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.
I enjoy and appreciate the things you create on this subreddit, but don’t partake. I’ve been looking at a few glue-up tutorials/posts and I’ve noticed a lot of people are split down the middle about biscuit joints. Any advice on whether or not it’s a necessary purchase for an amateur would be very much appreciated!
I’m not a wwing purist, in that I don’t have a set view of what techniques should or should not be used, so long as they do the job….traditional or not. The biggest reason I got rid of my biscuit joiner was because it was a tool that was exclusively used for a technique that was largely unnecessary. Most of the time biscuits just weren’t necessary, and when I thought they’d be beneficial the router works just fine for cutting the slots.
are biscuit joiners useless Related Question:
Are biscuit joints necessary?
Biscuits can be used to join the ends of boards to edge or face grain. They will definitely provide more strength than glue alone, but not a lot. If your boards are too narrow, you can reinforce the joint by adding the biscuit on the back side of the face.
Are biscuit joiners worth it?
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.
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.