-2021, 06:10 PM

Domino joints can be done with a router. There are videos on youtube. A friend of mine just did a project using a router to make domino joints.

Arty · #13 03-05-2021, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairiewolf

Hi folks.

I recently kicked off a wide bookshelf woodworking project. The project is pretty ambitious for me as I'm a hobby woodworker (ie. I don't get paid for my projects and I don't generally make things that don't end up in my own home).

This project is based on white oak so the materials are spendy and I want it to look good. I'm basing this on a design I found online where the guy (a professional woodworker) uses the Festool domino joiner extensively, though he repeatedly mentions you can accomplish all of the joinery with a doweling jig.

My question is this. Who can provide some feedback on this tool good or bad? I have trialed a few scrap pieces with the doweling jig and its slow, and arguably tough to get precise. On the other hand, it didn't cost $1300, like the domino joiner does. Is this too much tool for a hobby woodworker?

I think you're getting ahead of yourself. I haven't read anything about exactly what kind of structure you intend ('wide bookshelves' doesn't have enough information), or what has to be joined/jointed.

Is there a bookcase involved? How will the shelves be mounted and supported? How wide/long? will the shelves be, and what are the dimensions of your material? How will the forces of gravity or other forces be applied to the system? Will edge trim be involved? How precise can you get the edging - do you have a good jointer and thickness planer?

If a bookcase is involved, maybe you want to use a collection of long dado/rabbet joints or box joints, and dados to slide the shelves into, and rear side dados to slide a nice back-board into. If just edge-joining a few planks is involved then I'd turn the radial arm saw on its side so the blade is horizontal through the fence, and run an edge-groove along each plank maybe 3/8" deep. Flip the boards over so the cut is equal from both flat sides, and the correct width so they will firmly hold a flat oak strip (essentially a long biscuit). Use a few pipe clamps on a flat surface and a good glue and clamp the boards together into a wider board with the oak strip in the center of the grooves. The square edges of the boards under clamping will force the edge joint into square alignment, and the consistent height of cut of the long grooves will make the flat surfaces align. Even if the grooves are 1/8" off center, as long as they are consistent for both edges, everything will still line up.

The oak strip will give the glue something to grab onto and keep the new plank tight together. For a little more structural support the oak strip can get thicker and deeper. For best structural support however, some sort of purlin underneath the boards, or a long-edge supporting dado, or even embedded steel strips sitting on edge in a kerf between two layers of sandwiched planks might be needed.

Radial arm saws are great

Paying 1500 clams for what is essentially a wobbly router is ridiculous.

Tungsten, · #14 03-05-2021, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arty

Paying 1500 clams for what is essentially a wobbly router is ridiculous.

Lol,

Prairiewolf · #15 03-05-2021, 09:25 PM

Here's the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyGmQo2kCas

Geraldsh · #16 03-05-2021, 09:30 PM

I do like Arty and run a spline between the boards to be joined. Shelves would be fitted into dados on the sides and back.

P.S. never miss a chance to buy more tools though.

FCLightning · #17 03-05-2021, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairiewolf

Here's the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyGmQo2kCas

I don't see any reason you wouldn't be able to do a bang up job of that with one of these.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...g?item=25K6401

I built a awful lot of stuff with one of those before I wore it out.

sewerrat · #18 03-06-2021, 08:02 AM

I have a Freud biscuit jointer, which I hardly use, I have dado blades as well which I have not used, but I mostly use the Kregg pocket hole jig.

Tungsten, · #19 03-06-2021, 08:26 PM

many ways to skin a cat. I don’t see any need for that tool. The shaker style end gables get made the same as you make a door. It’s the same thing. The carcass gets screwed together so the end gables hide the screws. The toe kick gets screwed in with a block behind.
I make units like this to be disassembled so easy to move. So end gables are removable doors come off top can just be dry fitted with bisket or dowels.here’s the last one that I made.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Arty · #20 03-06-2021, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairiewolf

Here's the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyGmQo2kCas

That guy is a professional who needs to make money on each piece, as quickly as feasible. The festool & dominos and metal clips help him with it. You don't need to do that.

The dominoes are not great to hold up the potentially great weight of the bottom shelf transferred into the lower cross-members then sheared across the lower dominoes into the posts. Think several hundred pounds of textbooks or motor rotors on the shelf, then having somebody lift up the end of the cabinet and dropping it back down because it was too heavy to lift. That force impulse could snap the dominoes and break the weak end-grain glue join.

Better would be a full-width blade tenon of the front & rear bottom cross-pieces mounted vertically into a mortise of each post, and then a square tenon of each short frame cross-piece milled (90 degrees) partially into that. All glued together of course. All flush and non-visible.

The top side-rails and front/rear cross-pieces should equivalently use a castle joint. So far, no need for dominoes or dowels.

A few other things could be tweaked too. The lower shelf support and frame cross-piece(s) should be an integral piece of milled wood, not glued-on scraps. And no need for z-metal to fasten the top (unless it had to be removable); cutting a rectangular dado into the bottom of the top and cementing the top down onto it should give it more than enough strength to lift/move the whole cabinet.

Generally I like to use wood material itself and not metal fittings to support forces. So for each shelf end, it would be nice to see either a thicker side into which a blind dado could be milled for shelving, or blind dados in the posts into which the side supports could slide and be glued. For the small amount of glass there, I'd use a thicker and tempered glass maybe 4 to 6 mm with the frame milled appropriately deep. Mitered wooden stops to hold in the glass. Possibly fine screws and clear caulking instead of cement to hold in the stops, so the glass could be more easily replaced if broken. And styles and rails should be half-lapped, not dominoed or doweled. But, each to his own...