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 Festool’s Domino Joining System is definitely one of those dream tools you wish someone would come up with and then you find out, “Viola - - someone has!” They broke the mold when they created this tool – but heed - Festool did not simply create another joiner, they created an entire joining system.
The Domino® differs from other joiner tools mainly because of its superior accuracy and the strong joints it produces in a variety of sizes. This tool system also lessens the amount of manual marking you need to make (and its’ potential for accumulated errors). You can also vary the slot width, which allows some margin for positional error, while still allowing the joint to close properly.
Master furniture maker Jerry Work describes it best in his manual Getting the Most from the Festool Domino Machine (available for .PDF download at: www.FestoolUSA.com). ”The Domino machine solves a whole range of woodworking issues from joining two pieces of wood in all six ways one can joint two pieces together, to handling a myriad of wood movement problems that are always a part of building with solid woods, to precisely aligning two or more components during assembly operations, to making hidden latches, stops and door slides, and much more.”
This pertinent question was extracted from the FestoolUSA.com site:
Q: How does the Domino® joiner differ from a biscuit joiner?
A: A biscuit joiner uses a saw blade to cut kerfs that you insert a biscuit comprised of compressed beech shavings. The biscuit has a loose fit as it expands significantly when glued. A biscuit is helpful when indexing a work piece, but cannot be used for exact registration. The biscuit size generally limits application to wider stock. The joint is not strong enough for certain furniture applications.
The Domino® joiner uses a router bit which both spins and sweeps from side to side to carve out a mortise in which you insert a solid beech Domino® tenon. There are three width settings which allow you to use the Domino for exact registration, or a looser fit for ease of assembly. You can use a Domino® tenon to join members that are as small as 7/8” by 5/8”, and you can use the largest Domino® tenon or combinations of Domino® tenons for larger furniture pieces. So face frames, tables and chairs can be joined using the Domino® system. The joint is extremely strong – the solid beech Domino® tenon has great sheer strength and provides ample glue surface for a solid joint.
A few downsides that we’ve found about the tool include the metric controls; you’ll need to have a metric ruler. And, it’s expensive. But - like most German-engineered products, the quality matches the price tag. It is definitely a tool worth investigating.
Additional Festool Domino Resources
Please tell us your story below about what you used the Festool Domino for – or what you’d like to use it to make if we could give away one for free ;0) ~ ~ you never know !
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