Biscuit Joinery
#11
Is it just me or is biscuit joinery not worth the value of the saw dust in the biscuits?

I've had a DeWalt Biscuit Jointer for a long while, and every time I use it things are just not quite right.

I just built some side tables for my rehabbed Craftsman cabinet saw. I used biscuits to strengthen up the mitered corners. Well I was very careful to make certain everything was the same, but they just didn't line up. This isn't the first time. I made some face frames a while back and biscuited the joints. Yep, just slightly not even.

Lately I've been using pocket screws for these and they work great.

If it's me then that's okay, but I'd like to know if others are successful with the dang things.
chris
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#12
I really don't think they are too useful. A lot of the things I have used them for in the past will work just fine with a butt joint. If I need more, I use tenons or dovetails. I could never really get things to match up perfectly. I'm sure there are people that glue together plywood at 90 degree angles that use them, but otherwise I'm not sure they are useful
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#13
I love mine. I just got done putting together some 5 inch hollow bed posts. They work great to align the mitered edges together during glue up. I have the Porter Cable one for the bigger stuff. I us the Ryobi mini that uses the R1,r2 and r3 biscuits for picture frames. Haters gonna hate.
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#14
It's either your machine or more likely how you are using it. I've been using a biscuit joiner for 25 years and would not want to be without it.

Corner miter:





Bevels and butt joints:





Bevels and flat and corner miters:



The key is to always reference off a common surface, normally the show side. Do not rely on your stock being the same thickness from one piece to the next.

John
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#15
I like biscuit joinery. Put me in the favorable column.
One thing I do is puddle glue on a piece of cardboard (or whatever) and bathe the biscuit in the puddle. I won't insert that sucker into the joint until the entire biscuit is covered with glue. I started doing this because I've had a few occasions where I've had to disassemble something I've built. When I made mistakes, and the best course of action was to disassemble the wrongly constructed frames, I would see that the biscuit was dry on both faces, or at least "glue starved." I concluded that glue in the slot isn't enough, the faces have to be wetted with glue. For me that means I have to see that they are wetted with glue. My puddle technique works. I've never wanted to buy, own, or use, the "cutesy" glue tips and other accessories. If they work for you, that's fine, but for me, puddle technique.
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#16
I don't use mine much on solid stock. They were invented for use in sheet goods and that's where I use 'em mostly. My exception is mitered joints like John shows. I like the Porter-Cable's fence because the fence tilts to 135 degrees which can trap the miter so things don't move. The cutter doesn't have to be off square much at all to cuts slots tilted a tiny bit so the two halves meet a bit off. Biscuits are not the answer to all joinery questions (contrary to what a certain plaid clad TV woodworker implied) but they have their place.
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#17
I had a Lamelo I got used as I was having problems with joining sheet goods. It worked well for aligning ply and MDF, but poorly for solid work. I felt that except in but joints on sheet goods it wasted time rather than saved it. I got a chance to use a Domino at a demo day and it was much much more useful. I sold the Lamelo for more than I payed and bought a Domino.

Three things about both systems I learned:
1. They work better if you use closer spacing rather than trying just two at each end.
2. You must reference of the same surface; even if by chance your boards are with in 1/64" of each other.
3. Boards really close in thickness rarely happen
homo homini lupus
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Yeats
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Quodcumque potest manus tua facere instaner opere Ecclesiastes
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#18
I won't let mine go, and recently had to restock my #20 biscuit supply (bought Lamello biscuits, thanks to whomever on this forum recommended it years ago). I agree you need to go though your technique and/or machine setup to find the problem. While they are not useful for everything, they are not nearly as useless as some would indicate.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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#19
Just used my 557 to attach solid oak shelves to a plywood back board. I did not want to use dados. Relatively short shelves, about 7" I used four per shelf. Good results. Very useful tool for specific applications. I don't understand the hate some folks have for it. It is just another tool for ww'ers to have in their arsenal....Tom
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#20
Biscuits work fine for me. Maybe the OP needs to spend some time troubleshooting the origins of the probs he's having..his joiner might have too much slop.

Ironically, I recently used biscuits to reinforce some pockethole joints that I felt were too weak by themselves.

-Mark
If I had a signature, this wouldn't be it.
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