A Domino mortiser is expensive for most woodworkers ($2K CDN). Instead, I restored a horizontal mortiser with X-Y-Z axis movement. This horizontal slot mortiser is my alternative to a Domino mortiser. It creates slots for loose tenon joinery. A good friend donated it to me, it had been in his family and sat unused for decades. Installed a fixed-base router and with added toggle clamps it holds work securely for mortising. Loose tenons are purchased in bulk. Slots are customized in dimensions to loose tenon width and thickness. I don't see a Domino in my future, since this rig performs the same operations effortlessly. Used in furniture making to join aprons or rails to stiles and to join aprons to table legs, etc. A rolling shop cart surface serves as a platform for the horizontal mortiser.

I now create loose tenon joinery quickly and easily using this setup. Although my focus is hand tool woodworking, loose tenon joinery makes quick work of repetitive batch work or multiples. An example are furniture components for multiple cabinet stands. Loose tenon joinery excels in joining legs to aprons and rails. For the mortiser, loose tenons are purchased as long stock or as loose tenons in standard sizes. Unlike a Domino, I need to bring the work to the slot mortiser. Repeatability and versatility outweigh this caveat.

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Norman Pirollo, woodworker for 2+ decades, has been published in magazines and books and launched woodworking businesses. Norman authored "From Hi-Tech to Lo-Tech: A Woodworker's Journey", a book chronicling his exciting journey into woodworking. His latest books, "Woodworking: From Design To Making" and "Quiet Woodworking: In An Unquiet World".