What We Hear Most & Agree With Is This …. Biscuits joints serve best as a quick and easy way to keep glue-up parts in alignment, and that they add appreciable pull-apart to strength joints that would be otherwise too weak to stand on their own – like butt joints and miter joints. We’re guessing that most woodworkers will find more use for a biscuit joiner, with its ability to invisibly align and secure joints so quickly. Doweling also makes for a stronger joint, and if you own a drill, it’s less of an initial investment: You just need a doweling jig and a few drill bits.
Years ago, back in the 1990s and early 2000s, a biscuit joiner became a very popular woodworking tool. Well, as much as I admire Norm Abram, a biscuit joiner may be one of the most useless power tools you can own. If you’re new to woodworking, or if you’re a maker, you may not even know what a biscuit joiner is.
A great many people seem to think that biscuit joinery is primarily intended to aid alignment and strength in edge to edge joints such as panel glue-ups. 10-10-2018, 6:58 AM #14 My understanding like similar to Edward’s, biscuit joinery was intended primarily for sheet goods. There’s a technique issue that can affect the fit of biscuit joints, particularly edge to edge.
The biscuit joiner cuts slots in a piece of wood, which are then filled with a biscuit. If you need to glue and assemble wood that is wider than 3⁄ ” to make a wider panel, or if the wood you are using is soft enough that you need extra strength in your joints, then a biscuit joiner might be worth it. There is no difference between plate joiner and biscuit joiner.
are biscuit joiners worth it Related Question:
Do I really need a biscuit joiner?
For cabinet-face frames, biscuits are a viable option and might be helpful for attaching them to the edges of a plywood cabinet. But you really don’t need them at all for this use. There are some other uses, but I don’t find any of them to be a compelling reason to own a biscuit joiner.
What are the disadvantages of a biscuit joint?
Biscuit joints do not stand up well against other joinery methods. We won’t spend any time comparing with mortise and tenon joints because all other joinery methods pale in comparison when measuring strength. But, as an example, the use of dowels as opposed to biscuits is a step up in strength.
Are biscuit jointers any good?
The DW682K proved accurate in every cut we made, with spot-on slot placement and biscuit fit. And it has a smooth plunge action. The lightest tool in the test at just under 7 pounds, it feels nicely balanced with a comfortable grip. Still, it has a few issues.