Anyone made their own Dominos?

[Lou Miller]

I'm also wondering if there is a reason why you'd even have to round many of them over? According to what I've read, the tool is designed to make the first mortise a snug fit.

Howdy Lou. I make my own tenons and its very cost effective. I havnt bought any for over 5 months and i have solved a big scrap wood problem.

The size i make most is 55 x 32 x 10mm and i dont bother with rounding over, instead i set the fence on the jointer at 45deg and set the scale to 1/8th and chamfer all 4 sides. The chamfer is  "perfect" for excess glue to escape and the small flat on the end locks into the rounded mortice just beautifully. And i usualy dock a bunch of 6 or 7 at a time on the cross cut sled, so its quick and safe.

The longer you all have and use your beloved Domi the more you will find unusual things to do with it. And that means using heaps and heaps more Domis than you would have thought. So it dose start to add up in the $$$$ so it makes perfect sence to save all those 10mm + strips you rip, and once a month spend a lazy sunday morning and rip up a few hundred tenons  ;D

Thanks Tezzer. I'm not too concerned over the $$$. By the time you factor in your time and utilities, the cost of buying Dominos vs. making them has got to be very close to equal. However, like you said, the best reason for me is to use up all the scrap. A lazy Sunday morning is exactly when I'll make mine too. Okay, maybe at 3AM when I can't sleep some nights, but most of the time it will be on lazy Sundays...

 

[Warrior]

Lou and Tezzer,

I have made a few hundred tenons myself out of scrap sapele and A. mahogany. I ripped the thickness slightly oversize then ran them all through the thickness planer.
Am I creating an extra step not needed by running them through the planer?

Also, how is bevelling on the jointer faster than rounding over with the closest imp roundover bit on the R table?

With the tenons bevelled vs rounded; does that affect the positive placement or joint registration you get when using the rounded tenons or festool tenons?

Thanks,
Eiji

 

[Tezzer]

Also, how is bevelling on the jointer faster than rounding over with the closest imp roundover bit on the R table?

With the tenons bevelled vs rounded; does that affect the positive placement or joint registration you get when using the rounded tenons or festool tenons?

Thanks,
Eiji

Eiji, i use the jointer besause its next to the thicknesser and i do them at the same time (and i hate routers) plus the chamfer is an escape for glue, where the rounded router ones are tight. Festool ones just like normal dowels have compressed ribs and none of us will go to that much trouble.

And the affect the positive placement registration isnt an issue. They fit very well. Some might like to round some might like to chamfer, at the end of the day both work

 

[ROb McGilp]

Hi all,
With regards to cost savings and making your own dominoes, the biggest advantage I see in chamfering is that you have better glue clearance and less chance of pressure build up in the mortise.
But the thing I like about making your own dominoes is that you can make them from exactly the same timber as your project is made with. If you have the dominoes showing through, then rounding would be the answer, but where movement of the timber is potentially a problem (such as Red Gum in Australia), using exactly the same timber for your tenons will pay dividends when the project is finished.

Regards,

Orson

 

[Tezzer]

Albert, how bout showing us some of those red gum tenons, sounds great 

 

[ROb McGilp]

Hi All,

As Tezzer said, I've made some Red Gum dominoes in the past for just the reasons I outlined. Red Gum can move quietly away for years until you suddenly find that everything isn't level anymore. So I made some 32x10mm, some 5 and some 6mm tenons. I have also included a pic of a through mortise (50x30) done on the legs of a "Shaker" table. If you look at the side of the 32x10 that I have stood on end, you will see V grooved runnels for glue. These and the rounding were down on the Dremel Router table thingy. World's smallest table, but very effective.

 

[Loren Hedahl]

To my way of thinking  --  I think that what is important is that you can make your own dominoes.

At least a lot easier than dowels or biscuits!

For me I always buy ample and more dowels, buscuits, screws, finish, etc. than I need for the project at hand.

The result is I always run out on the next project!

Need 27 biscuits - only have 24 left?  No problem.

Dowels, biscuits, pocket screws?  Stop work and go to town.

Loren