I'm building an activity table for my son that stands about 20" high so he canplay with his wooden trains on it. I'm sure there are a million different waysto build something so simple, but I'm following a set of plans I found on theweb that calls for #20 biscuits for the joints on the table legs. Having neverused biscuits before, I was intrigued and decided to give it a shot byborrowing a friend's buiscuit joiner. I finished it over the weekend and itseems to have worked just fine, but I'm wondering if it was really worth thetrouble. Would it have been just as good to use long screws for the joints? Isthere a rule of thumb as to when it's appropriate to use biscuits?

My personal rule is anytime I can use them to save time, and atraditional woodworking joint is unnecessary.If I'm making a traditional piece, I pass on the biscuits, and usewhatever "real" joint would be appropriate. I find biscuits strong,fast, durable, and easy to use. I just finished some ash radiatorcovers and between biscuits and pocket screws, they went togetherincredibly fast.Barry

When are biscuits appropriate for joints?

Dec 29, 2003 21 Replies

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rob 22 years ago

Roland,

You sure can. . . but you must first adjust the base or sled of the tool to center on the 1/2" material.

Rob

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roger 22 years ago

Nobody's yet mentioned biscuit slot orientation whe it comes to edge-on panel glueups---drop the slot location slightly lower than center to preclude "telegraphing" the biscuit's location. Wait a couple days before final sanding the surface. Roger OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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