Festool Domino

The Domino is a plunge joiner made by Festool that cuts precise, matched mortises using an oscillating (rotating and reciprocating) cutter, then joins two pieces with a separate loose "domino" tenon glued into both mortises. It occupies a genuinely unusual spot in the tool world: a single-manufacturer product name that's become the generic term for the whole category, the way "Kleenex" or "Sharpie" did in other industries.

What problem it actually solves

Traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery is strong and time-tested, but cutting a clean mortise by hand or with a router jig takes real setup time per joint. The Domino cuts a mortise in a few seconds by plunging the tool into the material, referencing off a fence and adjustable stops for depth and width — and because both halves of the joint use identical loose tenons rather than a mortise matched to an integral tenon on the other piece, alignment and repeatability go up significantly.

The two sizes

• DF 500 — the smaller, more common model, handling tenon widths up to 10mm and suited to furniture-scale work: cabinet doors, face frames, shelving.
• DF 700 XL — a larger, heavier machine for bigger tenons (up to 14mm) and larger stock, more common in door and larger casework production.

Most home and small-shop users land on the 500; the XL is a specific answer to a specific scale of work.

Why it costs what it costs

The Domino is a genuine premium tool, and the price reflects both the mechanism (an oscillating cutter is mechanically more complex than a simple router bit) and the fact that it's a single-source product — there's no competing "Domino-compatible" ecosystem from other manufacturers the way there is for, say, track saw rails. What you're paying for is speed and repeatability that's hard to replicate any other way at a comparable pace.

Loose tenon stock

The Domino uses its own dedicated beech (and in some sizes, other species) tenon stock, sized to match its cutter widths — see Dominos for buying and stocking notes on the actual tenon material.

Safety

Standard plunge-tool precautions apply: secure the workpiece, keep hands clear of the cutter's plunge path, and let the cutter reach full speed before it contacts the material rather than starting the plunge from a dead stop against the work.