Uneven surface after edge glueing: An Update

[Student]

First off sincere thanks to everyone of you guys who responded to my first post. I appreciated all your good advice, that the biscuits don't really add strength in edge joining, to ensuring I work with the good stock, clamping techniques, and all the rest.

I decided to take out the 4" cutter out of my Ryobi JM82 biscuit joiner and measure the height of each of the eight teeth. Average =

0.154", range 0.150-0.156. The surprise? The thickness of my Freud #10 biscuits was 0.151" (3 random samples out of the newly opened bag). So, given some unavoidable wobble of the cutter, the slot will be wider than the biscuit. I googled a bit, and found one story were a guy had the same issue with his deWalt 557 (I didn't keep the link).

I'll go with my caliper to the local HW stores and see if other biscuit brands have the same thickness. Another thing: When I soaked the biscuit in water for 15 min. it swole to 0.161" and I was barely able to insert it into the slot. I know it's normal for it to swell, but should I use that technique to ensure a tight fit?

[mac davis]

AFAIK, the water in the glue causes the compressed wood fibers to swell, which is what gives the biscuit a tight fit.. Don't try gluing one side of the joint at a time like you would with dowels, the biscuits swell and won't go into the slots on the other half of the joint.. DAMHIKT

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[randyswoodshoop]

Biscuits should be smaller.....They swell from the moisture in the glue. The best thing to do is make sure they are clamped properly. maybe use a clamp board at each end to help level.

Randy

[Bob Summers]

You could buy a good blade. CMT makes one but I don't know if it will fit your joiner:

I've had good experiences ordering from Mike's Tools.

Bob S

[Rod & Betty Jo]

No...the actual glue up the glue will swell your biscuit just fine (assuming you glue your biscuits).......Try a sample....when well dry cut in half and check the biscuit....on a recent project I accidentally cut or exposed a dried biscuit, the exposed edge looked like a very very tight joint.....before glue up both slot and biscuit were fairly loose.....your original problem is most likely your panel glue up method as those bumpy edges are very easy to do with or without biscuits. Rod