Subject

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of
keeping a tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?

Lew

"Swingman" wrote in message
...


The PC #FF biscuits for the mitered corners were all over the place in
thickness, but only one out the one's I grabbed didn't go in with finger
pressure. It was a different color, much darker than the others.

Conversely my bottle of PC FF biscuits were more consistent than any of the
others.




It dawned on me that the mitered end grain FF biscuit cut would have been
a
job for the Domino ... it would have kept me from having to change the
557's
big cutter for the FF cutter.

Hmmm ....


You know the drill, you should'a called. I betting the small Domino tennons
would be stronger than the FF biscuits also. ;~)

"Robatoy" wrote in message
oups.com...
On May 30, 5:26 pm, "Swingman" wrote:


It dawned on me that the mitered end grain FF biscuit cut would have been
a
job for the Domino ... it would have kept me from having to change the
557's
big cutter for the FF cutter.

Hmmm ....

Oh noes!! Hurries!!! Maybe that $ 40.00 discount is still happenins!!!



O N E more day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\


Actually with all the stuff I got I realized a savings of about $201
including tax.

"Lee Michaels" wrote in message
. ..

"Swingman" mused

It dawned on me that the mitered end grain FF biscuit cut would have been
a
job for the Domino ... it would have kept me from having to change the
557's
big cutter for the FF cutter.

That is, of course, assuming that those big buck tenons provided by
Festool don't vary all over the place in thickness.


Yeah... although Festool does address this and indicates that the tennons
are coated with a material to lessen the possibility of swelling. Further,
they say that if the tennon does swell, the excess width on the sides of the
tennon will shear off as it is pressed into the hole. As it is right now,
the tennons fit tight enough in the smallest hole that you cannot easily
pull them back out. So far, not even with a pair of pliers. This is on the
perfect fit mortise setting.

"Lee Michaels" wrote in message
. ..



That is, of course, assuming that those big buck tenons provided by
Festool don't vary all over the place in thickness.

One more note, those big buck tennons are about the same price as a biscuit
assuming the same amount of wood mass.

The smallest tennons which would replace any sized biscuit are less than 4
cents each. Last time I bought biscuits in lots of 1,000 they were 3 cents
each.

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Subject

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of keeping a
tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?

Lew

That set up can not make some of the cuts that a dedicated Plate Joiner can
make. Namely, a slot in the face of a panel to hang a shelf on.

For edge to edge, or edge to end applications you are all set.

Leon wrote:

That set up can not make some of the cuts that a dedicated Plate
Joiner can
make. Namely, a slot in the face of a panel to hang a shelf on.

OK, gotta fess up, have a small straight bit for that one.

Lew

"B A R R Y" wrote in message
t...
efgh wrote:
They ship via UPS and according to shipping instructions, UPS charges
$16 for the brokerage fees plus shipping charges. I'll stick to Lee
Valley. Thanks.

So we're all supposed to guess you're not in the US after you mentioned
Home Depot? G

You mean you couldn't tell by my Canadian accent, eh?

In article k.net,
Lew Hodgett wrote:
Subject

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of
keeping a tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?

Lew

Cutting a slot in the middle of the face of a board, such as would be
made in an upright to hold a shelf.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation
with the average voter. (Winston Churchill)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Lew Hodgett wrote:

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

I do the same sometimes, when I don't feel like marking out. I slot
both edges at the router table, stick biscuits wherever I want and glue
the edges together.


Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of keeping
a tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?


Other than the speed of whipping it out, you can't undercut a door jamb
with a router. G

Stationary biscuit joiner tables do exist, and they're a lot like your
setup in a router table.

On May 29, 8:16 am, "efgh" wrote: DeWalt(DW682K),
$198 or the PC(557) for $279.

I bought the Harbor Freight Tools model and it cuts the biscuit slots.
I would like to get a blade with a thinner kerf. It comes with some
biscuits. I found I could jam two of them in a slot - tight fit,
though - and would prefer a snug fit with just one biscuit. These
tools appear to be 4" grinders adapted to the task. THe HFT model is
weal i all respects (its about five years old now) but will do the job
with a little care and planning. If anyone knows where I can get a
tinner kerf blade to fit it . . .

"Hoosierpopi" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 29, 8:16 am, "efgh" wrote: DeWalt(DW682K),
$198 or the PC(557) for $279.

I bought the Harbor Freight Tools model and it cuts the biscuit slots.
I would like to get a blade with a thinner kerf. It comes with some
biscuits. I found I could jam two of them in a slot - tight fit,
though - and would prefer a snug fit with just one biscuit. These
tools appear to be 4" grinders adapted to the task. THe HFT model is
weal i all respects (its about five years old now) but will do the job
with a little care and planning. If anyone knows where I can get a
tinner kerf blade to fit it . . .


I see you got what you paid for. You can always have the existing blade
Blanchard ground

Lew Hodgett wrote:

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of
keeping a tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?

I don't own a plate joiner either, but have been doing the same sorts
of joinery with dowels and a doweling jig. I've also pondered "what I
might be missing". As best as I can figure it, the only thing I'm
really missing is speed. From watching things like New Yankee
Workshop, it looks like it takes less time to pull out a biscuit
joiner and cut some slots than it would to pull out the drill, chuck
up a bit, adjust a depth stop on the bit, and then move the
doweling jig around and drill the holes.

--

If you want to reply via email, change the obvious words to numbers and
remove ".invalid".

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Subject

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of
keeping a tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?


T joints.

CW wrote:

T joints.


You lose me?

Lew

Think shelves.

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
link.net...
CW wrote:

T joints.


You lose me?

Lew

In article k.net,
says...
Subject

I don't have a dedicated biscuit joiner, just use a wing cutter in a
router when biscuits are necessary.

Other than having a dedicated tool with it's obvious benefits of
keeping a tool set up and speed of operation, what else am I missing?

Lew


First one is the ease and speed of setting out and marking and making the cut,
but you said that yourself. Also, I have 2 planes of reference on my bisquit
joiner, where your router only has one.
What I cannot see is how you can make accurate bevelled/mitered slots with your
router. Not the easiest job with most bisquit joiners either, I will admit, but
do-able.

B.t.w. I fancy my Makita, or I could see myself using a Lamello, don't think
I'd go for a DeWalt - they're clunky by comparison. Never set eyes on a PC here
so far.

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

In article , lid says...

I don't own a plate joiner either, but have been doing the same sorts
of joinery with dowels and a doweling jig. I've also pondered "what I
might be missing". As best as I can figure it, the only thing I'm
really missing is speed. From watching things like New Yankee
Workshop, it looks like it takes less time to pull out a biscuit
joiner and cut some slots than it would to pull out the drill, chuck
up a bit, adjust a depth stop on the bit, and then move the
doweling jig around and drill the holes.


I used to use round dowels, and I wouldn't go back to them unless there was
absolutely NO feasible way of doing anything else. Just seen them fail too
often, partly because of the way they weaken the surrounding timber when
there's not enough meat, partly because of gluing surface issues (a round dowel
will always face a lot more endgrain than a correctly placed bisquit, and I am
not sure about the total gluing surface but I bet a bisquit has more), and
lastly I have seen a lot of dowels simply shear off, mostly where used in chair
and armchair construction (spreaders, skirts).

Clearly there's no way of using bisquits for the spreaders so I think I'd use a
proper mortise and tenon there. I'll get around to that set of chairs 'really
soon now'. Chairs are something I have simply never gotten to make so far in
over 25 years of building furniture Been meaning to do so for a decade ...

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

Peter Huebner wrote:

What I cannot see is how you can make accurate bevelled/mitered
slots with your
router. Not the easiest job with most bisquit joiners either, I
will admit, but
do-able.

Try to avoid miter cuts when at all possible, but if forced into using
a miter joint, can use a straight bit in a table mounted router and a
fence to cut a blind biscuit slot in the miter joint.

Lew

CW wrote:
Think shelves.


Ahhh... Good point.

Using biscuits to replace a dado or shelf track would be tough to do
with a slot cutter.

"Leon" wrote in message
t...

wrote in message
oups.com...

A while back, TW posted a very pithy reply to someone about the
biscuit joiner not having any value as a mechanical joining
mechanism. I never having believed that, I posted response with my
own crude experiments showing that it indeed, did. Then for something
for the more high toned, I posted a link to a commissioned study that
proved that in certain circumstances, not all, the biscuit joiner was
indeed a viable mechanical fastening device.

TW never responded. Even with a virtual plethora of empirical data
including the foundations of the testing protocols, he just went
away. Not one comment.

Now sitting here thinking, usually there was an announcement of the
farewell tour of a month or so before he left. Did I miss that?

robert


I have always believed/known that biscuits add a lot strength to a butt
joint, mitered joint and when adding solid wood to the edge of plywood.
not so much for solid wood joined edge to edge.
I'm not looking for the additional strength but more to help with alignment
issues when gluing up a panel. I've spent too much time planing and sanding
a panel to make it flat and needed a quicker solution. I'm sure there are
other solutions that are cheaper but hopefully this will work well for me.

"efgh" wrote in message

I'm not looking for the additional strength but more to help with
alignment
issues when gluing up a panel. I've spent too much time planing and
sanding
a panel to make it flat and needed a quicker solution. I'm sure there are
other solutions that are cheaper but hopefully this will work well for me.

Biscuits do help with that goal, however they are not the final solution as
it generally takes a combination of methods/techniques, plus good clamps, to
get flat panels/parts.

Both edges being joined obviously need to be either 90 degrees, or
complementary angles, that add to 90 degrees. One way to insure this is an
edge joining technique whereby you alternate opposite faces of each joint
against the joiner fence, thereby insuring complementary angles even if
there is a slight discrepancy in either your table saw rip blade, or the
jointer fence.

After setting up the biscuit joiner, make sure that you cut all parts from
the same "reference" edge/face.

Also make sure that you use just the right amount of clamping pressure so as
not to bow the panel.

A final little trick I use during the glue-up is to add "clamp assists" on
the opposite ends of each glue joint. These help keep the panels/parts flat
and surfaces aligned when under clamping pressu

http://www.e-woodshop.net/images/ClampAssist1.JPG

Or got to the Jigs and Fixtures page and scroll down to "I-beams/clamp
assists".

Just drill a number of aligned 1" holes in a long board, then rip down the
middle, then crosscut to size. I make boxes of these things at a time ...
like clamps, you can't have too many.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

Good luck. I have not been to impressed by the alignment capabilities of
biscuits, specially when gluing up panels. Always seems there is some
mismatch and, with the biscuit in the joint, that mismatch is permanent. I
quit using them for this reason. When gluing up panels, no biscuits means
more slipping around but the parts can be pushed into alignment with hammer,
cauls, et. With biscuits, they're stuck.

"efgh" wrote in message
news:ilY7i.65491$V75.45906@edtnps89...
I'm not looking for the additional strength but more to help with
alignment
issues when gluing up a panel. I've spent too much time planing and
sanding
a panel to make it flat and needed a quicker solution. I'm sure there are
other solutions that are cheaper but hopefully this will work well for me.

On Tue, 29 May 2007 12:16:45 GMT, "efgh" wrote:

I have the choice between the DeWalt(DW682K), $198 or the PC(557) for $279.
I'm leaning towards the DeWalt mostly because of the price.

Any opinions?

Thanks.


I have a PC 557 and like it a lot, however, was spoiled by having
shared ownership of the Delta stationary biscuit joiner. My partner
moved away and I let him have it. Boy do I miss that thing.

Frank

"efgh" wrote:

I'm not looking for the additional strength but more to help with
alignment
issues when gluing up a panel. I've spent too much time planing and
sanding.

SFWIW, I don't even try.

Glue up oversize panels, then head for the drum sander shop.

End up with sanded to size (thickness) panels, no pain, no strain.

YMMV

Lew

B A R R Y wrote:
CW wrote:

Think shelves.


Ahhh... Good point.

Using biscuits to replace a dado or shelf track would be tough to do
with a slot cutter.

I like to use honey or apricot jam to join my biscuits.