First off sincere thanks to everyone of you guys who responded to my
first post. I appreciated all your good advice, that the biscuits
don't really add strength in edge joining, to ensuring I work with the
good stock, clamping techniques, and all the rest.

I decided to take out the 4" cutter out of my Ryobi JM82 biscuit
joiner and measure the height of each of the eight teeth. Average =
0.154", range 0.150-0.156. The surprise? The thickness of my Freud #10
biscuits was 0.151" (3 random samples out of the newly opened bag).
So, given some unavoidable wobble of the cutter, the slot will be
wider than the biscuit. I googled a bit, and found one story were a
guy had the same issue with his deWalt 557 (I didn't keep the link).

I'll go with my caliper to the local HW stores and see if other
biscuit brands have the same thickness. Another thing: When I soaked
the biscuit in water for 15 min. it swole to 0.161" and I was barely
able to insert it into the slot. I know it's normal for it to swell,
but should I use that technique to ensure a tight fit?

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:36:22 -0700 (PDT), Student wrote:


First off sincere thanks to everyone of you guys who responded to my
first post. I appreciated all your good advice, that the biscuits
don't really add strength in edge joining, to ensuring I work with the
good stock, clamping techniques, and all the rest.

I decided to take out the 4" cutter out of my Ryobi JM82 biscuit
joiner and measure the height of each of the eight teeth. Average =
0.154", range 0.150-0.156. The surprise? The thickness of my Freud #10
biscuits was 0.151" (3 random samples out of the newly opened bag).
So, given some unavoidable wobble of the cutter, the slot will be
wider than the biscuit. I googled a bit, and found one story were a
guy had the same issue with his deWalt 557 (I didn't keep the link).

I'll go with my caliper to the local HW stores and see if other
biscuit brands have the same thickness. Another thing: When I soaked
the biscuit in water for 15 min. it swole to 0.161" and I was barely
able to insert it into the slot. I know it's normal for it to swell,
but should I use that technique to ensure a tight fit?

AFAIK, the water in the glue causes the compressed wood fibers to swell, which
is what gives the biscuit a tight fit..
Don't try gluing one side of the joint at a time like you would with dowels, the
biscuits swell and won't go into the slots on the other half of the joint..
DAMHIKT


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Mar 16, 11:36*am, Student wrote:
First off sincere thanks to everyone of you guys who responded to my
first post. I appreciated all your good advice, that the biscuits
don't really add strength in edge joining, to ensuring I work with the
good stock, clamping techniques, and all the rest.

I decided to take out the 4" cutter out of my Ryobi JM82 biscuit
joiner and measure the height of each of the eight teeth. Average =
0.154", range 0.150-0.156. The surprise? The thickness of my Freud #10
biscuits was 0.151" (3 random samples out of the newly opened bag).
So, given some unavoidable wobble of the cutter, the slot will be
wider than the biscuit. I googled a bit, and found one story were a
guy had the same issue with his deWalt 557 (I didn't keep the link).

I'll go with my caliper to the local HW stores and see if other
biscuit brands have the same thickness. Another thing: When I soaked
the biscuit in water for 15 min. it swole to 0.161" and I was barely
able to insert it into the slot. I know it's normal for it to swell,
but should I use that technique to ensure a tight fit?

Biscuits should be smaller.....They swell from the moisture in the
glue.
The best thing to do is make sure they are clamped properly.
maybe use a clamp board at each end to help level.

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:36:22 -0700 (PDT), Student wrote:


First off sincere thanks to everyone of you guys who responded to my
first post. I appreciated all your good advice, that the biscuits
don't really add strength in edge joining, to ensuring I work with the
good stock, clamping techniques, and all the rest.

I decided to take out the 4" cutter out of my Ryobi JM82 biscuit
joiner and measure the height of each of the eight teeth. Average =
0.154", range 0.150-0.156. The surprise? The thickness of my Freud #10
biscuits was 0.151" (3 random samples out of the newly opened bag).
So, given some unavoidable wobble of the cutter, the slot will be
wider than the biscuit. I googled a bit, and found one story were a
guy had the same issue with his deWalt 557 (I didn't keep the link).

I'll go with my caliper to the local HW stores and see if other
biscuit brands have the same thickness. Another thing: When I soaked
the biscuit in water for 15 min. it swole to 0.161" and I was barely
able to insert it into the slot. I know it's normal for it to swell,
but should I use that technique to ensure a tight fit?




You could buy a good blade. CMT makes one but I don't know if it
will fit your joiner:
http://www.mikestools.com/240-008-04-CMT-Biscuit-Joiner-Blade-Lamello-DeWalt-Bosch-Freud-others.aspx

I've had good experiences ordering from Mike's Tools.

Bob S

Student wrote:
I'll go with my caliper to the local HW stores and see if other
biscuit brands have the same thickness. Another thing: When I soaked
the biscuit in water for 15 min. it swole to 0.161" and I was barely
able to insert it into the slot. I know it's normal for it to swell,
but should I use that technique to ensure a tight fit?

No...the actual glue up the glue will swell your biscuit just fine (assuming
you glue your biscuits).......Try a sample....when well dry cut in half and
check the biscuit....on a recent project I accidentally cut or exposed a
dried biscuit, the exposed edge looked like a very very tight
joint.....before glue up both slot and biscuit were fairly loose.....your
original problem is most likely your panel glue up method as those bumpy
edges are very easy to do with or without biscuits. Rod