Long Domino Through Tenon

[MTbassbone]

Hi All,
    Ok, I am really new to Festool, and have never used my Domino before.  Now I am working on building the top for my desk.  I am using 3/4" baltic birch, and cutting it into 2" strips.  Then I am going to put them on edge, and connect them.  My initial thought was to use glue and dominos in between each piece.  Now I am wondering if I could use the long domino stock, and use it as a through tenon for the entire depth of the desk top.  So instead of a bunch of a little dominos it would have a few really long, and large dominos.  Can I do this?  Or is that crazy talk?

Thanks,
Derek

 

[c_dwyer]

Hi Derek:

So you would use the 750 mm stock rather than individual domino's in making a butcher block-style top for your desk? It would work if you glue each strip in place (individual faces) as you went by sliding each piece down the tenons, but I wouldn't try lining them all up and then pounding the 750mm-long domino stock through all at once, at least if you used glue on the entire length of the domino itself. If so, you probably won't have any glue left by the time you got it through to the other side, if that would even be possible without a lot of pounding. If you do go the 750 mm tenon route, remember to use your widest width setting on the domino.

If you go with a through domino route, keep in mind that with the grooves of the tenon, you'll still see a little space between the mortise and the tenon.  You could just cap the two sides with a strip of birch that doesn't have the through mortise.  One other consideration is using a stop block on the back side of each strip so you don't keep blowing out the back.

Do you have a planer? That will help make sure you have a consistent thickness (height on edge) for all of your pieces.  Sounds like a neat build. Please keep us posted either way you go!

Good luck!
Chris

 

[MTbassbone]

Chris,
  By widest setting you mean the one with the most side to side play right?

Thanks,
Derek

 

[Birdhunter]

What's the purpose of the tenons? Alignment?

 

[#Tee]

waste of dominos and time, just glue and pin nail each strip

 

[MTbassbone]

I was hoping the long dominos would provide strength.  Is this flawed thinking?  Don't have a pin nailer or brad nailer.  Should I just screw them together instead?  The top will be 20+" deep, and around 48" wide.

 

[#Tee]

its not flawed thinking its just timing consuming. 2 in thickness is plenty strong using bb ply as is. I made this bench and dog feeding station using glue and pin nails and clamps.

 

[HarveyWildes]

waste of dominos and time, just glue and pin nail each strip

Trying the long Domino all the way through has some appeal to me, but it has more to do with bragging rights than utility.  Like the motorcyclist that I saw do a wheelie down two blocks of the Champs de Elysee - I admired him for the stunt, but the only real reason to do it was just exuberant excess, because he could.

I have to admit that I have done some woodworking "stunts" with just that motivation.  Some turned out and some didn't.

In this case, gluing it up will be plenty strong.  Anything more is just because you can.

[member=37561]#Tee[/member], how did you flatten the bench?

 

[#Tee]

waste of dominos and time, just glue and pin nail each strip

Trying the long Domino all the way through has some appeal to me, but it has more to do with bragging rights than utility.  Like the motorcyclist that I saw do a wheelie down two blocks of the Champs de Elysee - I admired him for the stunt, but the only real reason to do it was just exuberant excess, because he could.

I have to admit that I have done some woodworking "stunts" with just that motivation.

In this case, just gluing it up will be plenty strong.  Anything more is just because you can.

@Tee, how did you flatten the bench?

i did it in about 4inch sections and threw it the good ol planer (dewalt dw735) and clamped it all together for the final assembly.

OP if you dont have any nailers, just sprinkle very little salt on the glue up/clamp ..this keeps it from slip and slide action.

 

[chris s]

I would glue the strips together in groups of 4 or 5 and let them dry. Then glue them together. After that is dry use darker dominos around the edge for accent. It will look good.

 

[BJM9818]

I doubt you could get a 750mm Domino all the way through the piece.

If your concerned about keeping things under pressure and aligned better off drilling holes and using a oieve of all thread.