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Last updated on May 3, 2022 5:56 am by the writer.
The best Joiner relies on a high RPM blade, fast accurate fence adjustments, and is easy to handle. Models made by Lamello, Makita, and Dewalt come across as the top choice depending on your price range.
Lamello being the classic, with a larger motor and an extremely accurate fence system, and Makita being the best value tool for both DIY’er and most professionals.
If you don’t yet know biscuit joiners are used for quickly connecting timber panels on indoor furniture, and for many other woodworking timber joining jobs.
The electric or cordless jointer tool quickly rebates the perfect sized slot on two surfaces to perfectly connect and glue timber edges.
A wood plate jointer comes in both cordless and as a dedicated electric tool. With this tool, you don’t really need to be cordless as you will be inside your workshop anyway, but there is still an advantage with the flexibility of not having a lead. That being said I would pick power on tap.
Biscuit joiners are power tools that serve a particular purpose: they cut slots into the wood, through which “biscuits” are inserted.
Biscuits are flat wooden discs that when inserted into the slots secure two different slabs of wood together. With the combination of glue and the biscuit expanding with PVA glue to tightly clamp itself to both surfaces.
History of using biscuit joiners
Biscuit joiners have been around since the early 1960s when a Swiss woodworker named Hermann Steiner developed them.
It was also Steiner who established the Lamello brand, which was responsible for some of the most highly-regarded professional biscuit joiners on the market.
What about plate joiners?
In principle, plate joiners are quite similar to angle grinders.
Instead of the diamond or abrasive cutters found in angle grinders, however, the best biscuit joiners typically have a tungsten-carbide tip (TCT) blade.
They also have steel “fences” that stabilize the unit and ensure evenly raised slots.
Where to use biscuit joiners?
Biscuit joiners are pretty rudimentary in function–they pretty much only let you cut slots into slabs of wood. Even so, this basic function allows for a pretty broad range of carpentry and woodworking tasks.
With a quality joiner in your shop, you can attach two pieces of wood to make a wider board, make neatly-fitting joints, and even assemble strong and durable shelves and cabinets. For such a seemingly simple tool, the range of things you can create with a good electric joiner is pretty impressive.
Features to first consider
Brand – Dewalt, Makita, Festool, and Lamello are among the best brands of electric joiners you can buy, with professional features and dependable performance
Durability – A biscuit joiner should be capable of heavy-duty work without breaking down or suffering from inconsistency issues.
Size – The ability to cut different-sized slots is a useful feature to have in a biscuit joiner. This feature lets you use the same tool to cut slots for the most commonly available sizes of biscuits.
Power – A biscuit joiner should have enough power to cut through any wood with ease.
Before you buy a biscuit joiner…
1. Consider the brand.
Biscuit joiners made by Dewalt, Makita, Festool, and Lamello are among the best tools you can buy at any price. As with any power tool, it is always worth going with a professional quality unit as opposed to a DIY model, even if it is strictly for home use.
With plate joiners made by these manufacturers, you could generally expect better overall quality and more accurate results.
2. What’s the rated durability?
Biscuit joiners are pretty simple tools, but they will undergo some heavy use.
Make sure that any biscuit joiner you buy can withstand regular heavy use without breaking down or falling apart.
3. Stick to a standard-sized cutter.
Always go for a biscuit joiner that gives you the option to cut different-sized slots. You will generally want to go for the largest biscuits that your workpiece will accommodate, but there may be times when you will need to use smaller biscuits.
4. Make sure to have enough power.
Your biscuit joiner should have sufficient power to cut through hard, heavy, and dense woods cleanly and efficiently. This is especially important considering that making biscuit joins typically involves cutting into hard and heavy material.
5. Pay the right price.
Biscuit joiners are relatively inexpensive but don’t go for the cheapest model you can find.
A decent mid-priced model isn’t that much more expensive than the budget options, and they will pay off in terms of better performance, longer life, and useful features.
How do biscuit joiners work
Electric joiners are fairly simple tools that perform a single basic function: cut slots into wood.
These tools have a “fence” (usually made of heavy stainless steel) that you press flush against the edge or surface of the piece of wood where you want the cut.
Plate joiners have a sharp cutting blade that pushes against the wood when the power is switched on.
After making a similar cut into another piece of wood, they can be joined together with wooden football-shaped discs known as “biscuits”.
After your cuts have been made pull out your expanding wood biscuit from your woodwork apron insert your biscuit inside the perfectly shaped slots with some PVA glue.
Pressing the two pieces together, the biscuits expand to create a strong wood jointing system! that many woodworkers rely on for their furniture building projects.
The best way to join slabs of wood together
Any of the methods mentioned above can be used to join slabs of wood together effectively. Your choice only depends on what you are trying to accomplish and how you want the final product to look.
You will also have to consider how much load the joint will bear, and whether or not it will undergo constant stress and tension.
That being said, biscuit joins are an excellent choice for many reasons. They are quick and easy to make, and they can handle pretty heavy loads when combined with good strong glue.
If you need more support for heavy loads, you could add steel brackets to the underside of the joint.
For more information on how to build a table straight from a tree click here.
Choosing the best biscuit joiner?
When choosing the best biscuit joiner you need to consider, quality, or value and whether to go for a corded or cordless tool. I think for this tool the best value corded tool would be the best choice for most people.
#1 The best quality and value plate joiner
Starting with the Makita PJ7000 it has a 700-watt motor that spins the cutting blade at 11,000 RPM, ensuring smooth and precise cuts.
It has one-touch stop settings for #0, #10, and #20 biscuits, and additional depth settings for other standard biscuit sizes.
Blade changes are fast and easy with the built-in shaft locks and clamp screws.
The fence itself is easily adjustable to 0°, 45°, and 90° angles. The PJ7000 also has a rack and pinion vertical fence system that ensures accurate adjustment of the fence.
The Makita PJ7000 is easier to work with than the larger handled Dewalt alternative while being in the same price bracket.
However, if you want to get the best biscuit cutter money can buy then you can consider the Lamello Classic x 101600 over the Festool. This is better made better and cheaper, but the Lamello classic x is still is not a cheap tool.
The Lamello classic can do extremely accurate, clean, and fast cuts for biscuit joining jobs, as the original joining tool on the market.
It is extremely well made and a pretty impressive tool to use.
The Festool 574432 is a little pricey but has an easy-to-use depth control that allows for fast and accurate adjustment to any of five mortising depth stops. It has a pivoting fence that allows cutting angled mortises, with a range of 0° to 90°.
There are also positive stops for cutting at 22.5°, 45°, and 67.5°. There is a good range for adjusting the width of the mortise, making it easy to cut along panels seamlessly.
#1 For cordless convenience
If you are after a cordless option the Makita XJPo3Z has six depth settings, including one-touch stops for the most common biscuit sizes.
The Makita XJP03Z is a cordless unit that has enough power to compare to some of the best biscuit joiners on the market.
It has an innovative Star Protection Computer Control system that improves performance and ensures longer battery life.
This system allows for constant monitoring and data exchange between the tool and the battery, preventing overloading, overheating, and over-discharging. Click the link to find out more.
Biscuit joints are pretty strong and versatile and can support fairly heavy loads. You can, therefore, use biscuit joiners to create a wide variety of furniture [1], from tables and benches to bookshelves and even cupboards.
Biscuit joiners are useful for any task that involves joining slabs of wood together. Although most woodworkers use them to join two pieces of wood side by side, they can also be used to make butt joints and for joining the edge of a slab to a flat surface, as you would when making a shelf.
Even if you opt to use glue [2] to attach two pieces of wood, using biscuits will help ensure proper alignment when you clamp the individual pieces together.
When to use an alternative timber joining method
Biscuits are probably not the best choice when the joint is subject to moister or the outdoors.
They are also less suitable for pieces that will undergo repeated stress and flexing. In some cases, biscuits may be unnecessary if you have two pieces with precisely cut edges and good, strong wood glue, and additional support in the framing.
Alternative timber joining vs. Biscuit joining
1. Doweling
Dowels aren’t a stronger alternative [3] to biscuits for flat surfaces. However, wooden dowels definitely have their place for some jobs, were critical alignment isn’t necessary.
You can get a dowel deeper into your wood join using your best cordless drill that is sturdy and well-aligned. Wood drill bits that are sharp and a center spike to guide the bore-out will make for much better alignment.
You will have to spend a bunch more using a drill, however. The time it takes to mark and drill holes while still getting the dowels in perfect can be challenging and take a bit longer to get perfectly flush.
2. Dovetails
Dovetail joints are generally considered to be the most attractive, which makes them ideally suited for outside corners and decorative purposes. They are also pretty strong and durable and are very resistant to being pulled apart.
However, dovetailing can’t be used to join two slabs of timber together in the same way as biscuit joining or doweling.
3. Finger joints
Finger joints are considerably easier to make than dovetail joints, because the pins are square rather than angled. They can also serve a decorative purpose, and look especially attractive in corner joins with several small pins cut into the wood.
Keep in mind however that finger joins aren’t as reliable as biscuit, dowel, or dovetail joints.
4. Steel brackets
You can also use steel brackets to hold two slabs together, but it doesn’t bind the pieces together in the same way as biscuit joining or doweling. On the plus side, they can bear pretty heavy loads.
They can also be used for decorative purposes and look especially attractive with the brackets painted black.
Who uses a biscuit joiner?
DIY and woodworkers
Biscuit joiners make it possible for even inexperienced DIY’ers to create secure and professional-looking joints with little effort. DIY’ers with limited tools and experience often find it difficult to create seamless joints, with pieces that sit perfectly flush with each other. If you intend to build a table or make money from woodworking, include a biscuit joiner in your tool box.
Biscuit joiners make this a relatively easy task and are well suited to materials such as plywood, chipboard, and particleboard, which many DIY’ers typically work with. It’s a must-have tool for woodworkers, cabinet, and furniture makers.
Cabinet makers
Biscuit joiners can be used to make wide boards from separate wooden pieces. They are also useful for creating shelves or multi-paneled cabinets, which often require attaching the edge of a board to a flat surface at a 90° angle.
Screws or steel brackets could be used for added strength if the shelf is meant to bear heavy loads.
First, run your, boards, through a quality Dewalt thickness planer, when all the boards are the exact same width, you can use a biscuit joiner set to the same depth on every board for a perfectly aligning joints.
Joining with Classic X – Mitres 45° and 30°
How to use a biscuit joiner
As with any power tool, eye protection is a must when using a biscuit joiner. Although you never have to dig deep into the wood, there is still a risk posed by wooden chips and debris flying out and hitting you in the eye. Always use a good pair of safety goggles to prevent injury.
Make sure that your workbench is as flat and as stable as possible. Wobbly workbenches with uneven surfaces could result in misaligned slots, making it difficult or impossible to fit connecting slabs properly.
For added stability, you may even opt to use as many woodworking clamps as necessary to keep the work-piece from moving while you are cutting a slot into it.
If you are sawing out these slabs from a larger piece of wood, make sure your Makita circular saw is sharp enough to cut and create a reasonably nice edge.
The wood slabs you will join together should have straight and smooth edges to ensure a snugger fit. You can use Dewalt or Makita thickness planer on the joining edges, to get them smooth and flat using the tools square guide.
A biscuit joiner can be a handy tool to have in your workshop.
If you want to go beyond basic carpentry and woodworking, a good biscuit joiner will allow you to make impressive-looking joints with little effort.
Even if you later opt to explore more sophisticated methods for joining wooden work-pieces, you will continue to find many uses for your biscuit joiner.
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