Hot take: my domino joiner was making my joints worse

I had a chat with an old cabinetmaker last Tuesday at the lumber yard. He watched me cutting tenons and said I was relying too much on the Domino instead of learning proper joinery. He showed me how a simple hand cut mortise and tenon can actually be faster once you get the reps in. Made me realize I was using the tool as a crutch instead of a helper. Anybody else ever get called out like that by a veteran in the shop?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordan_webb21h agoProlific Poster

And @hayden144 hit it right on the head. I remember when I first got my Domino I thought I was a woodworking god, then I spent an entire weekend trying to domino a set of drawer boxes and ended up with joints that looked like a toddler assembled them. The old guy at the shop just shook his head and handed me a chisel. Pretty humbling when a 70 year old can cut a mortise by hand faster than you can set up your fancy machine.

hayden1441d ago

Using it as a crutch is exactly right... tools don't fix bad technique.

riley_miller2518h ago

Lol "a toddler assembled them" that's basically what happened to me too. I spent like two hours trying to line up dominoes for a set of cabinet doors and ended up with gaps you could park a truck in. The old guy at my shop didn't even say anything, just looked at me like I'd murdered his dog and walked away. Honestly wish someone had handed me a chisel instead of letting me keep messing with that thing. It's almost funny how fast you can screw up a project with a machine that's supposed to make it easier.