Biscuit joiners ruled the 1990s and it seemed like every woodworker had one. Working with biscuits is a quick way to joining wood because biscuits add lots of strength to a common butt joint. Cabinets, especially, are good candidates for biscuit work. Today we have many other options and biscuits have taken a back seat to Festool Domino floating splines and even Kreg pockethole jigs. I still cling to my biscuit joiners because they are so handy and effective. I use a little Ryobi for small projects and a full sized DeWalt for normal biscuit work.
My dad introduced me to biscuit joinery when I visited him sometime in the 1990s. He was retired but still active in his woodshop and he loaded me down with biscuits. It seems his procurement department got carried away and ordered 1000 piece lots of all three standard sized biscuits. He took a few handsful to use and gave me the rest. I purchased a jointer to use and carried these biscuits around from house to house for years. I just organized them this week, using the original plastic cases he packed. I finished packing the case just to get rid of the bulky box.
As you can see, dad was a little more OCD than me (his packing is on the left).
The project today is to repair a top to a 200 year old tavern table. The top was originally made from three wide cherry boards and one had an old crack that fully developed when the movers used the top for a ramp. Ouch! That is a long story that is covered elsewhere. But back to the repair. I have been mulling this repair for about twelve years because of the poor fit and because I did not want to lose any of the character of the board. The proper repair would be to rip back to good edges and join but that would destroy the board in my mind. It is a log match for the board on the other side and the split is part of its character. I finally decided to use biscuits for strength and back them up with Dutchmen.
As you can see, it will be a challenge. Here is a mock up of the dutchman.
The standard sized biscuit joiner will cut slots for three different sizes–“0”, “10”, and “20”, with “20” being the largest. I keep mine in these deli meat containers that have hot glued biscuit samples on the lids.
This project requires the large “20” size. I decided to place them about six inches apart and used the trammel to mark the painters tape. The jointer has a registration mark at the center point. To get proper alignment, just make a six inch line across your project, place the registration mark on the line, and press the joiner home.
I made a test cut in some scrap to make sure I had the proper biscuit size dialed in and to make sure it would center on the top.
And then I fired for effect and made seven slots in both pieces of the top.
The trial fit looked good.
Gluing up biscuits is pretty straightforward. They are pressed when made and they swell when wet with glue. That makes for a really snug fit. Just apply glue to the slot on one side and hammer a biscuit home. Apply glue to the other side and to the edge. Place the two project pieces together, hammer home with a mallet and apply clamps to hold everything in place.
So now this project is ready for a glue up.