If you are a craftsman and intend to be one, you should know about one amazing woodworking tool that is most necessary to have. You’re right, I’m talking about a biscuit joiner.
A professional craftsperson of all kinds who works with wood trunks depends on a biscuit joiner to join two pieces of wood together without any staples, studs, or bolts.
To help you understand more and aid in your decision, take a look at what this accessory is.
What is a biscuit joiner? In woodworking, the term biscuit joiner is also known as a plate joiner. A biscuit joiner is a woodworking machine used to join pieces of wood together smoothly. It cuts a crescent-shaped hole on the opposite side of two pieces of wood with the help of a smaller circular saw blade that it consists of.
As a jointer, a biscuit joiner operates on the narrow edge of boards, preparing them for joints or gluing into panels. A biscuit joiner setup has the compressed biscuit that works as a glue.
However, to get great results from this amazing wood jointer tool, it's essential to know how does a biscuit jointer works?
How Does a Biscuit Joiner Work?
When you need to join two pieces of wood end-to-face, there are fewer options for joinery if you want to avoid the spot of joinery on the edge.
If you want the marks to be totally hidden, a really good choice is to take advantage of a biscuit joiner. A biscuit joiner creates slots in the wood where these biscuits get inserted. When the glue is applied on the biscuits, they expand and fill the slot and they build a very strong joint.
It's a lot simpler than you expect. To know how does a biscuit joiner work, you need to know how it's designed and functioned and how they are constructed.
Blade
It is constructed with a small circular saw blade inside it. The blade is applied for cutting a crescent-shaped hole in the opposite corners of two slices of wood. It is ideal for miter joints, edge joints, bottom joints, and T-joints.
So as you see the biscuit joiner itself is a tool that just has a cutting edge inside it, it's more like a small circular saw. The blade spins around and it needs to be pushed down into the wood while it's running and thus it will make the slots. Though the design is pretty simple, it's more flexible as well. It can prepare all different sizes of slots using their blade.
Handle
A biscuit joiner has two types of handle styles adjusted in the middle side of the tool. A barrel grip handle, which allows you to hold the body of the joiner and the other handle is of D-type.
Power Source
A biscuit joiner needs to use electric power for working in various types of hardwood. It can come with a cord or without a cord.
Fence and Angle Knob Features
The fence enables you to adjust the angle at which you work on either the inside or outside of the mitered joint. It’s adjusting scale and lock settings will help you to cut slots when referencing from its base.
Usually, they are adjusted at 0, 45 and 90 degrees to make quick, accurate biscuit cuts.
So if you have biscuits that you need to go for the inside of a miter, you can set this at 45 degrees. If you use two flat pieces of wood at 90 degrees, set the joiner straight down at 90 and that’s it, you’ll be done.
The only other adjustment you need is adjusting the height of your joining. Usually, the default height of a biscuit joiner is three-quarters of an inch. Most of the time, they're used with three-quarter-inch plywood.
Remember, each one of these tools has a different method of adjusting. If it has a little dial on top that lowers the fence down, re-center the blade in a different area. Centering the blade in the wood would shift the height of the fence.
Safety Lock Screw
Some models of biscuit joiner come with safety lock screw for you valuable safety.
If you've got the height set, clasp all of them in place so it doesn't move.
One thing you should be aware of with this tool is before you turn it on, keep yourself far away from any contact with the wood. It may flip the wood out of your hand, so always turn the machine on full, let it gain speed, and then start your work.
Biscuits
In most cases, biscuits are made of compressed wood. Depth setting biscuit helps to cut the wood into multiple sizes. It needs to cover up with wet wood glue and slip into each one of the slots at each location to manage the process. After being clamped, the flatten biscuit expands to fill the hole and attach two pieces.
In order to set up the biscuit joiner, you have to fix which size biscuit you're using. Then find a dial on the side of the joiner that will let you dial the biscuit size. It will basically modify the biscuit joiner to expose more or less of the blade.
Usually, the biscuits come with 6 inches. You have to place the holes in the wood so that the holes match up.Glue
An oval-shaped biscuit joiner creates strong and smooth joints by its adhesive sticking process. A highly dried wooden biscuit remains covered with the glue or the glue is utilized in the slot. Thus, two pieces of wood are clamped together to construct a joint.
The biscuit joiner is very accepting because there is a lot of wiggle room when the glue gets on them. It helps to create a very tight secure joint. So just start by applying the glue to the board. Make sure that you apply the glue in each of them.
Place the slots, cut and just put a little glue everywhere it needs and sandwiches them together.
Final Words
A biscuit joiner is a tool that is very easy to use. In cases of quick and simple woodworking joints, nothing is more suitable than using a biscuit joiner. All you need to do is place the slots in the middle of the pieces and apply the glue. Then slip the biscuit in place, clamp them and you're done.
As you know now, how does a biscuit joiner work, your joints will be perfectly aligned and strong for many tasks.
