On Wed, 2 Mar 2005 21:47:08 -0700, GerryG wrote
(in article ):

Agreed, Bruce. Every book, guide and tutorial I've seen stresses that you
should use a brush, stick or other implement to spread the glue on the sides
of the slot. It's one of the basics of using the tool. When you said "equal
amounts on each side" I couldn't see how you could do that with a narrow
slot,
so assumed you must be talking about the biscuit, but perhaps not.

Yep, the biscuit. My procedure is to squirt a daub of glue in the slot,
spread it around with an acid (flux) brush, then brush on a thin layer of
glue to the sides of the biscuit. The error can come (in the extreme case) by
not spreading the glue in the slot and only placing glue on one side of the
biscuit.


As to using the fence or the table as a reference, like everything else it
depends on the particular case. For instance, a small, flat board will be
easier with a base reference against the table, and the board itself may not
be large enough to securely set the fence. OTOH, a shelf or carcass with its
larger size may well be not exactly flat against the table, and a fence
reference will often workmuch better.

I think the biggest source of accumulated error when referencing off the
table is when slotting warped stock.
-Bruce

GerryG