Domino and Chairs

[Jan Bianchi]

I'm making a set of dining room chairs to go with my madrone table and I used dominos in the protoype which I haven't glued up yet. I was advised to use the tight setting but, as all the domino threads here state, they are so tight I have to use pliers and profanity to remove them. I'm worried that they are going to be too tight, but, because they are chairs, I'm leery of doing one mortise on the tight setting and the opposing one on the looser setting.

In one thread Chris Padilla suggested scraping the dominos along sandpaper several times before using them.

Have any of you run across this problem with chairs and if so what did you do about it?

[Frank Martin]

I have not made chairs using dominoes, but try microwaving to remove some moisture from the dominoes. You won't need pliers to remove them this way.

Good luck!

[Jeff Monson]

Domino's work great on chairs, yes they are tight on the tight setting, I have a few of each size that I have sanded down for easy test fitting, when its time for glueup, I use new ones.

[Will Overton]

To dry fit a somewhat complex/heavy piece, I glue the Domino into one side of each joint. The fit is tight and still pretty easy to take apart. If there is an adjustment to be made, just cut the Domino flush and re-cut. Since they are cut from hardwood, not compressed, there should be no loss in strength.