Learning about bisuit joiners

[Steve Jensen]

Will someone please explain the difference between a typical biscuit joiner like this one http://www.ryobitools.com/powertools/tool/jm82k to a high priced tool like the Domino? I'm just trying to learn and am getting confused. Thanks.

[Todd Jensen]

The primary idea behind both is the same - mill matching holes in mating pieces where a 'biscuit' or dowel, etc. can be glued into both pieces. The differences are primarily going to be the type of biscuit(different sizes or shapes) and the precision of the tool and its ease of use. Hope this helps.

[Greg Cuetara]

I'll try to start but i'm sure there are others who may be able to explain a bit better. A biscuit joiner is typically used to glue up large panels...like table tops etc...It is used more so that you can get the alignment of piece to piece so that you will have less sanding and a smoother top in the end. There are many other uses for a biscuit joiner and there are plenty of books out there with furniture people have built with them. Overall IMHO biscuits should not be used as a joining material because all they are are compressed wood chips which swell when you add glue or water. They do make is very easy to glue pieces together but like I said before I use it as an alignment tool and mostly rely on the glue in the butt joint. One piece of advice...be wary of cheap joiners and cheap biscuits...pay for a decent joiner and definately do not buy the bosch biscuits ( out of 125 biscuits i could only use 25 of them) basically the biscuits should be snug in the slot to begin with and then when they swell they lock things together a bit better.

Onto the Domino....I havn't had the luxury yet of trying one out so there are probably many more who can talk about the actual working of the tool but overall the domino will make loose tenon joints. This is a very good alternative to mortise and tenon joints. Overall much quicker and it will give you the same strength of a M&T. The domino will help you with the joints...rails to stiles etc...

IMO two different tools which have their use. From what I have heard the domino cuts down on production time becuase you don't have to create a mortise and then go to the table saw and create the tenon...although this is something you can do with a good jig and a router...

Good Luck,
Greg

[Steve Jensen]

Thanks Todd and Greg. I understand much better now.

[Vernon Taylor]

Greg
Curious as to the problem with Bosch biscuits,I find that sometimes I have problems with the biscuits being too tight to insert, I have found that microwaving them for 1 minute solves that problem,

[Greg Cuetara]

Vernon,
The problem i had with the bosch biscuits is that they were too small and were just very sloppy in the joints after I cut the slots. Since I am mostly using a biscuit joiner for alignment I was having major problem after glueups etc. and finally traced it back to sloppy biscuits. I went to the rockler store and bought some biscuits from them and no more problems. I am still learning how to use my biscuit joiner so maybe I am doing something wrong or the blade in my joiner is not right but most biscuits fit snug except for the bosch biscuits. I found there to be approx. 15 to 30 thousands gap between the biscuit and the slot. Too much for me but like I said I am still learning and I don't have the lamello joiner. I can certainlly see that paying the premium will give you consistant slots along with buying the better biscuits will give you a more consistant biscuit thickness.

[Phil Pritchard]

Biscuit jointers were originally developed to joint sheet materials, more specifically chipboard and MFC (melamine) rather than solid wood.


Overall IMHO biscuits should not be used as a joining material because all they are are compressed wood chips which swell when you add glue or water.
They aren't wood chips, they are generally dried and compressed solid beech which swell. Lamello now do a compressed fibre biscuit, called the Fibro, specifically for use with MDF. They also make a red plastic biscuit with barbs for alignment where no glueing is being dobe - these have the advantage of not swelling.

I agree with your comments about cheap jointers, though. Avoid!

Phil