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Thread: Does anyone use biscuit joiners anymore?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,248
    I bought a biscuit joiner years ago, I almost never use it unless working with sheet goods. I bought a 4mm cutter for the shaper which I find is often better for edge applications if I want to use biscuits.

    I don't edge glue with biscuits when making panels, I normally just use my finger tips to check for alignment. If I'm really worried about alignment I'll run the boards through the shaper with a glue joint cutter.

    Due to the type of work I do, my biscuit joiner spends most of the time on the shelf..............Regards, Rod.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    22,494
    Blog Entries
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    People develop a preference for different ways of doing things. Their favorite drawer joint, methods for making mortise and tenons, preferred dado method and so forth. I'm one of those that bought a biscuit joiner and used it once and sold it. It was a PC 557 and was just as good as everyone said. I just prefer other ways of doing those things.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  3. #18
    Just about every job I use the Lamello biscuit joiner. Then there's the Domino, too! Both have it's place in the shop.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Page View Post
    I use mine whenever I'm edge gluing 3 or more boards together. It helps me to keep everything aligned.

    This is where we are at as well when we have to glue up something and want fairly accurate face alignment. When your gluing up alone any kind of registration aid helps.

  5. #20
    I have used thousands of biscuits over the years for every conceivable application. Wouldn't be without my B&D professional joiner or the three to four thousand biscuits I keep in stock. This tool has helped me make money!

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,688
    I still own my Freud biscuit joiner. It rarely gets used, but sometimes is the "right" tool for the job. I'll use it to help with vertical face frame alignment for a built-in, for example, where the face frame is getting installed after the cabinet boxes are in place and secured. The biscuits help hold the assembly up while glue and 23 gage pins do their work. Another application I've used it for is to cut slots in the edge of a panel to assist with creating a floating edge not unlike a bread board end on a table where there is a cross grain situation. I had that recently for some edged panels that were to cap the top of some room-height storage areas in a kitchen with a lofted ceiling. The edges were VG d-fir to match other workin the room and had to be on both the front and one side of the panels. On the cross-grain side, the edge was allowed to float back from the corner using splines set in slots created by the biscuit jointer tool.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Michigan, USA
    Posts
    548
    Just watched an episode of Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking last night. Tom McLaughlin built a live edge coffee table with a waterfall edge. He used biscuits in the miter joint for the waterfall edge - so, somebody who knows his way around a wood shop thinks they're useful.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    2,203


    Bit specialised version of the Lamello but a very clever RTA fastener system.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Exeter, CA
    Posts
    691
    I have a 20+ year old Porter cable biscuit cutter that I still use 5-10 times a year on various projects. Don't own a festool…..

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Cary Falk View Post
    I have the Porter Cable 557 and the Ryobi mini(r1,r2,r3) I use them all the time. I am currently using them for attaching face frames to cabinets. I also love them for picture frames and angled joints on stuff like hollow columns. I had a Domino and wasn't impressed so I sold it. To each his own.
    While a biscuit joiner excels in non-structural functions such as alignments or where joinery strength requirements are lower, the Domino joiner is not the ideal tool for small picture frame type of work. Yes, one can use a DJ for face frames and picture frames, but the DJ shines in where structural strengths matter, such as chairs, cabinets, tables, stairs, and doors. After all, it is a loose M&T joinery machine.

    The DJ has a much deeper learning curve than the BJ, and the Festool videos out there show you the results but not the skills that are required to achieve those results. It is like watching Cosman finish a 3-minute dovetail with just a handsaw. He does not tell you the skill behind using that handsaw.

    Simon

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    I switched to using biscuits for face frame joinery many, many years ago (1980's?) when I was involved in cranking out lots of cabinetry with face frames attached to ply carcases. Biscuits were so much quicker and more accurate for that application than dowels were. I got the idea from a large cabinet shop in the area that switched to the Lamello system for face frames and likes what I saw.
    David

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Camas, Wa
    Posts
    3,855
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary Ragatz View Post
    Just watched an episode of Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking last night. Tom McLaughlin built a live edge coffee table with a waterfall edge. He used biscuits in the miter joint for the waterfall edge - so, somebody who knows his way around a wood shop thinks they're useful.
    Nahm thought they were useful also. He is probably responsible for 95% of the hobbiest biscuit joiners sold. I'm not sure why so many people turned on then after he went off the air. I never watched his show so I don't know how he used his.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Camas, Wa
    Posts
    3,855
    I will agree that a hand cut dovetail takes skill. Saying that the Domino has a MUCH deeper learning curve than a biscuit joiner is a bit of a stretch. Lack of knowledge on how to operate one is not the reason I am unimpressed.

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Simon MacGowen View Post
    While a biscuit joiner excels in non-structural functions such as alignments or where joinery strength requirements are lower
    Most definitely true in a long grain to long grain application or one that really needs to rely on M&T or floating tenons, but in an endgrain to long grain or end grain to eng grain situation (like a face frame, picture frame, etc) the biscuit is most definitely a structural element.

    We have never biscuited or doweled face frames because we use pocket screws to eliminate clamp time but a biscuit is definitely a structural element eve though it doesnt add any value to a long grain glue up.

    So much of it depends on how you work and what you need from your specific application. We use biscuits for alignment and registration regularly but if we are in a critical application where we need to edge glue planks very accurately because we have no material thickness to waste we go to dowels because they give dead-on alignment where biscuits still will allow some fudge.

  15. #30
    I have a Lamelo and have even used it for an Oak screen door for my front door that was still going strong after 2 more that 25 years. I use it for solid wood joinery but not for alignment. I also have on of the Ryobi mini biscuit tools and like it for small boxes etc. Maybe when I grow up I'll get a Domino but the biscuits will stay.

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