Domino, Domino, everywhere a Domino

[Jimmy Harris]

Yeah, they're definitely popular right now. It's hard to start a woodworking YouTube channel without one.

But you don't have to buy and use one if you don't want to. I have a biscuit joiner that hasn't seen the light of day in at least 15 years. I also have some doweling jigs that I hate to use. So I would have no use for one. But if someone else wants to buy and use one, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I'm sure lots of people will say they're indispensable to their workflow. And that's a perfectly valid point of view.

[jack duren]

Easy point. If you like fast, it’s the way to go,,

[Patrick Varley]

The other thing I think happens is that said hobbyists latch onto it because of how prevalent it is in those channels/videos. I wonder if these hobbyists with $1500 to burn would be better off with a Pantorouter. Then you can get more than just floating M/T.

[jack duren]

When I worked at the furniture company they bought two to speed things up. I didn’t care as I always say it’s just a wide dowel..

[mike stenson]

Dowels have always been narrow tenons.


I guess jack's being elitist today.


btw, ALL powered machines exist ONLY to speed things up. No one wants to pay for handwork.

[Myles Moran]

If I had to pay myself an hourly wage in my shop I'd have bought one years ago. Otherwise my plunge router gets me there, just a bit slower though. Or my dowel jig.

[Cameron Wood]

Making a spinning cutter that oscillates is not a cheap tool. The domino came out in 2007. Why would China wait 17 years if they were going to make one?

Patent protections?

[jack duren]

I still believe in M&T for high end..I have considered one for my small shop cause I’ve become lazy

[andrew whicker]

Bringing a tool to the piece vs the other way around is big positive for a lot of methods. This is one of those methods in my opinion. And it's nice when you're clamping a big table top together and don't have a wide belt sander / want to keep as much thickness as possible after sanding. I don't think you can do that with a panto-router??

I use them a lot. I don't think they are as "wow" as they are marketed, but they are pretty darn handy and fast. There are things that don't need joinery other than butt + tenon. I will say that if there is something out there does a dowel in the same tool like body for half the price or less, that would be pretty awesome. I already have the domino, so I'll stick with what I got, but a simple dowel would work for me. I never use them for 100% strength reasons and more for alignment w/ extra strength as an added bonus.

I've joined a lot of plywood w/ dominoes. Just did that on my assembly table to make it bigger than a 4x8 top in fact. Worked great.

The price tag is high. I got mine back when I was a "wealthy" engineer : ) Now I wonder what it's like to be able to afford (almost) whatever you want! lol.


I'll also say that many sing the praises for the Lamello joiner which is kinda / sorta the same thing but from a company that has wider acceptance as a "whatever they make is amazing", so I'm not sure that some of the hate isn't just Festool hate. And trust me, I'm one to join the Festool hate club when discussing some of their design choices. But the domino machine seems dialed in to me.

[jack duren]

I’m surprised there aren’t more brands. How long can Festool stop other manufactures from,making it?

I’ve seen the Domino fail, so I’m not 100% behind it

[mike stenson]

I’m surprised there aren’t more brands. How long can Festool stop other manufactures from,making it?

Patents last 20 years in the US.

[Andrew Hughes]

If they sold a domino knock off at harbor freight would you buy it?
I’m thinking you would
I sometimes use my domino to make a mortise then cut the integral tenon of the make part.
It sure beats a router

[Cameron Wood]

I've recently found it handy to make screw slots to allow for wood movement. Drill the rest of the way into a back up scrap as needed.

[jack duren]

I’ve considered selling a few things to buy one…

[Patrick Varley]

If they sold a domino knock off at harbor freight would you buy it?
I’m thinking you would
I sometimes use my domino to make a mortise then cut the integral tenon of the make part.
It sure beats a router

I wouldn't. But only because I doubt they could hit the tolerances required to make it operate as effectively as you hope (at the bargain price point). That's the thing about the Domino. It does feel like a "precision" tool because there isn't really a middle ground. If it's a bit off, you might as well not use it.

It's the same reason why there's a Mafell doweler that costs $1500, and the Grizzly/Triton dowelers that look similar but cost $250 get crappy reviews.