Biscuit in a dado or rabbit?

Can you put a biscuit in a dado or rabbit? Would you even want to?

Reply to
dan
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Reply to
bob kater

A biscuit in a rabbit? Wood version of cordon bleu??

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

none of the biscuit jointers I've used could cut the slot in the bottom of a dado. in a rabbet you might be able to get in there with most of the shoe hanging over the edge. I can see how adding a biscuit to a dado or rabbet might make a strong joint, but seems more hassle than it's worth to me.

Reply to
bridgerfafc

My pet rabbit ate a biscuit one time. So he put it in himself. I wouldn't have done it to him.

Reply to
Woodie

I suspect that if you really need the wood version of cordon bleu, you could cut a mortise in the bottom of the dado. Cut away part of the tongue in the other piece, and then cut an equivalent mortise into that piece. If you made the mortise the narrow width of the biscuit and the depth in each piece half the length of the biscuit, you could then place the biscuit into the mortise when you joint the pieces.

With the biscuits length perpendicular to the edge of the piece it could add a fair amount of strength. This would be like the Egyptian method of cutting biscuits in their 3000 year old sarcophagi.

Reply to
Keith nuttle

I don't know about a dado but it's a sure thing for a rabbit. See:

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Reply to
Nova

"dan" wrote: : Can you put a biscuit in a dado or rabbit? Would you even want to?

While everyone is giving you grief, I'll attempt to give a straight answer. Generally, people use splines in dados and rabbets. There's no reason to cut a long straight groove and put a short, round thing in it. Think of a spline as a long, shallow rectangular biscuit cut to fit a dado or rabbet.

A related joint is a floating tenon joint, which you can think of as a rectangular biscuit, although it's usually deeper and narrower than a biscuit. Also called a loose tenon joint.

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also: Mortise & Tenon Beadlock Festool Domino

--- Chip

Reply to
Chip Buchholtz

Thanks! I didn't think you could or would want to, but I'm just getting into biscuit joinery and thought I'd ask anyway.

Reply to
dan

To address your original question and clarify the above, in joinery, biscuits are used to reinforce butt and miter joints and would not traditionally be used in "housing joints" like rabbet, or in dadoes.

A spline, in traditional joinery, is actually related to the "tongue and groove" joint and is considered a "loose tongue".

A "loose" or "floating" tenon is an element of "mortise and tenon" joinery.

If you get a chance, grab a copy of Day and Jackson's "Good Wood Joints", a handy reference on the traditional uses of the many types of woodworking joints, their terminology, and the regional differences in same.

Reply to
Swingman

GOT to run the thing through the plannar first.

Reply to
Robatoy

Been there, done that... When I first got into biscuits, I thought they were fantastic and that I'd use a LOT of them.. Reality sort of set in after a while, and I realized that they were great for some things, but with a tight joint and good glue, they were over kill in most cases..

I built a few jigs like this one of Ken's,

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they're great for drawers and stuff where you need accurate, repeatable slots..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

The reason I ask is that I'm building some shop cabinets and right now for my template cabinet I'm using rabbet ends and a dado center support. This is taking a considerable amount of time to do cutting the rabbets and dado with a router. I plan to build between 10-15 of these. I was thinking biscuits could reduce my time, but I don't want to do that at the expense of strength (normal usage shop cabinets).

Reply to
dan

It sounds like a reason to buy a good dado blade for your table saw.

Reply to
Nova

I have a good dado blade for my table saw. Weilding an 84" X 24" piece of plywood to make accurate dados is a PITA.

Reply to
dan

No. I don't really want to add a biscuit to a dado. I wasn't sure if a biscuit joint alone for my cabinets would be strong enough.

Reply to
dan

wrote

Tom Watson, one of the most experienced cabinetmakers on this forum, recently posted an excellent treatise/method of plywood top/bottom/end panel, and intermediate shelf joinery in a recent thread with the subject "Dado width".

Do yourself a favor and take a look at it. He also posted pictures on APBW

To cut back on your time, using Tom's or any other method, consider "batch" cutting your dados for your tops, bottoms and shelves all at one time in a wider sheet of plywood, then rip these to the project width of the end panels.

Besides the time savings, a big plus in doing it this way is that your center shelves will be guaranteed level (providing you take pains in correctly setting up for the center dado cut using a single top or bottom edge as a "reference" edge).

On the subject of biscuits for your application ... they are basically intended for reinforcing "butt joints", so, while you may sacrifice a bit of strength when compared to a housed joint, for your application biscuit joinery may well be quite sufficient.

Reply to
Swingman

Isn't there going to be a problem getting the biscuit joiner flush against the bottom of your dados? Nevertheless, gluing with your dados should be sufficient. A properly glued up joint is stronger than the wood itself. You're wasting your time for something that just isn't necessary.

Reply to
Upscale

wrote

Providing your cabinets have an attached back panel, the biggest issue with biscuits "being strong enough" may be concerns about inherent strength of a butt joint/biscuit jointing the shelves to the end panels if the shelves are to carry heavy loads.

A simple method that may alleviate your concerns, and provide a good deal of support, is to use both biscuits to reinforce the butt joint, and "ledger strips", attached to the end panels and under each shelf end, to add additional support to the shelves.

This is a very common practice/method of affixing shelving to utility cabinets quickly and easily, and should provide all the strength you need.

Reply to
Swingman

I do plan on 1/2" or 3/4" back panel. Aside from a permanant center shelf (for strength) I planned to add a few sliding shelves and adjustable shelves.

Reply to
dan

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