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Posted

Hi All,

If you're into serious woodworking or maybe just looking around for a way to throw together some quick shelves with seriously strong joints, you might like to get one of these. I'm adding one to my Christmas List 'cuz I can see where they'd be a lot stronger than bisquit joinery.

OT - OF!!!

M.

Posted

I hate to poo-poo yet another new gadget as it actually looks like a decent system, but I have to agree with Kurt as far as shelves (or cabinet sides) go. The dominos would be overkill in those situations and, as they wouldn't have the fudge factor that biscuits do, the set-up would have to be extremely precise.

And then, for most other applications such as table rails or good face frames I would still prefer the strength of a good mortise and tenon joint. I'm going to assume you have a decent, cabinet grade, table saw, so making repetitive tenons should be no problem. I now use a Delta tenon jig (see http://www.toolmarts.com/del_34-183.html ) although I used to manage fine without one. I drill my mortises with a dedicated hollow chisel mortiser (see http://store.all-cordless.com/dehochmomm.html ). Only around $250 although you can convert a regular drill press much cheaper.

I dunno Mike...for around $350 you can get a good mortise and tenon set-up. I'm just not sure where I would use the Festool and, at $800 bucks or so, I could probably find something more useful for the shop.

Posted

Properly glued and clamped, I've never had a bisquit fail. You need to BRUSH the glue n the bisquit and in the slots. Most just squirt the glue in. Done right, and its like a weld. The wood will break before the joint.

Plus...that dude in the video looks like a tool.

Posted
Originally posted by Jim Katen

Buncha wusses.

Doesn't anyone know how to chop a mortise anymore?

- Jim Katen, Oregon

LOL Jim...I do know how, but I used to be a professional woodworker (custom furniture and cabinetry). Just too time consuming plus very, very tough with some of the more exotic hardwoods I used to use. I may be an old fashioned curmudgeon, but I do like my power tools.

But while we are on hand tools, I can also highly recommend a good quality shoulder plane for final tenon adjustment. I have an older Record, which I don't think is made anymore. The Lie-Nelson large is very similar ( http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=518 ). Not the first plane you should own, but you'll fall in love the first time you use it.

Posted
Originally posted by Richard Moore

LOL Jim...I do know how, but I used to be a professional woodworker (custom furniture and cabinetry). Just too time consuming plus very, very tough with some of the more exotic hardwoods I used to use. I may be an old fashioned curmudgeon, but I do like my power tools.

But while we are on hand tools, I can also highly recommend a good quality shoulder plane for final tenon adjustment. I have an older Record, which I don't think is made anymore. The Lie-Nelson large is very similar ( http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=518 ). Not the first plane you should own, but you'll fall in love the first time you use it.

I'm thrilled to hear that you're a real woodworker. When I was a boy, I was put to work assisting an old Italian cabinetmaker. In this country, at that time, the only work he could find was framing and finish carpentry. But he had a heart condition and he doctor forbade him from doing anything strenuous. So I was to be his go-fer. Sadly, his skills far surpassed anything he did on the job, so he amused himself by teaching me joinery with hand tools. He had some serious opinions.

In my own shop, I have a dedicated mortising machine and a mortising attachment for the drill press. But if I have only a few mortises to chop, I'll reach for the chisel & mallet every time.

The Lie-Nelson planes are lovely, but you'll have to pry the Stanley #92 out of my cold, dead hands.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Posted

Mortise, shmortise........

The bookmatched decks are a highly flamed mahogany, steam bent in a hyperbolic paraboloid.

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Posted

I'm siding with the naysayers on this one. That domino tool might be good for a production shop, but a doubled biscuit joint with a good glue bond is pretty strong and for even stronger joints you can go with mortise and tenon. One of the things I like about woodworking is that for most things there is more than one way to do it. Part of the fun is figuring it out.

Posted
Originally posted by kurt

Mortise, shmortise........

The bookmatched decks are a highly flamed mahogany, steam bent in a hyperbolic paraboloid.

And not a single domino joint . . .

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Posted

I was once the joiner at a 17th century living history museum. I still won't use power tools. No machine can do a tighter joint.

My most recent project:

24 mortice and tenon joints, and everything else, done with 17th & 18th century hand tools:

200834213735_bed2.jpg

Completed:

200834214626_bed1.jpg

Then a bench for the end of the bed:

20083421400_bench.jpg

Posted

Kurt and Bill...nice work. Especially the canoe. I love the look of those types of wood boat but never tried my hand at it.

Unfortunately, most of my "portfolio" predated my first digital camera and is lying loose as photos in a shoebox, now buried somewhere in the house after the remodel. I did have some scanned but, evidently, I didn't bother copying that folder when I changed computers a year or so ago. One day I'll dig them out, re-scan some, and have a show and tell with y'all.

Posted

Huh,

That reminds me; I've got plans for a cedar strip sea kayak around here someplace. Been meaning to sit down and look them over and decide if I've got the time and gumption to start one.

OT - OF!!!

M.

Posted

Our next boat will be 70-80ft long, around 100 years old and made of steel or iron. Something along the lines of this one...

Download Attachment: icon_photo.gif imagine1.jpg

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A converted, liveaboard, dutch barge for cruising the European canal/waterway system. It's probably about 4 or 5 years away, but is our plan for slightly early retirement. I might get to do some woodwork on the interior but, as I won't be able to ship my workshop over there, we are actually hoping to find one that is already set up the way we want it.

And yes, we will have room for nice guests.

Posted
Originally posted by Jim Katen

Originally posted by kurt

Mortise, shmortise........

The bookmatched decks are a highly flamed mahogany, steam bent in a hyperbolic paraboloid.

And not a single domino joint . . .

- Jim Katen, Oregon

There's not a single glue joint in the whole assembly (well, actually, the stem and stern are fabricated out of 3 pieces, glued together, but they don't count).

It's all fit tight, and held w/brass screws. The idea is the assembly has to maintain a certain amount of flexibility for the inevitable impact, AND, one has to be able to dismantle the thing so it can be re-canvassed.

Of course, I used Dacron & modern polymeric fillers on my "canvas" work, so it'll never need to come apart for new cloth.

The canoe was the last gasp of exercising my chops in the woodshop. I'm a power tool guy now. Handwork is fine for the Krenov disciples & Kibbel's of the world, but after one cuts a few mortises or dovetails by hand, and understands how, I think it's OK to go nuclear (or, is that nukular?).

Posted

Not quite in Kurt and Bill’s class, but I’m happy with the result:

http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... erhead.jpg

http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... Bottom.jpg

http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... N_Post.jpg

http://img67.imageshack.us/my.php?image=Stairs1.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=Stairs2.jpg

York Spiral Stairs laminated the stringers and handrails to spec in their press, I did the install and trim carpentry.

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