Domino and Biscuit Joiner

[Handplanesandmore]

It excels with mitres (where a domino would be risky and also not offer the same length of support).
Regards from Perth

Derek

Not sure what you meant by risky. Risky on the first few times the tool is used? For larger miters, double tenons can be used if needed. I already mentioned people could use a jig to cut deadly precise mortises on miters like the mafell but unlike biscuits which could shift.

Not commonly known or used, a domino joiner can be shimmed to cut wide but shallow mortises. A local custom shop guy here uses dominoes for everything miters. He does it for a living, and never complains about miter strengths.

Simon

[Derek Cohen]

Simon, if one is going to do daily production work, and build a jig for each joint, then you can make anything work. However, if you only plan to do a few, then you want to use the tool that requires the least set up. In this situation, I would find it is easier to reinforce a shallow mitre with a biscuit than with a domino.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Capel Sion]

I used a Mafell biscuit joiner for many years. Most of the picture frames hanging about the house had their mitres reinforced with a biscuit. Ditto various mitred door and case frames or facings. However, even the smallest biscuit was too wide for some mitred frames - those of the plain and slim kind with mitred edges too short to avoid the biscuit ends showing at the frame corners. They got the right-angled framing nails.

The smaller Domino, however, avoids this problem if the 4mm thick doms are used.  They're only 17mm wide whereas the smallest biscuits (size 0) are 47mm wide.

No jigs are needed for either the biscuit joiner or the Domino, to put in the slots at the end of mitred pieces, even small or narrow pieces.  If the piece is accurately marked, strapped to the benchtop and has machine-supporting scrap bits placed either side of the mitred piece to be cut into, the slots can be made accurately.  (I suppose you can call the scrap bits a jig).

I sold the Mafell biscuit joiner years ago. It sold for exactly the same price (£200) that I paid for it new 8 years before.  This is one advantage of buying up-market WW tools - they sell (after a few years) for what you paid for them new .... perhaps even more. In an age where interest rates on savings are near-zero, that's a feature worth considering when buying tools.  It's like hiring them for nothing.

If I ever sell the Domino machines, I expect to get what I paid for them too. Not that I ever will sell them. They're too versatile.  :-)

[Handplanesandmore]

You're absolutely correct that the domino joiner can do miters without any jig. I never do. I mentioned jigs to highlight the fact that they're options people use to streamline their joinery  process with dead precision and without marking any lines.

Miter joints are one of the very basic applications of a domino joiner shown in the tool manual and in festool videos.

Simon

[rwe2156]

This is going to sound funny, but the Domino was not the big "game changer" I thought it was going to be, not for my shop and my work methods.   I get better joint alignment using my biscuit joiner than the Domino.

I simply cannot get the "perfect" alignment everyone talks about.  I've tried not using the fence and registering of the bottom but it doesn't matter how careful I am, it seems I'm always be disappointed with an $800 tool.  I've thought about the Domiplate, but don't want to spend money b/c I'm going to sell it.

I use it so infrequently anymore I'm going to sell it.

[AHill]

Time to ruffle some feathers. You don't need a biscuit joiner if you have a domino joiner. Sell your biscuit joiner so it can be put to good use by someone who does. Use the proceeds to buy more tenons.


Simon

You are correct.  You don't "need" one, but I will contend that unless you make your own loose tenons, a biscuit joiner is far less expensive to use to align panels for glue-up than using Festool Dominos.  Neither tool has a speed advantage over the other for that purpose.

[Cabinet Monkey]

You are correct.  You don't "need" one, but I will contend that unless you make your own loose tenons, a biscuit joiner is far less expensive to use to align panels for glue-up than using Festool Dominos.  Neither tool has a speed advantage over the other for that purpose.

Even if you make your own dominos/tenons, biscuits and their joiner are still cheaper.  And that's even if you value your time at $0 an hour.

[Handplanesandmore]

I simply cannot get the "perfect" alignment everyone talks about.

This is not an uncommon story found in the festool forum. One guy recently exchanged his new domino joiner three (yes 3!) times before he was grudgingly happy with his purchase. He shared all his test cuts on the forum. He was may I say beyond being patient.

Sometimes it's user errors or skill issues. But frankly, festool machines are either dead on or lemon like, Its quality management process is second rate given the price points of its products.

If you bought your domino joiner years back, given the annual price increase practice of festool, you should be able to get back most of what you paid for it. If it's a pin version, you could even ask for more.

Simon

[Handplanesandmore]

You are correct.  You don't "need" one, but I will contend that unless you make your own loose tenons, a biscuit joiner is far less expensive to use to align panels for glue-up than using Festool Dominos.  Neither tool has a speed advantage over the other for that purpose.

Even if you make your own dominos/tenons, biscuits and their joiner are still cheaper.  And that's even if you value your time at $0 an hour.

Festool doesn't compete on price. Look at its kapex.

Honestly the domino joiner is underpriced because there are no comparable alternatives (as one single machine) to it. It's pretty much like the sawstop technology for the cabinet saw segment. The biscuit joiner is more for alignment or for very light duty joints. No one builds a door or bed or chair (......or even a balcony!!!!) with a biscuit joiner as some do with the domino joiner.

I agree the biscuit joiner bests the domino in terms of price. No one should deny that fact.

Simon

[bhh]

Even if you make your own dominos/tenons, biscuits and their joiner are still cheaper.  And that's even if you value your time at $0 an hour.

I make a lot of things from large casework to small boxes, but the "cost per project" of a Domino, considering the tool(s), bits, and dominos,  is not something I can cost-justify.  Particularly at my age.  I have used a biscuit joiner extensively and never had a failure.  Well, except for the time I forgot to change from #20 and put a slot in the top of my workbench.