The day my domino drifted and I blamed the client's slab

Last spring I was building a walnut kitchen in Bellingham and my Domino holes kept coming out a hair off, so I spent a whole morning fussing over the machine before realizing the stone slab on the job site had a slight bow I was referencing off of. I stopped, clamped the panels to a dead-flat MDF bench I had in the van, and every joint came together picture perfect after that. Anyone else ever chase a setup issue for hours only to find the work surface was lying to you?

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elliotjenkins19d ago

...and honestly that MDF bench trick is the only reason I still have my sanity some days. I had almost the exact same thing happen, except mine was a warped job site table I built myself out of scrap plywood, so I figured it was fine because I made it. Spent three hours adjusting the bit depth and re-cutting test joints, even swapped out the domino bit for a fresh one, before I finally threw a straightedge across the table and saw daylight under the middle. The worst part was how obvious it was once I actually checked, like the wood was laughing at me the whole time. Now I always keep a dead flat piece of melamine in the van and I check my reference surface before I even start cutting, every single job. It's amazing how much time you can waste when you trust a surface that never earned it in the first place.