On Aug 6, 1:56*pm, "Arthur2" wrote:
Hi all.
For my exterior door frame project....
I will be butting together two lengths of sapele/mahog.
The individual pieces are about 22mm x 140mm and 1040cm long...and joining
them on the long edges to make 260mm wide panels.
Should I buy a jointing router bit or can I get away with using biscuits.
Once they are joined i will be fielding them.

Thanks.

Arthur

There you go, Arthur. You now have the answer.
I would like to add, that cheapo biscuits often have random grain
orientation as opposed to a diagonal to the oval shape, like 'select'
biscuits such as the Lamellos.
If a biscuit breaks along its length in your application, it would add
less strength than if it was inclined to break on the diagonal. The
change of grain direction along the stress line, adds strength....
assuming that the biscuit was installed properly, i.e. the slot
(pocket) wasn't unnecessarily big. You want to take away as little of
the original material as possible without running into a hydro-locking
condition.

I have used thousands upon thousands of biscuits and conducted many
tests and read/archived many such tests. The DO add strength to a
joint, and in certain properly executed applications, can get close in
performance to a floating tenon.

The drawback, of course, is that when you use biscuits to make a
panel, you can see the telegraphed shape of the biscuit after you sand
and finish the panel.

r-Zebco 6, 4' graphite ultra-light.