A biscuit joiner or biscuit jointer is a woodworking tool used to join two pieces of wood together. In the succeeding years there followed further developments such as the circular saw and the first stationary biscuit joining machine in 1956 followed by the first portable biscuit joiner for Lamello grooves in 1968. D Furniture hinge Depth of groove: 13 mm Use only on biscuit joiner with six-depth setting S Slide-in connector Depth of groove : 14.7 mm Use only on biscuit joiner with six-depth setting S6 85 30 4 mm‡.
When adjusted properly, the biscuit joiner will cut a slot 1/32″ deeper than half the width of your biscuit. As you begin to setup for your cut, start by carefully positioning the biscuit joiner to align with your biscuit placement mark. Once you get solid placement of the biscuit joiner and fence, find the detent on your biscuit joiner’s fence, place your thumb firmly on the detent, and let go of the handle to allow the biscuit joiner to “Bottom out” on the work piece.
A biscuit joint can be helpful to align long edge to edge joints, as well as strengthen weaker joints that use glue such as butt and miter joints. In general, you should be able to use a biscuit joiner on an edge-to-edge joint, a T joint, an edge miter joint, a corner joint, an offset joint, and a frame joint. Making a biscuit joint requires using a biscuit joiner tool.
“The slot for a #0 biscuit measures about 21⁄8” wide, so you can’t hide a biscuit joint in stock narrower than this. Even a well-tuned biscuit joiner can sometimes cut slots that result in a non-flush-fitting joint. Cutting the spline slots on your tablesaw requires a tall jig, but you can cut them easily and quickly with your biscuit joiner and the attached fence jig, see drawing below.
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.