Biscuit Joiner Question

[Bruce Ferm]

Years ago, Sears sold a biscuit joiner accessory kit that mounted onto a 4 1/2" angle grinder. The grinder and the accessory kit were both inexpensive. I had that rig and it worked like a charm,
but mine regrettably got separated from me somewhere over the years. These days, Sears no longer offers it and I can't find anything like it anywhere. Is there anything like that around these
days or am I stuck with buying a grinder (that I need for other purposes) and a separate biscuit joiner as well?

[Myk Rian]

You can find Freud biscuit joiners for $40-$50 on CL or *Bay.
I got one for $40 at a garage sale. Works great. Used it to build this SS stand.
Must have 30 biscuits in it.

273868

[Mike Henderson]

Yep, I think since the Domino became popular there seem to be a bunch of slightly used biscuit joiners on Ebay or Craigslist for very reasonable prices. Look and you'll probably find a deal.

Since I bought a Domino I never use my DeWalt biscuit joiner any more.

Mike

[HANK METZ]

Offer Mike $20 for his then. ;)
Seriously, take a pass on any Ryobi that may come your way, they are terrible at cutting an accurate slot.

[Charles Lent]

Bruce,

I think the biscuit joiner attachment that you had was made by Wolfcraft. I had one when I first started doing biscuit joinery. It worked, but it wasn't always easy to get precisely placed biscuit slots due to the large offset of the grinder body to the biscuit cutter blade. Pushing the grinder body to cut the slot frequently caused the biscuit slot to be too wide or misplaced. The fence was difficult to get positioned correctly too. I purchased a DeWalt biscuit joiner and never looked back. I don't even remember what I did with the Wolfcraft.

They are still available if you are certain that you want one. Do a Google search for "Wolfcraft Biscuit Joiner" and you will find it. My personal opinion is that you should look for a good used dedicated biscuit joiner from DeWalt, Porter Cable, Bosch or other major tool name. It will be a far better and easier tool to use than the Wolfcraft attachment.

Charley

[John TenEyck]

Offer Mike $20 for his then. ;)
Seriously, take a pass on any Ryobi that may come your way, they are terrible at cutting an accurate slot.


It depends upon which Ryobi. I've been using a Ryobi (the one that looks like an angle grinder) for around 25 years and it is one of my favorite tools. I've used over 3000 biscuits with it and have never had an issue with accuracy. Your comment may be well intentioned, but it's not accurate.

John

[HANK METZ]

It depends upon which Ryobi. I've been using a Ryobi (the one that looks like an angle grinder) for around 25 years and it is one of my favorite tools. I've used over 3000 biscuits with it and have never had an issue with accuracy. Your comment may be well intentioned, but it's not accurate.

John

Fair enough John, this is the villain of the post:
Editor's Review: Tool Test: Biscuit Joiners by Tony O'Malley
review date: August 1, 2013
The Ryobi (JM 82) is well balanced and features a comfortable pistol grip; however, the pistol grip makes the tool harder to use in the vertical orientation. The fence is large and easy to grasp. Its height adjusts on tongue-and-groove ways and is guided by a double rack-and-pinion, but the fence tended to shift up or down when it was locked. The plunge mechanism has too much play, which resulted in sloppy slots and loose biscuits.