Domino Tenon / Breadboard

[Ryan Tea]

Hello all,

I posted this on another forum and didn't get anyone that knew the answer.

I am adding benches to my farmhouse table and want to give the domino a try. I watched several videos (Wood Whisperer being one) and unlike my top where I did the standard long tenon, pins, room for expansion, etc, etc, etc, I wanted to give the domino a try.

My question is......Can I put my "tight" domino directly in the center of my joined boards?

Meaning, I have (2) 7" Chestnut boards (4/4 thick) that are glued up to give me a 14" seat. I did not know how I felt adding a domino directly to the center where the boards are joined. The other subsequent dominos will be on the "loose" setting for the breadboard side and also pinned.

Just curious if anyone ever "drilled" for lack of better words, directly into a glued joint 25mm deep? Thanks!

[David J Blackburn]

I've dominoed aprons into legs that were laminated from thinner boards, right on the glue line. It's slightly different, maybe, but it's rock solid.

[Ryan Tea]

I've dominoed aprons into legs that were laminated from thinner boards, right on the glue line. It's slightly different, maybe, but it's rock solid.

Thank you David. This is exactly what I was looking for; someone that has already done this.

[Frank Martin]

I don't see any problems with this approach. If you are too worried (I would not be) you can put the center domino a bit off the center.

[Jerry Miner]

If you have a good glue joint, there should be no problem with the center Domino.

But I wonder how you plan to allow for expansion by pinning a Domino into the "loose" slot. Granted, in a 14" bench, fixed in the center, there will be little movement. How wide of a slot for the pin are you planning in the Domino?

[Prashun Patel]

I have this arrangement on my workbench. A couple of my dominos were right through the glue joint. The joint has not been affected adversely.

[Erik Christensen]

I have done as you are thinking about a number of times and have not had a bad experience. I have also had domino's @ 90 degrees where the end of one is slightly inset into the other that was glued first. As long as the wood the domino mortise is cut into is void free a glue line has been a non-factor.