Joinery for older shaky hands

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Making accurate mortises has always been a challenge for me. I have a CNC router for carving my logos and personalization of my products. So I decided to try carving mortises on the cnc for some walnut benches. I found the process rewarding and not at all un-woodworkingesque. Cutting accurate tenons on the table saw is fun and does not expose my lack of hand tooling talent.Attachment 504263Attachment 504264

Best mortises ever!

Were you able to get square corners as second pic shows or slightly rounded corners? I see you used a 1/8 bit. Is that diameter or radius? I am not familiar with the capabilities of CNC, thus the questions.

[Michael Rutman]

Noooooooo!

I know, right! However, I'm making cabinets for my workshop right now and the Kreig pocket hole jig is perfect because the pieces I use them on are not visible. Clamped down well before screwing means that nothing shifts. It actually works really well when you have a tremor. Even the domino will sometimes misalign on me if my hand shakes at the wrong time. Imagine the frustration of a hand shake in the middle of the plunge tilting the cutter 2mm.

When you have a tremor, anything that clamps beats anything that doesn't, no matter how high quality the tool is. The domino doesn't clamp down. I still use it, don't get me wrong, and if I could clamp it down it would be my go to tool. Then again, the domino is awesome because of how fast it is, which it wouldn't be if I clamped it down for each cut.

Side topic, if clamping down before doing anything, know that clamping pieces together will shift when you tighten them, especially if you have a tremor. Practice clamping technique a lot.

[Michael Burnside]

I know, right! However, I'm making cabinets for my workshop right now and the Kreig pocket hole jig is perfect because the pieces I use them on are not visible. Clamped down well before screwing means that nothing shifts. It actually works really well when you have a tremor. Even the domino will sometimes misalign on me if my hand shakes at the wrong time. Imagine the frustration of a hand shake in the middle of the plunge tilting the cutter 2mm.

When you have a tremor, anything that clamps beats anything that doesn't, no matter how high quality the tool is. The domino doesn't clamp down. I still use it, don't get me wrong, and if I could clamp it down it would be my go to tool. Then again, the domino is awesome because of how fast it is, which it wouldn't be if I clamped it down for each cut.

Side topic, if clamping down before doing anything, know that clamping pieces together will shift when you tighten them, especially if you have a tremor. Practice clamping technique a lot.

Nothing wrong with pocket holes. The reason I didn't mention it was it didn't sound like the OP was looking for a blind tenon. Whenever I build boxes/cabinets and have a way to hide the holes I pull out my Castle USA pocket-hole router and to go town. I love that thing.

[Gordon Stump]

Were you able to get square corners as second pic shows or slightly rounded corners? I see you used a 1/8 bit. Is that diameter or radius? I am not familiar with the capabilities of CNC, thus the questions.

Slightly round. Hit with file to round the corners. 1/16" radus

[Jim Dwight]

I also have and like my DF700 domino. It was expensive but if you get just the machine without all the little tenons it is less so. I have not purchased a tenon yet but I got my machine used and the former owner included some 12mm tenons which worked well. But so do my home made tenons. I have the Seneca adapter and have made 5mm and 6mm mortises with my DF700. Works great. Especially for a small shop, the domino is a bit of a game changer. I used to have a hollow chisel mortiser, a benchtop model, and it was a lot harder to use and slower and made sloppier looking mortises. I have also used a plunge router with a spiral upcut carbide bit and it made mortises just as nice as the domino does it just takes significantly longer to use. If you are patient and want to save some money that is the method I recommend. I've also drilled out most of the waste and chopped them but that is also slow and not nearly as precise as a router or domino machine.

Another way to save money with a domino is to use "off brand" bits. I buy Amana or CMT bits and they work fine. About half the price as Festool. I am not saying they are equivalent, just that they work without issue. I think domino joints get a bad rap for strength sometimes from people that only use the relatively narrow pre-made tenons. I make tenons of the width called for in the project. If it needs to be wider, I just plunge the domino as many times as I need to. I even use it to do inletting for gun stocks. It does not take up much space and does really nice work. Now if they would stop the silly mm dimensions on it....

[Tom Bender]

Clamping can enable many tasks. Blue tape makes a great clamp.

[Mike King]

I have a domino. I also have a horizontal slot mortiser and a Multirouter. The domino can do one thing: cut mortises for loose tenon joints. It can't cut a full or half blind dovetail. It isn't real easy to use for offset tenons. It is a good tool; it just isn't a full solution.

Personally, I think a high quality router table and something like the Multirouter or its less capable inspiration (the Pantorouter) is a more complete package. The multrouter can be set up with the digital indicator to give real precision to the unit. With something like the Incra LS positioner with a Wonder Fence, you can cut all manner of dovetails. The Multirouter excels at mortise and tenon joinery and can cut dovetails and box joints as well.

There's a lot of options; what matters is what type of joinery are you really intending to do. That is the key to selecting the tools that can be of most use and versatility for you.

https://youtu.be/OKFmOGW24ms
https://youtu.be/_yuN-_XTQPY


Mike

[Vince Re]

I have had essential tremor for at least 30 years making woodworking an exciting challenge. I was first diagnosed by a family doctor. He asked me if a glass of wine made it go away and when I answered yes he said essential tremor. I have since had the diagnoses confirmed by a neurologist. The tremor eventually forced me out of the lab( I am an analytical chemist) but not out of the shop. Essential tremor is quite well known these days and a neurologist can suggest ways to minimize the shaking. They include medications, surgery and in some cases botox.

Thanks for the hopeful message...I've had essential tremor for several years now, although until recently, my symptoms were mild and only rarely an issue. Now, I've noticed that even if I'm not feeling shaky, soon as I grip a woodworking tool, my symptoms seem to get worse, making a lot of what I do in the shop harder and harder. I haven't been down the path of visiting a neurologist yet - that's coming up in the next few months for me.

Other than the frustration of not being able to do things the way I used to do them, I'm concerned because I have a few family members that were Parkinson's patients, and I worry at some point, it may be more than just my hands that jitter.

[Vince Re]

No not the Shaper Origin... the Pantorouter. Check it out - no software required.

https://www.pantorouter.com/

Thanks for the suggestion...I noticed that there are plans for a DIY pantorouter - I think I'll give that a try. Seems easily built and I can probably piece it together from stuff I have on hand already.