Using Biscuits without Biscuit Jointer

[Bill Wiggins]

I'm new to woodworking and decided that my first big project will be to build a bed for my grandson. It's a Captain's bed with shelving behind the headboard (Plans came from Knotty Plans). The shelving calls for #0 biscuits but I do not have a Biscuit Jointer.

Is there a method to creating the biscuit mortises using a 7 1/4" table saw or a router? Perhaps there's another method I could use instead of the biscuits?

Bill Smith

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bill....there router bits that you can buy that make biscuit slots. IIRC I've seen them sold at Sears.

[Bryan Nuss]

You can use special router bits to cut slots for the biscuits.

MCLS has these bits, as do other manufacturers. See

http://mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/biscuits.html

I am not associated with MCLS, but have had good experience with their bits.

[Bill Wiggins]

Thanks for the input. Based on your feedback, I found a few options. I'll pick one up this weekend.

Thanks again.

Bill Smith

[Chad Pater]

Bill just make sure the slot cutter you buy is for "0" biscuits and also that this option will only work on the side of boards and not in the middle of a panel.
Chad

[David Miner]

Just a thought - How about a table saw with a 4" blade?

Does anyone think this could work if you were to:
1) Make a jig to hold the piece firmly in place?
2) Or, clamp the piece and slowly bring the blade up to a pre-set depth?

I think one or both of these could work. I hope to experiment soon. I will publish results, when I do.

[Ray Bersch]

Bill, You are on the edge of what makes woodworking so much fun - substitution and improvisation (and buying new tools!). In this case, you mearly need to substitute a different method to accomplish your goal. Yea, a router bit will do, but that's a lot of money for a couple of biscuts. Let's think for a moment.

The biscuts serve two purposes; to add strength and to help alignment of the two boards during clamping (glued edges tend to squish around a bit resulting in less than perfect mating.) Done properly, a plain edge to edge joint will be almost as strong as one with a biscut and you can get very close to a perfect fit using a bit of patience - done improperly, neither method will prove satisfactory. So, either skip the biscuts altogether, or substitute something else, like dowels (a good doweling jig is about 1/3 the cost of a biscut joiner.) For making just a few dowel holes, you can make your own jig (join two pieces of 1 x 2 at right angles, make a register mark and a drill hole with a brad point drill bit the size of your dowel, centered on the mark) Or how about using a a spline? A saw kerf on the edge of each board and a cut-off for the spline - presto, a continuous biscut! (To do this you simply set your saw fence at about the middle of the thickness of your board, run the board through then reverse it end to end and run it through again, your kerf will be exactly in the center, repeat this with the other board - then make a spline to fit the kerf. If the spline will show at the edges, make stoped cuts) Or maybe a half-lap - cut a dado down the edge of each board before joining!

The point is, understand what you need to accomplish and then use the noggin to find a way to do it OR write a check for a new tool!!

Have fun.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p>Ray</o:p>

[Bill Wiggins]

Ray,

This is a great idea, but I'm using birch plywood. I'm assuming a spline will not work well with plywood. I thought of using dowels instead of biscuits but since this is a child's bed, I can expect it will take some abuse and want the shelves to be as strong as possible.

But Chad brought up a good issue. Some of these shelves are in the middle of the board and I can't think of how I'll get the router to work there.

Hmmm.:rolleyes: Dowels are looking like a better idea in that area. I really want to avoid any unsightly cleats or exposed screws.

Thanks again for the feedback. I've got about another week to think about this since I'm still finishing up the main bed portion.

Bill Smith

[Jeff Polaski]

I'm sticking to one teacher for this one, Ray, and you've pointed me in the direction where I want to go. Biscuits look good, but I'm divesting electrical tools and picking up old hand tools. Paul Sellers' three joints can doubtless handle this. Housing dados, M&T joints, and maybe skip dovetails for this trip. I'll probably go back to some dowels, since I picked up a LN dowel former, and can pound the necessary dowels out of scraps from the main lumber.

We're moving into smaller quarters (now you know how old I am), and a desktop organizer can easily trip horizontal space in a nice way. I just have to revise dimensions to account for the dado-instead-of-butt change.

What you did was remind me that there are many ways to skin the cat, and while I can, I can take the money from acquisition of a plug-in tool and put it into some really nice wood.

[glenn bradley]

I'm new to woodworking and decided that my first big project will be to build a bed for my grandson. It's a Captain's bed with shelving behind the headboard (Plans came from Knotty Plans). The shelving calls for #0 biscuits but I do not have a Biscuit Jointer.

Is there a method to creating the biscuit mortises using a 7 1/4" table saw or a router? Perhaps there's another method I could use instead of the biscuits?

Bill Smith

A stab from the past ;-) http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?88325-Biscuit-Router-Jig

[lowell holmes]

My experience with biscuits is that they are good for alignment, but they do not provide strength to the joint. They will keep a glue joint aligned until the glue dries. The glue provides the strength.

[Matt Day]

Jeff, Ray hasn't been active on the forum since 2008. Give a check to the date of the thread.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm new to woodworking and decided that my first big project will be to build a bed for my grandson. It's a Captain's bed with shelving behind the headboard (Plans came from Knotty Plans). The shelving calls for #0 biscuits but I do not have a Biscuit Jointer.

Is there a method to creating the biscuit mortises using a 7 1/4" table saw or a router? Perhaps there's another method I could use instead of the biscuits?

Bill Smith

Hi Bill, of course there are other methods of attaching shelves, in North America a dado is often used for that, cut with a router or a saw.

You can also get biscuit cutters for routers, I have a 4mm slotting cutter I run in a shaper for biscuits.

Regards, Rod.