Dowels vs domino joinery for face frames - which do you trust more?

I've been building face frames for about 4 years now and I keep going back and forth. Started with dowels because that's what my dad taught me, simple and cheap. Then I tried a Festool Domino at a buddy's shop and man, it felt like cheating how fast it was. But here's the thing - my dowel joints have NEVER failed on me in the field, even on big kitchen jobs. The domino joints I've done? They hold fine but I've had two separate occasions where the tenon twisted slightly during glue up and threw my alignment off by like 1/16 inch. That tiny gap drove me crazy. So I'm back to dowels for now but I'm wondering if I'm just being stubborn. What's your go to for face frames and why?

2 comments

2 Comments

rayy8356m ago

Give the domino a fair shot with a proper glue assist tool. The issue you had with twisting isn't the domino's fault, it's that the glue made the tenon swell unevenly before you clamped it. If you shoot a little water or alcohol in the mortise first, the tenon slides in smooth and doesn't grab until you want it to. I've done hundreds of face frames with a Domino and never had that twist once I started wetting the mortises first. Dowels are solid but they're way slower and you're working harder than you need to.

jennifersmith23h ago

Wait, you had a domino actually twist on you during glue up? I've never heard of that happening, I thought those things were supposed to lock in tight. That 1/16 gap would drive me absolutely insane too, I'd be staring at it every time I walked past the kitchen.