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Biscuit Joinery

2 Delicious Biscuits, joined using biscuit joinery techniques.

Okay, being a little silly. Taking the photo was a good excuse to make some delicious biscuits, though.

For my birthday, I received several gifts in the form of personal checks, which I used to purchase myself a new DeWalt Biscuit Joiner. I’d never used one before, but I have been gluing up a lot of panels for various projects. Now that I have one, I can’t believe I waited so long. Biscuit joinery makes gluing up wide panels a complete snap, with absolutely no baking involved (these biscuits come in jars). Here’s how it works.

Jar of #20 Porter Cable biscuits

After planing the stock you wish to glue up, lay it out as you would like the finished product to appear. I like to try to match grain patterns as best I can. So you don’t get confused while gluing, draw a triangle on the stock with pencil so you remember each board’s orientation. If you’re gluing up two panels, as I was, draw two triangles on the second set of boards.

Planed cherry boards laid out for glue-up

Next, mark the boards for biscuits. I just draw a line across two boards, which will indicate the center of the slot the biscuit cutter will cut. Make sure you leave plenty of room for trimming the edges square later.

Marking cherry for slots with pencil

Then it’s as simple as aligning the tool with the pencil marks. There’s quite a bit of play in the slot that’s cut, so being dead-on isn’t critical, but it’s a good practice to strive for accuracy.

Aligning biscuit joiner to marks on board

Finally, it’s just a matter of adding glue to each joint, adding a bit extra to the slots (they even make a special tool for this, but I don’t think it’s really neccessary), and putting in the biscuits. It’s so fast, you can barely see my hand moving.

Adding glue to joints

Before you know it, the panel is in clamps. I generally try to clean up the squeeze-out with a wet rag or paper towel, which is I think what I’ve got in that speedy hand of mine.

Cherry panel made with biscuit joinery all clamped up

Thanks to my lovely wife Sarah for braving the sawdust to help me with these photos. In case you’re wondering, the panels are for a project I’m making for my sister and her husband as a late wedding gift. More details to come …



5 Responses to “Biscuit Joinery”

  1. phil Says:

    February 11th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
    Visit phil

    biscuit joiners are a wonderful invention. i think many woodworkers are shy and scheptical of this tool until they acctually use it. very simple, very accurate, and as you said very fast. they are also good for helping to true up boards that have a little kick or warp to them that are too much for a planer or belt sander to deal with.

  2. Gabe Says:

    February 12th, 2007 at 8:50 am
    Visit Gabe

    I am jealous. It really is amazing how many woodworking tools there are out there. And they really do save time and improve quality. Looks liking you are having fun with that one. I like the first biscuit joining technique, did you put butter and honey on that?

  3. nate logan Says:

    February 12th, 2007 at 10:15 am
    Visit nate logan

    It’s funny that they have a glue-application tool for the biscuit slots. I wonder if they’ve ever sold one.

    The great thing about bisquit joiners is that you can also create solid 90-degree joints without screw/nail holes. Pretty sweet.

  4. Dave Says:

    February 12th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
    Visit Dave

    Yes, honey and butter on biscuits is really the only way to go. Did you know that eating local honey helps to alleviate allergy symptoms? Something about the pollen the bees eat and you getting immune to it. I wonder if mead does the same thing? Ha!

  5. phil Says:

    February 12th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
    Visit phil

    i’ve heard the same thing about honey. i would be willing to wager that the vikings had a simular knowledge of local substances.