Domino End bevels

[tdibiasio]

I recently orders a bag of 5x30 dominos to replenish the ones I purchased in an assortment kit like 7-8 years ago. I was surprise to open them last night and find out that they now have a bevel on the end of the domino. The original ones that I purchased in the assortment kit did not have any bevels on them. Now one key point - at the time 7-8 years back I ordered the assortment kit from Amazon.DE (I am located in the US) as it was a lot cheaper. The new bag of 5x30 came from hartville tools via amazon. My question is has festool always put an end bevel on their dominos? Could it be a regional thing where I got the original ones from Germany, or did they change this some time back and I just missed it? I can see how the end bevel could be helpful in some situations - however for my immediate project I am using these on, plywood draw boxes, I had to trim the dominos on one end to remove the bevel as the gaps around them on the outside of the draw box were too large and ugly with the bevel.

Thanks

TomD

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’ve never seen an end bevel on a store bought Domino, but I haven’t bought any new ones lately. I hope the bevel is a new feature. I spend time beveling my Dominos and it would be nice to not feel the need to do that. I just don’t trust that a hard square edged Domino will go far enough into a tight mortise with glue when the assembly is tough.

 

[ChuckS]

I haven't seen any bevel-ended dominoes and have never found the need to bevel my regular dominoes before hammering them home. The mortises are deeper than the dominoes are long, and so there shouldn't be any worry that the dominoes would bottom out.

Sometimes, we may need to fix a mistake and plug a mortise. A bevel-ended tenon would leave an unsightly "gap" or two there.

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

I use quite a lot of the 5mm x 30mm Dominos and buy them in the 1800 packs.....I'm in the UK!
Depending upon how many cabinets I have to make and over what period of time, I have to buy them fairly regularly and have done for about 11 years, ever since I got my DF500 Domino machine.
None of these size Dominos have previously had a bevel on the ends,......Until the last 1800 pack that I bought recently, as they do indeed have the " New" bevel.

They are certainly easier to insert during assembly & glue up but I can understand the inconvenience they could cause if they are going to be used as @tdibiasio described.

 

[ChuckS]

I get my dominoes of different sizes (except the 10mm) in boxes. If the new ones are indeed end-beveled, I'll put aside a decent number of the current ones for uses for which beveled ones are not suitable.

 

[Packard]

Not all the images show bevels, so there might be some on-going changes. But this appears to be a genuine Festool domino (was the bevel cut? Or was it pressed in like the embossing?:

 

[luvmytoolz]

That's so weird, I bought my DF700 so many years ago I can't remember when I actually got it, but I've never seen the tenons without the end being machine chamfered.

Even the old part number starter sets I've bought were all chamfered, the only ones I've ever bought with a flat cut end are the bulk packs of long tenons.

OK, so going through the old catalogs, the first chamfered tenons appeared in 2010, 2 years before the DF700 was released and 3 years after the DF500 was released.

 

[ChuckS]

Lee Valley sells both and it seems the two (e.g. 8 mm) are of different lengths. Perhaps the bevelled ones are for the connector system?:

Bevelled:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/joinery/102474-festool-beech-domino-tenons?item=ZA203175&utm_campaign=CAN-EN|PLA|PMax|Tools|PowerTools&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19653083889&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj5jO5t3PkgMVRhmtBh1KZSdAEAQYAyABEgKuYfD_BwE

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/joinery/102569-festool-domino-d14-75-dowels

Regular:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/joinery/102883-beech-tenons-for-festool-domino-joining-system?item=ZA493296

 

[tdibiasio]

The dominos I just received seemed to me to have the bevels "sanded or ground" on the the ends - they are not pressed. They look exactly like the image shared by Pakard. I dont know how I feel really about the overall idea of chamfers on them but for sure the 5x30's I bought for my draw boxes it is a pain to cut them off one end. Not the end of the world as I am a hobbyist and not a production builder - I was just surprised to see them,

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

@luvmytoolz

I was just looking at that photo you posted above in Post 7.....None of the Dominos in your picture have anywhere near as much of a bevel on them as there is on the 5 x 30 Dominos that I very recently bought.

I still have some of the non bevelled 5 x 30's in my assorted Domino Systainer case......I'll take a couple of pictures in the morning showing the old and new side by side for comparison.

Edit. All the Dominos that I use are Festool originals, in original packaging....none are aftermarket copies!

 

[Packard]

The dominos I just received seemed to me to have the bevels "sanded or ground" on the the ends - they are not pressed. They look exactly like the image shared by Pakard. I dont know how I feel really about the overall idea of chamfers on them but for sure the 5x30's I bought for my draw boxes it is a pain to cut them off one end. Not the end of the world as I am a hobbyist and not a production builder - I was just surprised to see them,

I’m a dowel-guy. Every manufactured dowel whether spiral cut or ribbed have chamfers. It makes the install easier.

 

[ChuckS]

The chamfered ends on the dowels also reduce the likelihood of hydraulic pressure forcing the joint apart or causing the wood to split. The domino system ensures that the tenons won't bottom out as I pointed out above.

 

[Coen]

Lee Valley sells both and it seems the two (e.g. 8 mm) are of different lengths. Perhaps the bevelled ones are for the connector system?:

8x36 is for use with the DF500 connectors. It came out later.

Don't count on webshops updating their images once a product gets revised.

 

[luvmytoolz]

@luvmytoolz

I was just looking at that photo you posted above in Post 7.....None of the Dominos in your picture have anywhere near as much of a bevel on them as there is on the 5 x 30 Dominos that I very recently bought.

I still have some of the non bevelled 5 x 30's in my assorted Domino Systainer case......I'll take a couple of pictures in the morning showing the old and new side by side for comparison.

Edit. All the Dominos that I use are Festool originals, in original packaging....none are aftermarket copies!

I had a look through the later catalogs, but Festool re-used so many shots it's impossible to tell when they went to the final chamfer version. All the tenons I bought at the time for my DF700 had the later chamfer, so I'm guessing around 2012 or so the change was made, unless I bought the DF700 later than I recall which I'm pretty sure isn't the case.

 

[ChuckS]

8x36 is for use with the DF500 connectors. It came out later.

Don't count on webshops updating their images once a product gets revised.

And their stock may last a while until they sell the new ones, if the design has really changed.

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

2012....? You've got to be kidding me..!!

I have literally worked my way through thousands of 5mm Dominos in the past 11 years and none of them had this bevel on them untll this recent 1800 pack.

I find it very difficult to accept that the bevelled Domino's have been produced since circa 2012 and this is the first pack that has been sold to me......Are you suggesting that all my other purchases were very old stock....?

Edit.
Just a thought.....You keep mentioning the 700 model,...Perhaps the larger 700 Domino sizes did have the bevel from a much, much earlier date and now the bevel has been applied to the smaller Domino's for the 500 model...?

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

I had a look through the later catalogs, but Festool re-used so many shots it's impossible to tell when they went to the final chamfer version. All the tenons I bought at the time for my DF700 had the later chamfer, so I'm guessing around 2012 or so the change was made, unless I bought the DF700 later than I recall which I'm pretty sure isn't the case.