On 12/19/2020 9:20 AM, knuttle wrote:
On 12/19/2020 12:47 AM, DJ Delorie wrote:

"Waste of time" has to account for all the side-effects.Â* Once the glue
sets, the glue should be stronger than the wood, so no other fasteners
are needed.Â* But... did the dowels help you assemble it?Â* Did they
maintain alignment for you?Â* I use biscuits for all my glue-ups, despite
trusting the glue, because overall they're worth the effort.

So no, I don't think they're a waste of time.

Biscuits are a God send for glue ups and you do not need a biscuit
cutter to use them.Â*Â* I use a slot cut bit on my router table.

With one fence to control the positioning of the slot and a second
putter kickback fence,Â* I can cut the 8 end grain slots in a picture
frame in less than two minutes. I cut the left end of the piece from the
right side of the bit, and the right end of the piece from the left
side. All perfectly aligned as to pitch and position. With more pieces,
the proper arrangement of the pieces, and getting into the swing, the
two minutes per 8 pieces can be bettered.

Set up takes 5 to 8 minutes.Â* I have a jig to help with the vertical
setting and use a metal ruler to set the horizontal position in the piece.

I have used the same set up without the kick back fence to cut the slot
for the pieces to glue up a table top.Â* It takes a little longer, but
like the end grain cut they are precisely aligned to the piece.Â* If I
were doing this a lot I would work up a jig.

The system is a little difficult to cut the slots in a 4X8 piece of
plywood ;-)
PS: I use the 1/8" X 1 7/8 slot cutter and the Veritas mini Biscuits
from Lee Valley that are designed for an 1 7/8 slot.

They fit nicely into a 1X2 board