Dominos???

While working in the shop today I was visited by a young neighbour who is taking a woodworking class in high school.  Since I have no formal education in the subject, and I am genuinely interested in what he has learned, I was asking him about his big project...he built a cabinet of sorts...I haven't seen it so I'm not certain what it is.  While asking about the details of how he constructed the cabinet I asked him what type of joinery he used.  He told me he used Dominos.  I was mortified.

I'm sure the casual reader won't know what a "Domino" is, in the woodworking context, so I'll describe it at a high level.  Basically it's a very easy and accurate way to make woodworking joints in furniture and cabinetry...the down side is, you need over $1000 worth of equipment to do it.  My objection to the use of a Domino in scholastic joinery is that it doesn't teach the student anything at all.  I asked the young man, "How long did it take you to learn how to use Dominos?" and his reply was, "About ten seconds!"  While this reply does speak well for the Festool Domino system of joinery, it also shows that the inclusion of this option in the learning process is of no value to the student whatsoever.  I asked him if he had ever chopped a mortise with a mallet and chisel or cut a tenon with a tenon saw...he had no idea how to do those things.  He chuckled at my objection to the whole Domino thing so we did have some fun with the issue.

In short, I feel that to learn anything, a person should start by looking at the foundations and fundamentals of it.  If we only know how to use the technology then we are missing 99% of the depth of the subject.

Would I ever use Dominos?  I would certainly use Dominos but only under two conditions.  1. If I were working in a production environment where time is money and 2. I could justify the $1000 or more to get into the Domino system.

Dominos...pfft!