# Festool Domino versus Lamello biscuits



## Rik (Dec 30, 2008)

I am relaitvely new at woordworking. 
For joinery: what to prefer / what is better (stronger - easy to use, etc.) - the Festool Domino system or the Lamello system.

Who can help me?


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## Rik (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi DaveR, Sir,

Thanks for your help. I did not realize that I could use a plunge router tot do the same job (more or less) where I would need the Fetool domino machine for.

So, as I have already a plunge router, I will go for the Lamello Top S4 - the new one. For the router I will have to make the appropriate templates and/or jigs.

(Rik Kiene - Amsterdam - The Netherlands)


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## rhett (May 11, 2008)

The domino is far superior to any buscuit. Not only in thickness, but in length. It will also allow you to join far narrower stock than a buscuit. Don't waste your money on an expensive biscuit jointer, when a cheaper model will perform the same job with the same results. I gave my buscuit jointer away, (free…to a member of this site who never said thanks) after buying my domino. True, you can do the same floating tenon with a plunge router, but it will take atleast 5x longer due to set-up. If you can justify the cost, it is an excellent addition to any shop.


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## Rik (Dec 30, 2008)

Thanks Rhett,

I now have ordered the festool DF500 Qset and next year I will also buy the Lamello Classic C3. So I can handle all sorts of materials and situations. As we say in Holland "good tools are half the work", in my case more than half.

Rik


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## Rik (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Rick3ddd,

I am sorry sir, to look somewhat silly compared to your experience. Ik have been looking on the internet for horizontal slot motizers (e.g. the Holzkraft LLB 16H). These are impressive machines, large and expensive. I am just an amateur (newbie/rookie) as you may say. So the Festool DF 500 could do the job for me, on or of site. My workshop is so small that it feels if I am always on site. But what type of machine did you have in mind? As I am a psychologist, Freud has another connotation to me. Please enlighten me, thanks anyhow.


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## thetimberkid (Apr 5, 2008)

I love my domino, its realy easy to use

Callum


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

I am a professional and I have the Domino as well as two biscuit joiners - DeWalt and PC. I use them all based on my needs for that particular joint.

I need to make money through speed and accuracy and I get that with all of these tools.

I will agree that for hobbyists the need for lots of expensive tools is not the same as for a business and that you have other options. But man are they sweet tools!


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## DanLyke (Feb 8, 2007)

What DaveR (and Todd) and several others said. I've got the Domino and a DeWalt biscuit joiner. I use the biscuits for aligning edge-to-edge joints, or where I have a long line and would otherwise be setting the Domino on the "wider mortices" setting to account for the fact that my horizontal alignment wouldn't be "on" to a few thousandths.

I use the Domino everywhere else and you'll pry it from my cold dead fingers. It makes chair joinery a breeze. Cabinet carcases fly together. My mitered cabinet door frames are all loose tenons. It's a bit spendy for a personal shop, unless your day job pays fairly well and you have someone asking "when are those kitchen cabinets going to be done?", but I'd think it'd pay for itself in a week or two in a commercial shop.

If I didn't have the biscuit joiner, I'd use the Domino. If I didn't have the Domino, there's lots of stuff that I'd spend days building jigs to cut, and I probably wouldn't tackle many of those projects at all. I do okay in my day job, and while I enjoy puttering around in the shop, I enjoy being productive in the shop even more. The Domino is the tool that makes my time in the shop hugely more productive to stuff that we put in the house., and therefore more satisfying and rewarding.

If I were doing passage/entrance doors and larger stuff, and had the shop space, I'd take rick3ddd's advice and get a horizontal mortiser, but I still think I'd want the Domino just 'cause setup and operation are so darned fast. As it is, I've bought my entrance doors, and when I get to the passage doors in our house I'll do 'em with multiple Dominos.


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## Rik (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Dan, Todd, Skeezics,
I really thankful for your replies. Especially Dan. I am glad to have ordered the Festool Domino and later I will indeed order a biscuitmachine (Lamello classic C3). I just bought a mitersaw from DeWalt - DW 718V, laserguided- on its own stand. I have worked with the thing - it is fast, precise, safe and it accepts 30+ cm (16" - when doe the US go metric???) panels. So I don't have to make all kind of crosscutting jigs for my tablesaw to keep my ten fingers.

Because, to my opinion, when it is your hobby time is far more precious than when you work as a professional. They can far better write lost hours off if there are enough clients. I have so little time for woodworking besides my work (independent consultant) that I want to work fast en make a bookcase or a cabinet in a couple of weekends en not a couple of weeks. So machines will do the trick for me. And for the real, real heavy stuff I will hire a contractor or buy it ready made - like Dan.


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

Rik - I like your attitude towards time. I have tried to point out the very same thing to hobbyists.

On one hand I think that I could do woodworking with a lot less tools as a hobbyist than a professional.

On the other hand, not having the tools to get the job done quickly wastes precious off-work time. Projects drag out too long and woodworkers find themselves with unfinished projects piling up. Motivation can be difficult to find when you know you are going to wade into a project that is going to be over your head in time.

Not only are tools important but finish products are very important. I can stain and finish my projects so much faster with finish products geared to professionals than to the average joe consumer. These are products that anyone can buy, they are simply not marketed toward the average woodworker.

I use stain from Sherwin Williams or MLCampbell that dries in 2 hours or 30 minutes, not 24 hours. I use their lacquers too. I can get 3 coats in 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on the season, a cool or warm shop makes a difference.

I understand what a budget is, but I also understand what my time is worth. I just want to get it done.


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## Rik (Dec 30, 2008)

Todd - thanks for the advise regarding finishing. I will look up these products on the internet and see if they will be available in the Netherlands. Otherwise I could order them from the US.
Rik


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## 303Woodwork (Jul 9, 2011)

Both these products are available in the UK, so they should be in NL too.
Personally, I would go with the Lamello Biscuit Joiner


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