Dowels, Biscuits or Dominos?

[Jeff Erbele]

In preparing my shopping list to equip and set up shop I am considering joining methods and systems.

My concerns are buying multiple systems that basically do the same thing; later learning I gravitate to one and never use the others, or could get by without them.

My budget profile - I don’t mind spending money on quality tools and equipment. Nothing bothers me more than buying cheap junk that disappoints, tossing it and replacing it with a quality item I wish I had bought in the first place.

For exposed joinery on the bottom or back side of projects, a pocket screw system is on my list. Krieg is the only one I am aware.

For hidden joinery I am considering doweling, splines, biscuits (basically a spline system), and dominos. Did I overlook anything?

Which do you use and why?
Considering the attributes of each, strength, adaptability to a variety of projects & applications, speed, ease of use, accuracy (location and fit), capital costs (the initial system) and cost of the consumables.

Have you purchased one system and abandoned it for another?

Dominos are enticing, perhaps the strongest but cost the most up front and per each one. Further they perhaps are not the solution for lighter, thinner projects like a picture frame where an inexpensive spline would be a better choice. My project list includes a wide variety, cabinets, counter tops, furniture, tables, book cases, and smaller things like picture frames and jewelry boxes.

I struggle the most with biscuits vs dominos. Do I need both systems?
If I need splines I can saw those and the slot they go in. If I need to dowels, I can drill vertical, horizontal or angled holes easily on my Shopsmith.

[Mikail Khan]

I have a Kreg kit, biscuit joiner and a domino. After getting the domino I no longer use the biscuit joiner. I rarely use the Kreg because I don't want screws exposed even on the back or underside of most projects.

MK

[Loren Woirhaye]

Many discussions of modern joinery methods fixate on which one is "strongest". I'll suggest they are all strong enough for most work if used intelligently.

I have doweling equipment and use it for right angle joinery. While it's not an issue for a hobby user, a tool that has you using your muscle to push the cutter into the work gets fatiguing. Drilling holes with a drill jig is not very tiresome but I've found handling a biscuit joiner to be and I assume the domino requires some repetitive motion as well. The things I like the most about dowels is the dead-on alignment, cheapness of dowels and that the drill is not that tiresome to use. I acquired a Ritter single spindle dowel drill which has a pneumatic double action which clamps the work to the table, then plunges the running bit into the work. The speed and precision is very nice. Lots of cabinet shops used to use them and have now gone over to pocket screws. The Domino is the tool of the moment and it is without doubt a neat machine and fun to use. An interesting aspect of doweling is that clamping is straightforward and often not needed. I expect with Dominos there is more fussing with clamps, as with biscuits, due to minor fluctuations in part alignment.

I use biscuits occasionally for angled joinery because the tilting fence allows me to index the cut on the narrow face of a part that may not be otherwise square. I've been making chairs and using biscuits because of this feature of the tool. I have a dowel joiner too which has a similar fence and can do the same sort of thing but the biscuits are a little more forgiving. The dowel joiner is not something most people would go after because they are not cheap and the domino is around now, but it is precise and I use it mostly for drilling shelf pin holes on 32mm centers.

[Max Neu]

I use pocket screws,domino's and very rarely biscuits,no dowels.I build custom cabinets,so I mostly use pocket screws,from a Ritter machine.I could live without the Domino's,but it is nice having it.If you don't do a ton of pocket screws,I would just get a hand held Kreg jig,and then get a Domino cutter.Domino's are alot more versatile than biscuits,you can go from a tiny little 4mm up to a large 10mm (with the DF500).If you are worried about the price of Domino's,they are easy to make,but I don't find it worth the time though.

[Prashun Patel]

IMHO, your biggest bang for the buck will be the Jessem dowel jig.
Domino and Biscuit joiners are nice because their fence can be angled. However, in practice, 95% of the joinery I do is 90 degrees.

The Domino has other subtle versatility too, but for many, that benefit is marginal.

I agree with the assertion that for most practical applications, dowels are a reasonable choice. I think they are preferable to pocket screws in all visible applications.

If you are planning to make a lot of cabinets with faceframes, it's quite hard to beat the speed that pocket screws afford, so if that's what you'll be doing, get one of those. If you go the Kreg route, I prefer the mini version that can be taken to the piece; I have one of the bigger sets that gets bolted to a bench, but it's a pain to use on bigger sheets, so I end up taking it off and to the piece anyway.

[Bill Huber]

I am a hobby woodworker and don't make a lot of furniture or cabinets. The furniture I do make I have used dowels on and it has worked very well for me. I have made some cabinets and again I used dowels. I have the Jessem doweling jig and it is very accurate and easy to use.

There have been many test about dowels and M/T, which one is stronger, I can't answer that but for everything that I have made with dowels it is still holding and still looks good.

I have a biscuit jointer but I just never use it, I guess I should just sell it. I just found that it was not that good for my needs. When making panels the dowels are great, and will line the boards up spot on, the biscuits just don't do that for me.

I think the Domino is a really nice tool but for hobby use I just can't see the money in it. I looked at it and then got a new band saw for the same money. If I was doing production work I think the Domino would pay for itself very fast.

Cutting M/T is just something I have not done, they are hidden so for all the work I just use dowels and no one knows the difference. I have made some loose tenons and made the mortise with a router and that worked but again it took a lot longer and I really did not see the difference in them and dowels.

So I guess the bottom line for me is dowels are strong, accurate and very fast to install with a good jig.

Good Luck.

[Keith Hankins]

Well, I've used owned all you mention. And I'll ad one you could consider slot mortising. I've owned doweling jigs, biscuit jointers, slot mortising, and the domino. I started with dowels and a jig. Bought a PC biscuit jointer, did a good bit of slot mortising with both the router and a horizontal boring machine with a router bit. I only in the last couple of year purchased an actual powermatic 719T big M&T machine(sold the domino to help pay for that). Of all of them, I would say the domino would have the best strength, but if the joint is designed right that's splittin hairs IMO. Domino is good used it for a good bit but its really expensive. On the positive side, I sold it for just about what I paid for it. For M&T now that I have it the Mortising machine is the best, but starting out, that could be really expensive. I did use the other methods mentioned for joining panels as well. Now though I've found thats just not necessary. With modern glues, and some practice, IMO it just adds unnecessary time and steps. I get them close on glue up and finish with a planer (depending on width) or hand plane and scraper now in a jiffy. I don't use the kreg because I don't do cabinet face frames but the could be a time saver I guess. If it were me, and starting up and needing a lot of tools, I'd skip all of what you listed. Get a good router and do slot mortising. Then you have a good router and dual capability. Of course that's just my opinion. That and a buck fifty will get you a cup of coffee. Take care.

[Matt Meiser]

I bought a biscuit joiner because Norm said I should and I did use it a fair bit but over the years I owned it it evolved into more of an alignment aid than a joiner. I also had a mortiser and a tenon jig for my table saw.

When the Dowelmax came out I ordered one. It was nicely made but a pretty messy and its not infinitely adjustable. I returned it after a couple weeks and bought a Domino.

The Domino, I love and it truly has changed the way I work. Not too long after getting the Domino I built a dresser for my daughter and used nothing but Domino joinery. Even the drawers joined with Dominoes. Sometimes I use Dominoes for actual loose tenon joints, other times I use them for alignment aids, for example, instead of cutting rabbets and dado's in cabinet boxes I've gone to using Dominoes at each corner. I don't bother gluing them, but they make it easy to hold the box in shape while I screw it together. To the original Domino I added Tool Improvements' aluminum spacers, Seneca's Dominplate and recently the RTS Engineering self-centering jig. Since buying the Domino I sold the mortiser and tenon jig. A couple rare times I have done larger M&T joints and just used forstner bits and chisels to make mortises and cut the shoulders for the tenons on my TS and the cheeks on my BS then fit them using a plane. Dominos have even replaced a few places I used to use pocket screws, including faceframes which I can make quicker and more accurately with Dominoes. And Dominoes make a better 45 degree joint than Kreg's recommended method for pocket hole screws.

Should anyone question the strength of Dominoes, I'll submit this....Shortly after I got it 6 years ago my daughter wanted to make something out of some scraps she gathered in my shop. She wanted me to attach 4 12" or so long 1x2's between 2 pieces of 3/4" ply that are maybe 10x20". I put one 5mm domino in each end of the 1x2's and into the ply top and bottom so it looks kind of like a table with a at each end of the legs. 6 years later she still has this thing and has used it as a chair, a stepstool and who knows what else. Its still just as it was the day I made it.

[Mike Henderson]

I like Mortise and Tenon because it's a good strong joint. So the Domino or slot mortiser is my choice. Biscuits and dowels may be good for alignment but are definitely not as strong as M&T.

Mike

[John TenEyck]

You might consider my shop built horizontal router mortiser. https://sites.google.com/site/jteney...outer-mortiser You will not find a machine that is as accurate, fast, versatile, or easy to use for about $50 and 8 hours of your time.

John

[Matt Meiser]

One thing to note though...not as strong and not strong enough are second cousins. I also made a set of end tables and a very large coffee/play table (top is 3x4) for our family room. My daughter drags or shoves the coffee table out of the way all the time. ALL the joinery on those things is pocket hole screws. That might be one of the first projects I did when we moved here 10 years ago since we had no furniture for that room. Also still as good as the day I made it other than quite a few dents and a few marker and/or crayon marks here and there.

[Phil Thien]

I vote for all three.

I have the Jessem doweling jig and it works great, fantastic registration and grate for (for example) attaching table aprons to legs.

I also have a biscuit jointer and it is terrific for cabinet boxes (think plywood kitchen cabinets). Fast, strong, and biscuits are inexpensive.

I would like a Domino, but will have to wait for a while yet. I think the Domino would be handy for a lot of finer furniture work, but is expensive and for the time being I use my shop-made mortising jig or another method. When does that Domino patent expire? LOL.

Oh, and I also use pocket screws and after I finally got the hang of assembling stuff (you just have to clamp the snot out of pieces so nothing can shift when driving the screws in), I upgraded my pocket hole jig to the newest K5 (the one that returns front-clamping).

[Mike Henderson]

I have the Jessem doweling jig and it works great, fantastic registration and great for (for example) attaching table aprons to legs.

Two joints that take great stress are the joint between the side rail of a chair and the back, and between the apron and leg of a table. The chair joint gets a lot of stress when people tip back on the chair, and the leg to apron joint gets a lot of stress when people move a table my sliding it along the floor.

It would be wise to choose the strongest joinery for each of those joints to achieve the longest life for the project. And the strongest joinery for both of those is mortise and tenon.

Mike

[Prashun Patel]

Wait a second, Phil!!!! Wasn't it you who hot-rodded the Rockler dowel jig? Now I hear that you're cheating on the side with the Jessem? I'm shocked!

[Mike Goetzke]

I bought a Domino joiner just about when they first came out (anyone remember Bing cash back). They may have corrected it by now but mine got sent back because the fence didn't lock down initially. I'm a serious woodworking hobbyist and found I use pocket screws way more often than a small tenon. I ended up selling the Domino for what I paid for it and haven't missed it a bit. I did pick up a new Type 3 P-C joiner (just in case) for less than $100 and it sits most of the time too.


Mike