Obscure tip request: removing Dominos

[David Peters]

Due in no small part to my novice skill-level, I'm sure, during the course of constructing a chest of drawers I had to assemble/disassemble the joinery several times. I suspect, however, that most projects require at least one dry-fit and disassembly prior to glue-up.

What techniques have you found for removing Dominos from both mortises? I realize that isn't always necessary, but when it is, what do you do?

I've tried a few things, in rough order of success rate:

1) Hold the piece in one hand, pull out the Domino with the other. This works perhaps 15% of the time. I also probably hit myself in the face with my hand 5% of the time :)

2) Put the piece on the floor, use foot for leverage, pull Domino out with hands and/or pliers. This works more often, requires more grunt, has resulted in a few imprints in the wood along the way (stepping on the piece which is on top of chips of wood, for example), but no less frequently do I hit myself with the recoil :rolleyes:

3) Put the piece in a vise, pull out with pliers. Not much better. Now my gut takes the occasional beating :D

4) Using any of the techniques above, wiggle the Domino back and forth rather than pulling it straight out. While this eventually works, it's really tedious especially for the tighter-fitting Dominos. After the 20th wiggle of the 8th Domino to remove, things get a little, shall we say, old.

5) Use bent-nose pliers and/or vise grips, lever the Domino out on a fulcrum. This works pretty well however it requires a *lot* of force, and frequently chews up the Domino pretty badly (especially with the vise grips).

None of these solutions seem as easy as it should be. I'm sure someone, perhaps most of you, have figured out a better way. For all I know, Festool sells the Domextractor which clips on the end of the Toolie Tool ;)

My next project calls for approximately 100 Dominos so I'm keenly interested in a solution, to say the least!

[Jeff Wright]

I've also found this to be annoying, to the point at times where I elect not to do a dry fit. I am thinking on my next project involving the Domino where dry fit is called for to lightly sand the sides of the dominos to slim them up a bit.

I'm sure you do as I do . . . you make sure to keep the dominos securely wrapped in their plastic bags to prevent them from absorbing moisture and swelling even bigger making them all the more difficult to pull out of their mortises.

[Rob Wright]

David,

I have read on the FOG that people will lightly sand a few dominos and mark them for DRY ASSEMBLY ONLY with a sharpie marker and stain a different color to prevent use in assembly. They only use these for checking the assembly. When you need to take them out - only hand pressure is needed and they are sored in the open for quick use.

I don't have a Domino (yet :rolleyes:) but have played with one and I think that is just the ticket....

- Rob

[Matt Meiser]

I've read the sanding tip too. I haven't had much trouble getting Dominos out by grabbing them with a small pair of channel-lock type pliers so far, but so far I've only done relatively simple assemblies. I also have only been dry fitting with a few Dominos. For example the face frame I just glued to the carcase on a 6' tall book case, I used 10 Dominos per side, but only used three or four during fit up.

[Randy Klein]

What I do for pieces that are on the smaller side is clamp the domino into the vise and pull the piece off it. It's much harder the other way since the domino is so small.

For pieces that are too large to make the above operation practical I clamp the piece in the vise and use wooden hand screw clamps to pinch the Domino and then pull it out.

I've tried many other methods, but they all tend to destroy the domino in some fashion or another.

[Eric DeSilva]

I ran into similar problems. I think I read on the Festool forum that some people simply used the next larger domino cutter size and argued the joint strength wasn't significantly diminished. Or, used mostly the next larger size and left a couple of the proper size for alignment. Haven't tried it yet.

[Dan Lee]

I have pretty good luck using the claw of a hammer.

[Bruce Pennell]

Grab the domino with a pair of pliers and pull, use a slight wiggle motion. If I was doing a big glue up I'd use the sand and mark method.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I do not have a Domino joiner, so this is all conjecture.

If I were going to use those for dry assembly, I think it reasonable to sand them a few passes, to make them narrower, but the other thing you could do is drill a hole through the domino, large enough for the shaft of a screwdriver or a nailset to use for pulling them out. The holes would make it easier to remove them, and I suspect, would decrease the surface tension between the mortise and the tenon, so they would come out easier. It would also give you better leverage.

Perhaps someone could tell us if that would adversely affect the strength of the joint, as the sides of the tenons would still be available for gluing, should you forget and mistakenly use them?

Doc

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Make sure you are pulling straight out, I.E., 90 degrees to the work piece. I use a pair of pliers and pull and pull then change angle slightly and it comes right out.
Also, when using a lot of dominos, try gluing just one side of one domino into one piece and letting it dry before applying glue to the opposing side and adjacent edges. Extends glue's open time and greatly reduces stress. :(
If you try dry fitting after one side is glued up and dried, and it doesn't look good for one reason or the other, you can cut off the protruding domino and re-mill.

[Bill Wyko]

For a dry fit I usually sand down the dominos slightly. I have about a dozzen set aside for this. What ever you do, don't get them wet.:D They stick like glue.

[Glen Blanchard]

I use pliers, but I have heard of some folks making their own Dominoes (slightly undersized) to be used for dry-fits.

[Rick Christopherson]

Grasp the Domino lightly with a pliers, but then tap the pliers with a hammer.

[Dave Stuve]

I made some 'dry assembly' dominoes

1) round the edges first: you'll notice the dominos have pretty sharp edges like this: <> I put a couple in a vise and then give them a light squeeze to round the edges a bit. They go in/out much easier

2) if you need to , give the flat sides a light sandinging and they'll slip in/out easier (haven't needed to do this often.)

Dave

[Jesse Cloud]

Claw hammer works great, but protect your workpiece with a piece of scrap where the hammer levers against it. A set of sanded-down domis for dry fit is also a good idea. They have been using that technique with dowels for many many years.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I don't own any fester tools, but it sounds a lot like trying to pull a bearing race out of a press fit without damaging it.

How about this: Drill a small hole through the exposed tongue of the domino. Slip a slide hammer through the hole, knock out.

A small hole won't interfere with the strength of the glued up joint, and the slide hammer won't mar anything except the hole.

[Loren Blount]

Try re-plunging the domino in the mortice a second time. This seems to make the mortice a few thousands larger on my Domino, also use the middle width setting if you have room. These tips seem to work on my Domino about 75% of the time, however some domino's are still hard to remove. I suspect they have swelled slightly due to humidity or the manufacturing process.


Loren