Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......

wrote in message
...
Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......


If you can afford it, Lamello. Otherwise, Porter Cable, next is DeWalt.
Avoid the real cheap ones as they are not as accurate.

On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:04:38 GMT, wrote:

Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......

Lamello, save your $.

On Jan 26, 1:04*am, wrote:
Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......

Don't bother. Dowels are far better, and the equipment cost is
minimal.

Joe

On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:24:44 -0800 (PST), Joe wrote:

On Jan 26, 1:04*am, wrote:
Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......

Don't bother. Dowels are far better, and the equipment cost is
minimal.

Joe

And a butt joint is faster. Dowels are fussy about exact location,
biscuits have some play in one direction. Biscuits are perfect for
attaching trim without nails, panel glueups, fast joinery. Not as
strong as mortise-and-tenon or dowels.

A lot of biscuit jointers' dust bag gets clogged and you end up
removing the bag and letting the sawdust fly. Dust hookups can be
clumsy with hand power tools. I have a cheap Skil biscuit joiner, it
does the job, lasted 20 years and still going. It requires an allen
wrench to adjust the plastic-nylon fence, and the fence does not tilt.

"Joe" wrote in message
...
On Jan 26, 1:04 am, wrote:
Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......

Don't bother. Dowels are far better, and the equipment cost is
minimal.

Joe

************************************************** *****

But dowels can be such a PITA to align.

Phisherman wrote:

And a butt joint is faster. Dowels are fussy about exact location,
biscuits have some play in one direction. Biscuits are perfect for
attaching trim without nails, panel glueups, fast joinery. Not as
strong as mortise-and-tenon or dowels.


Right. But you can get dowel markers - little brass inserts with a
pointy-nipple. You drill the first hole, insert the dowel marker, and press
the two pieces together. The dowel marker leaves an impression on the second
piece where the center of the second hole should go.

On Jan 26, 9:04*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message

...
On Jan 26, 1:04 am, wrote:

Need to buy biscuit joiner for several projects, and would like to know
which to buy.......

Don't bother. Dowels are far better, and the equipment cost is
minimal.

Joe

************************************************** *****

But dowels can be such a PITA to align.

Check out the dowel alignment jigs at Woodworkers Supply, among
others. They have one model at around $42 that does both boards at
once. Looks to me like a totally painless way to get perfect
alignment, possibly better than a biscuit rig. My personal set up
involves an alignment jig with bushings and if I remember to mark both
boards real carefully, everything lines up just fine. I also use my
ShopSmith set up for horizontal drilling to get quite precise surface
matches on fussier projects. So far, I can't see much reason to invest
in a biscuit joiner, but its good to keep an open mind and use
whatever material/tool does the best job. They might some day get
biscuits as sturdy as oak dowels, so we'll see.

Joe

"Joe" wrote in message

Check out the dowel alignment jigs at Woodworkers Supply, among
others. They have one model at around $42 that does both boards at
once. Looks to me like a totally painless way to get perfect
alignment, possibly better than a biscuit rig. My personal set up
involves an alignment jig with bushings and if I remember to mark both
boards real carefully, everything lines up just fine. I also use my
ShopSmith set up for horizontal drilling to get quite precise surface
matches on fussier projects. So far, I can't see much reason to invest
in a biscuit joiner, but its good to keep an open mind and use
whatever material/tool does the best job. They might some day get
biscuits as sturdy as oak dowels, so we'll see.

Joe

************************************************** ********

I've tried a couple of things, but they can still be a PITA. If you get
them marked perfectly but still drill at even a slight angle, they don't fit
properly. The oak dowel may be stronger, but the biscuits have been plenty
strong enough and easier to use. Since I have the DeWalt jointer I don't
see any reason to spend another $20 to use dowels.