The cool thing about biscuit joinery is that the biscuit is made from compressed wood. Biscuit joinery may not be for the DIYer who’s just building one cabinet, but if you have a lot of cabinets in your future, a biscuit joiner is a great tool to own. The Family Handyman editor, Ken Collier, shows you how to glue and clamp biscuit joints for a strong and nearly invisible joint.
Biscuits used to join pieces of wood are oval-shaped, thin, dried, and compressed bits of wood or wood shavings, often made with beech wood. A tool known as a biscuit joiner cuts a slot into each of the two pieces of wood to be joined, adds glue to the slots, inserts the biscuit into one and then the other to join the pieces together. The biscuit joiner aligns the slots precisely so that when the two pieces of wood are clamped together, the edges align perfectly, and the wood’s plane is maintained.
Because biscuit joints are easy to mark out and quick to cut, using one almost seems like cheating. The safest way to cut biscuit slots is with a biscuit joiner. The oversized slot lets the biscuit move slightly, enabling you to tweak parts into perfect alignment.
how to make a wood biscuit joiner Related Question:
What can I use instead of a biscuit joiner?
Some tests suggest a dowel joint will provide stronger joinery than biscuits. Tests also indicate that dowel joints are not as strong as tenon joints or dovetail joints. They do make solid and accurate joints, though. A dowel joint will be a better method than nails or screws and are much less susceptible to breakage.
Can a router be used as a biscuit joiner?
If you want to make biscuit joints, you don’t have to buy a biscuit joiner. In most cases, a router equipped with a 5/32-in. slot bit can cut perfect slots to fit the biscuits. Mark the biscuit positions on both adjoining boards as you would with a biscuit joiner.