Sip biscuit joiner review

[bramers]

I HAVE DONE A COMPLETE REVIEW, HOPE YOU LIKE IT, IT IS ON MY PAGE http://www.freewebs.com/bramley7

HOPE TO RECIVE SOME FEED BACK

THANKS

 

[Philly]

Nice review, B!
How about putting it on a seperate page of your website?
I find a vacuum attached to your biscuit prevents blockages and makes for a cleaner workshop :wink:
Cheers
Philly

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi Bramers,

Good to hear that you are pleased with your biscuit jointer

Like you and Philly, I find that my biscuit jointer gets clogged if I use it without a vacuum, so I always use one. And it saves so much mess as well.

Paul

 

[mr]

Yet another in my string of daft questions (it's my job it seems to ask daft questions) but whats the point of biscuit jointing? Aren't there cheaper equally effective means of achieving same? Isn't it just a ploy to sell more power tools? After being initiated by Norm I thought a biscuit jointer was a must have but the prices put paid to that. I did end up with a routah, Norm's fault again and the thing sits in the box unloved and unused. Theres much faster, neater & quieter ways of doing things without the risk of death and destruction. Am I missing something key about the biscuit jointer that makes it special?

 

[PowerTool]

Biscuits are useful for lining pieces up during assembly,and are quick to do

But like pocket screws,I guess - some think they are great,others don't care for them.

Andrew

 

[mr]

I know what theyre for but I wouldnt have thought that it was a significantly quicker method than any other hand powered means. As I say Im not being facetious, im honestly wondering what the point is, for the hobbyist at least. ( Saying that of course implies that I have a sneaky feeling that it is probably much quicker in a production environment.

Pocket Screws is another thing. Using screws means I have metal in the workpiece. So far, and I haven't been doing this that long, I havent ever used screws or nails for anything only glue.

 

[DaveL]

Well its not really a daft question, so a few thought on biscuits and their uses.

An old reason for them is to give a bigger glue surface in a joint, but this has been made less important by better glues.

They give positive location to the joint in one plane, this is the reason I have used then. This makes clamping the joint easier, allowing a clear corner on the inside of a joint that can still be assembled and be inline with out more hands than I currently have to hold things while tightening the clamps. 8)

 

[bramers]

also what is great about them is that if you are ofsetting somthing i.e. want a panel to be raised up a little like on the door for my batheroom cabinet i made, all the panels are raised to the desired height. it depends on how pickey you are i like to go to bed and know that they will all be perfect when i take it out of the clamps.

 

[mr]

Raising panels with a biscuit jointer would appear to be an innovative way of doing it if Im not misunderstanding what you're saying, though I would start wondering about movement given the security of the joints in a raised panel made this way. Im beginning to shout shut up at myself so I will.

 

[bramers]

what i mean is well i think i can only describe it witha sketch;

know what i mean now?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi mr,

I think that with a lot of tools, it is difficult to know how useful they are until you have one and have used it. Having used a biscuit jointer for many years (an Elu DS140) I can honestly say that, with hindsight, if I were starting over again the first two power tools I would buy would be a router and a biscuit jointer.

Paul

 

[mr]

Hi Paul
the router was one of the first if not the first , having seen what could be done with it, but while that remains the case personally speaking Id rather use other means. Having said that Im currently wondering how to achieve very fine curved rebates without a router.

 

[Colin C]

Hi Paul
the router was one of the first if not the first , having seen what could be done with it, but while that remains the case personally speaking Id rather use other means. Having said that Im currently wondering how to achieve very fine curved rebates without a router.

Try A cutting gauge to mark the rebate but the gauge must have a packer to match the curve ( fixed to the face of your gauge, double sided will do) or make one

 

[Neomorph]

I too put off getting a router because I just couldn't see much use for one so I purchased a £30 Black and Decker...

I've now got my eye on a Triton for a router table I'm currently in the process of building. I honestly was astounded at the number of jobs the router can be used for and here was I thinking it would be just used for edging wood in fancy ways lol.

Now to the biscuit joiner. I don't know if anyone watched Norm do his copy of a small rustic table but he actually DIDN'T use biscuits to join the table top... he gave the reason that sometimes the biscuits cause a dimple to appear on the surface where the biscuit is (which is funny because the original rustic table was all over the place and he realised the planks had actually been NAILED on :shock: ). Now on the other hand he uses biscuits a LOT for strengthening joints and making sure others are aligned correctly - so much so he should be called Cadbury Norm!. This is why my next power tool will be a biscuit joiner (after the Triton of course :wink: ).

I just wish I had a decent amount of cash to get a full sized workshop and outfit it with the stuff Norm has... I doubt I could afford just his hand tools lol.

 

[Philly]

Mike
Biscuit jointers are really "the new dowels"
They are very handy when using sheet material and add real strength. There is no quicker way of making things than a table saw, biscuit jointer and some MDF :lol:
You can use them instead of M+T joints, too. So doors, tables, you name it-the BJ is there.
Obviously its not a "traditional" tool but the more you use one the more you can find applications for it. Oh, and the biscuits are 100% wood, no metal :wink:
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[Alf]

Just to be contrary (surprise), despite going down the "biscuits will revolutionise my woodworking" route with a song in my heart and getting a decent one (PC) I don't suppose it's made it out of the box more than once a year on average. But then I rarely use sheet goods. About the only thing I ever used it for was for gluing up panels for table tops and such, and I don't even bother doing that now. So, like many other tools, one man's must-have is another's what's-the-point, thus we still have every chance of wasting money on the wrong tool, even with the help of this forum. Darn. ](*,)

Bramers, like Mike, I wonder what about wood movement? Or is this with sheet goods?

Cheers, Alf

 

[bramers]

anyway what do you think of the review??

 

[mr]

Your review, while not persuading me I need one did demonstrate that at least should I change my mind I can get a reasonably priced one which does what it says on the box. Previously I had thought they all cost in the hundreds. All reviews are helpful (and interesting) regardless of whether youre looking to buy.
By the way every time I visited your site it took me a couple of goes to get to it, I seemed to get redirected off to adverts every time.

 

[bramers]

if you click skip adds in the top right hand side of the page or if you wait 10 seconds it will go straight to it.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Sorry Bramers we all get a bit carried away at times.

Your review was very helpful as so many people do not have a biscuit jointer and wonder whether to get one and, if so, should it be a cheap one or top of the range. Your review was useful in that it demonstrated that a relatively inexpensive one can give good results.

It will also be useful if you could do a follow-up review in say 6 months or a year when you've found the wide range of things you can use it for and also give a view on its durability.

Hope this helps

Paul