The Domino is a loose mortise and tenon

Mortise and tenon

The mortise and tenon joint has been used for thousands of years by woodworkers around the world to join pieces of wood, mainly when the adjoining pieces connect at an angle of 90°. In its basic form it is both simple and strong. Although there are many joint variations, the basic mortise and tenon...

 joining

Woodworking joints

Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining together pieces of wood, to create furniture, structures, toys, and other items. Some wood joints employ fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, while others use only wood elements. The characteristics of wooden joints - strength, flexibility,...

 tool manufactured by the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 company Festool

Festool

Festool is one of the world's leading producers of high end power tools especially for cabinetry. It is located in Wendlingen, Germany, where all its power tools are produced...

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History and description

This tool, first on sale in 2006, cuts mortises in the manner of a biscuit joiner

Biscuit joiner

A biscuit joiner or sometimes plate joiner is a woodworking tool used to join two pieces of wood together. A biscuit joiner uses a small tungsten carbide tipped, circular saw blade to cut a crescent shaped hole in the opposite edges of two pieces of wood or wood composite panels...

. Each plunge creates a mortise that is sized to accept a Domino loose tenon, creating joints in stock from 22.2 millimetre (0.874015748031496 in) wide. There are five cutter sizes (4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm and 10mm) for five different Domino tenon sizes. Self-referencing pins allow the cutting of rows of evenly spaced mortises with no need to measure and mark. Mortise width is adjustable in three increments with the turn of a knob, and cuts can be overlapped for long mortises. Fence tilts from 0-90°, with stop positions at 0°, 22.5°, 45°, 67.5°, 90°.

Advantages

• Allows very quick joinery, useful in a commercial carpentry setting.
• Flat tenons resists torquing.
• Stronger than a biscuit

Disadvantages

• High tool cost comparative to other joinery methods
• Proprietary tenons (dowels) required
• Brushes (motor) and bits will wear out in time
• Noise and dust (dust extraction required)
• Mortises overcut (i.e. the mortise is visibly larger than the domino) reducing strength.

See also

• Biscuit joiner
  Biscuit joiner
  A biscuit joiner or sometimes plate joiner is a woodworking tool used to join two pieces of wood together. A biscuit joiner uses a small tungsten carbide tipped, circular saw blade to cut a crescent shaped hole in the opposite edges of two pieces of wood or wood composite panels...
  
   — general page on biscuit joinery methods
• Dowelmax
  Dowelmax
  The Dowelmax is a loose tenon dowelling jig manufactured by the O.M.S. Tool company in Canada. The manufacturer claims that the small manufacturing tolerances of for the aluminium, brass and steel components of the jig ensure accuracy and repeatability...
  
  — another loose tenon joinery system

External links

• www.festool.net — Manufacturer's official international website
• festoolusa.com — the Domino page at the Festool USA site