Thanks for stopping by the site.

Quite a coincidence! I too do some turning. It’s quite the addiction. I’d be happy to have a conversation with you. I’ll send you a separate e-mail with phone info (I removed your number from the comment posted on the site because I did not think it was good for it to be public).

I also looked at your web site. You do some very nice segmented work. Oh and the Cowboy Hat is exceptional!

–Mark

One small point: in the photo showing the setup for mortising the rail end, it appears unlikely that the sliding clamp has marginal adjustment range to align the mortise center with the line. As shown, it is not aligned. For a vise at the left end of a bench, it might be better to drill the mounting holes for the clamp board on the right-hand side of the center line, allowing for wider rails.

Thanks for stopping by the site.

With regard to the Domino, I think that the thing that it gives is flexibility – you can bring a fairly portable tool to the work rather than bringing the work to the tool. To me this flexibility is its biggest asset.

As far as loose tenon joinery vs. traditional mortise and tenon: the advantages to loose tenons are that you can cut very precise mortises in both work pieces and then simply fit an accurately sized tenon to that mortise. The strength is essentially equivalent to a standard mortise and tenon. If you standardize the tenon sizes you can mill up tenon stock ahead of time and have it on hand. Then a loose tenon only has a single machine setup.

Having said all of this, I still use a mix of loose tenon and traditional mortise and tenon joinery in my work.

Please continue to visit by the site and let me know if you have other questions.

–Mark

Just discovered your blog. I think I will spend a few more hours reading all the great material you have here!

One thing I have always wondered is the Domino hype. Other than efficiency, I am not sure what one gets with the Domino. I am also not sure you get out of loose tenon joinery that you don’t get with regular mortise and tenon. TO me, it seems like the processing of making m-t is not that much more difficult.

Would you please share your thoughts?

Thanks

Thanks for stopping by the web site. I hope that the technique can help you in your woodworking. Let me know how it goes!

–Mark

Bob

Please see the update at the end of the post regarding the position of a rail in the jig. I hope that this clears things up for you.

–Mark

Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

Yes, as you say, I guess the Domino is a bit of a “one trick pony”. It certainly does its intended job well, but it is not within reach for everyone.

The method that I describe is simple and inexpensive. If you were to want to do traditional tenons with this method, you could as well by simply rounding the tenons to fit the router-cut mortises. I’ve done both but, for the reasons described, the loose tenons are nice.

I’m glad to have inspired you to give it a shot. Let me know if you have questions on the construction or operation of the jig.

–Mark

Thanks for the comments and for visiting the blog. Please continue to stop by.

Sorry for the confusion, I did not take a picture of the rail in the jig while routing the mortise in it. However, the operation is simple. For the rail (or any mortise that needs to be cut in the end of a workpiece) the bar with the toggle clamps is moved into a vertical position. There is another T-nut directly below the one on the left of the jig so to move the clamp bar I just unscrew it from the right side rotate it down and secure it in a vertical position with the other T-nut. Then just clamp and route the mortise in the end of the piece. I hope this makes it clear. If not, let me know and I’ll post another picture with a rail in position.

Thanks again.

–Mark

thanks

Regards,

Mike

Thanks for the nice comment.

I think that the Festool line of tools is terrific. However, I would hate to have someone feel that they have to hold back their woodworking for lack of a specific new tool. There are many ways that we can get the job done – from hand tools to power.

Having said all of that, I would love to have the Domino in my shop. I think that it would make the process of Mortise and Loose Tenon joints even more efficient.

–Mark