Festool Domino

[Jeffrey Schronce]

When I saw this tool I was really taken back by the price. $660 for the machine and $200 for 1,000 dominos plus 4 cutters. Oh ya and fancy storage boxes. One would have to be crazy to consider $860 for a juiced up biscuit cutter right?

I think I am slowly loosing my mind. This thing is starting to seem ok to me. It started slowly creeping into my mind. Oh, looky a review in this magazine, oh a new little video online to tell me how cool it is, why not check it out?

Hmmm, sell PC 557 and boxes of biscuits for $150, $100 for K3, tenoning jig should fetch $50, hmmmmm. Can you see where my logic is faulty? Is it too late at night for me to be thinking these things?

I mean I can't spend that kind of money on that right? Heck I only paid $500 for my 22124. $600 for my cyclone. I can't pay $860 for a hand tool can I?

[drumpriest]

Well, I don't know that I'd consider it a "hand tool", it's a joinery tool. A friend of mine has already ordered his. Maybe I can sucker him into bringing it over for a test run or something.

He's a festool junkie.

Anyway, if you think that it'll save a bunch of time, it's worth it. That's been my new attitude. If you can afford it, it'll make your life easier, and it'll get you doing projects that you feel are better, the tool is worth it.

[Ken Massingale]

It does look interesting. But, I think I'll wait for the HF knockoff. :-(

[final_t]

It's not a juiced-up biscuit cutter - I wish it was. It's a floating tenon joint cutter. Extremely specialized tool, and I seriously doubt they did any proper market research prior to making this to see if anyone will buy it outside of a production shop, which would already have a workstation or jig set up to cut the joints they used for repeated placements.
(Yes, that's the thing that bugs me about this - the target user would not be able to use it because it's dependant upon the person holding the tool and the piece being cut and aligning it properly - every single time).
Rant rant rant.

[ragswl4]

$$$

What Ken M. said.

[DonHo]

I see this as a souped up beadlock system at several times the cost. I'm sure beadlock takes longer to set up but for a savingss of several hundred dollars I'll stick with the beadlock. Being retired I've got more time than money anyway

DonHo

[scorrpio]

Seems like a tool for a professional who wants speed and ability to do joinery on-site. For a hobbyist who works in a shop, this ain't needed.

And I would never drop the versatility of a biscuit joiner + pocket screw + tenoning jig for something so specialized.

[Tequila]

I saw it and thought it was interesting, but it seems like you could do the same work with a mortising guide and a plunge router. Or you could get a woodrat setup for less than the domino.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

It's not a juiced-up biscuit cutter - I wish it was. It's a floating tenon joint cutter. .

I know its much more than that in what it does. However in size, contruction, number of parts and overall design it is very similar to a biscuit cutter. The oscillating plunge bit versus the blade is the only big difference. Yes it is huge difference in what it does, however PC 557 is $150. This is $660. It takes $510 more just to make a bit oscillate in addition to plunge?!?!?! THat is the part that has me rethinking this AM.

[LarryG]

It takes $510 more just to make a bit oscillate in addition to plunge?!?!?!

No, it takes $160 more to make it oscillate, and then there's the $350 upcharge for the Festool name.

They make nice tools; I've examined them in stores. And I know that there are some hard-working pros out there who are using them. But it's pretty clear to me they're mainly aiming at the boutique, gentleman-woodworker market, the whole concept of which leaves me cold and disinterested.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

No, it takes $160 more to make it oscillate, and then there's the $350 upcharge for the Festool name.

They make nice tools; I've examined them in stores. And I know that there are some hard-working pros out there who are using them. But it's pretty clear to me they're mainly aiming at the boutique, gentleman-woodworker market, the whole concept of which leaves me cold and disinterested.

LOL! Only say that here among us! At other sites you could be beated with a sack of oranges! I agree with you 100% on this. Their $500 router is rated as inferior to both the larger Triton and larger Bosch plunge routers. Their 5" ROS at around $400 is rated as inferior to Bosch including dust collection! The concept of the Domino is interesting to me. I would rather have another name on it, at about $200 - $300 less.

[TheRic]

No, it takes $160 more to make it oscillate, and then there's the $350 upcharge for the Festool name........

You got that right!!!!!!!!!!

[Ken Massingale]

No, it takes $160 more to make it oscillate, and then there's the $350 upcharge for the Festool name.

They make nice tools; I've examined them in stores. And I know that there are some hard-working pros out there who are using them. But it's pretty clear to me they're mainly aiming at the boutique, gentleman-woodworker market, the whole concept of which leaves me cold and disinterested.

You're too PC, Larry. Tool Snobs, call it like it is.

Uh-Oh, not you Jeffrey, in case you decide to get one.

k

[BrazosJake]

Cmon Larry, where's your sense of sophistication? Don't you know the Domino is a sellout in Europe?
Why, I bet you drink domestic beer and drive an American-made vehicle!

Just kidding. Yeah, I see a lot of tool snobery on another WW forum, where they can't understand why everyone doesn't own an MM16 and 16" jointer. Seriously, I LMAO when someone asks about a good first set of chisels and gets a chorus of replies for a $300 set of Lie-Nielsens. I can only figure those guys are pros (and well paid ones), independently wealthy, single (or about to be!) to spend so much on tools. This is a hobby for me and I just can't justify it.

[AlanWS]

It does seem to cut mortises for loose tenons very much like those cut by a plunge router. (They are almost as good as router-cut mortises because the ends are slanted because the bit pivots to sweep.) Its advantage is simply that it is as fast as a biscuit joiner at it, and that they also sell the tenon stock. For me, I am happy to use my router and to make my own tenons. However, it's not hard to imagine people who would be able to make enough more money because of the work speedup that the price of the domino would be inconsequential. For them, even if a cheaper option were available, the much higher price of a marginally higher quality item might still be worth it -- if it actually is marginally better. But it is certainly a clever idea, and more of a contribution than just making another biscuit joiner.