Biscuit joiner

Conversely my bottle of PC FF biscuits were more consistent than any of the others.

You know the drill, you should'a called. I betting the small Domino tennons would be stronger than the FF biscuits also. ;~)

O N E more day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\

Actually with all the stuff I got I realized a savings of about $201 including tax.

Yeah... although Festool does address this and indicates that the tennons are coated with a material to lessen the possibility of swelling. Further, they say that if the tennon does swell, the excess width on the sides of the tennon will shear off as it is pressed into the hole. As it is right now, the tennons fit tight enough in the smallest hole that you cannot easily pull them back out. So far, not even with a pair of pliers. This is on the perfect fit mortise setting.

One more note, those big buck tennons are about the same price as a biscuit assuming the same amount of wood mass.

The smallest tennons which would replace any sized biscuit are less than 4 cents each. Last time I bought biscuits in lots of 1,000 they were 3 cents each.

That set up can not make some of the cuts that a dedicated Plate Joiner can make. Namely, a slot in the face of a panel to hang a shelf on.

For edge to edge, or edge to end applications you are all set.

OK, gotta fess up, have a small straight bit for that one.

Lew

You mean you couldn't tell by my Canadian accent, eh?

Cutting a slot in the middle of the face of a board, such as would be made in an upright to hold a shelf.

I do the same sometimes, when I don't feel like marking out. I slot both edges at the router table, stick biscuits wherever I want and glue the edges together.

Other than the speed of whipping it out, you can't undercut a door jamb with a router.

Stationary biscuit joiner tables do exist, and they're a lot like your setup in a router table.

On May 29, 8:16 am, "efgh" wrote: DeWalt(DW682K), $198 or the PC(557) for $279.

I bought the Harbor Freight Tools model and it cuts the biscuit slots. I would like to get a blade with a thinner kerf. It comes with some biscuits. I found I could jam two of them in a slot - tight fit, though - and would prefer a snug fit with just one biscuit. These tools appear to be 4" grinders adapted to the task. THe HFT model is weal i all respects (its about five years old now) but will do the job with a little care and planning. If anyone knows where I can get a tinner kerf blade to fit it . . .

I see you got what you paid for. You can always have the existing blade Blanchard ground :)

I don't own a plate joiner either, but have been doing the same sorts of joinery with dowels and a doweling jig. I've also pondered "what I might be missing". As best as I can figure it, the only thing I'm really missing is speed. From watching things like New Yankee Workshop, it looks like it takes less time to pull out a biscuit joiner and cut some slots than it would to pull out the drill, chuck up a bit, adjust a depth stop on the bit, and then move the doweling jig around and drill the holes.

You lose me?

Lew

First one is the ease and speed of setting out and marking and making the cut, but you said that yourself. Also, I have 2 planes of reference on my bisquit joiner, where your router only has one. What I cannot see is how you can make accurate bevelled/mitered slots with your router. Not the easiest job with most bisquit joiners either, I will admit, but do-able.

B.t.w. I fancy my Makita, or I could see myself using a Lamello, don't think I'd go for a DeWalt - they're clunky by comparison. Never set eyes on a PC here so far.

-P.

I used to use round dowels, and I wouldn't go back to them unless there was absolutely NO feasible way of doing anything else. Just seen them fail too often, partly because of the way they weaken the surrounding timber when there's not enough meat, partly because of gluing surface issues (a round dowel will always face a lot more endgrain than a correctly placed bisquit, and I am not sure about the total gluing surface but I bet a bisquit has more), and lastly I have seen a lot of dowels simply shear off, mostly where used in chair and armchair construction (spreaders, skirts).

Clearly there's no way of using bisquits for the spreaders so I think I'd use a proper mortise and tenon there. I'll get around to that set of chairs 'really soon now'. Chairs are something I have simply never gotten to make so far in over 25 years of building furniture :) Been meaning to do so for a decade ...

-P.

Try to avoid miter cuts when at all possible, but if forced into using a miter joint, can use a straight bit in a table mounted router and a fence to cut a blind biscuit slot in the miter joint.

Lew

Ahhh... Good point.

Using biscuits to replace a dado or shelf track would be tough to do with a slot cutter.