How many dowels needed in Oak boards with a Festool??

[steviegasgas]

Hello all, could someone with experience please help someone who hasnt!
I recently from here bought a Festool jointer, I want to join some Oak boards for a counter top, they are 30mm thick, 3m long, 200 wide, what size of festool dowel should I use and what spacing?
What glue also, I use Gorilla glue usually but dont want the aero effect on any little gaps, is cascamite any good?
Thanks , stevie.

 

[gardenshed]

Do you mean the Festool Domino, I'm not familiar with a Festool Doweller.
Any decent PVA glue will be fine although give the Titebond 111 a miss as it leaves a dark glue line. I personally won't use Gorilla glue, it's not necessary & more expensive imho.

As to which domino's to use I use any except the 4mm & 5mm and every 200mm say, as they are really only aligning the boards together and giving some ltd joint strength.

 

[woodbloke]

Do you mean the Festool Domino, I'm not familiar with a Festool Doweller.
Any decent PVA glue will be fine although give the Titebond 111 a miss as it leaves a dark glue line. I personally won't use Gorilla glue, it's not necessary & more expensive imho.

As to which domino's to use I use any except the 4mm & 5mm and every 200mm say, as they are really only aligning the boards together and giving some ltd joint strength.

Au contraire...TBIII will be fine, I (and lots of others) use it all the time and it's my glue of choice for oak. Provided the glue line is small (which of course it will be) you won't notice the colour. Dominos will give very considerable strength to the glued joint as well as helping with the alignment and in many circumstances they can be used instead of a tenon for constructional purposes...ie a loose tenon. Go roughly by the 'rule of thirds' so if the boards are 20mm thick then a 6 or 8mm dom would be fine - Rob

 

[Oryxdesign]

I agree with Rob, would probably use TB3 myself and say 5 or 6 8mm doms

 

[gardenshed]

Au contraire...TBIII will be fine,

I'll agree to disagree....................... each to his own as they say.
I'm quite familiar with construction methods.

 

[BTR]

I would use 8mm dominos in 30mm oak and i have used titebond original and titebond 3 no problems.

 

[steviegasgas]

It is a Domino I have, thanks for the info guys, I will use the 8x50 dowels at 200 spaces.
First job for the Domino so looking forward to using it, thanks again, cheers.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

It is a Domino I have, thanks for the info guys, I will use the 8x50 dowels at 200 spaces.
First job for the Domino so looking forward to using it, thanks again, cheers.

Practice on some scrap first. The Domino is a great tool but does have a bit of a learning curve. There is nothing else like it

The easiest way to join boards is to use exact size on one face then on the other face use one exact size but have the others set on the middle size. This will give you good registration and ease of assembly with virtually no loss of joint strength.

 

[woodbloke]

Au contraire...TBIII will be fine,

I'll agree to disagree....................... each to his own as they say.
I'm quite familiar with construction methods.

We all do things differently as you say, but when advice is given like..." as they are really only aligning the boards together and giving some ltd joint strength." that, to me, is clearly wrong. I would tend to agree if they were biscuits but dominos are a completely different kettle of worms, being much thicker (if we're talking about 8 or 10mm doms) and going into the timber to a much greater depth. They will align boards together, but at the same time will provide a lot of additional strength - Rob

 

[gardenshed]

Au contraire...TBIII will be fine,

I'll agree to disagree....................... each to his own as they say.
I'm quite familiar with construction methods.

We all do things differently as you say, but when advice is given like..." as they are really only aligning the boards together and giving some ltd joint strength." that, to me, is clearly wrong. I would tend to agree if they were biscuits but dominos are a completely different kettle of worms, being much thicker (if we're talking about 8 or 10mm doms) and going into the timber to a much greater depth. They will align boards together, but at the same time will provide a lot of additional strength - Rob

As I said I'll agree to disagree

 

[Paul Chapman]

I agree that Dominos (and even biscuits) add significantly to the strength of joints. In this respect they are no different to a conventional loose tenon. Very easy to demonstrate to yourself the difference they make to the strength of a joint by making up a few test joints and then trying deliberately to break them.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[steviegasgas]

Practice on some scrap first. The Domino is a great tool but does have a bit of a learning curve. There is nothing else like it

The easiest way to join boards is to use exact size on one face then on the other face use one exact size but have the others set on the middle size. This will give you good registration and ease of assembly with virtually no loss of joint strength.[/quote]

Thanks for the tip, makes sense but would never have thought about it!! Cheers =D>

 

[woodbloke]

As I said I'll agree to disagree

That's fair enough...but your advice given is still wrong IMHO - Rob

 

[Benchwayze]

If the oak counter top is going to be supported by a substantial underframe; (which I hope it is) It's not going to be subjected to a lot of 'breaking stresses'. So 10mm thick domino biscuits or slip tenons every 12" should be fine for alignment purposes.

If the argument is merely about how to strengthen the joint, then a 30mm thick board of the dimensions given is a good 'lump of oak'. I'd go for a birch-plywood 'stopped-tongue', 10mm thick, to a depth of 3/4" each way, for maximum strength. That would align the joint, and also resist warping far better than any of the other methods. Although, maybe I am remembering pre-Domino days. :mrgreen:


John