Thread: using a biscuit joiner

The best tip I ever found for getting good results with a biscuit jointer is to avoid using the built in fence wherever possible. Instead use a flat reference surface...I made a torsion box bench top but a table saw top would work well...and lay the stock to be jointed on that. The biscuit jointer was primarily designed to work with 3/4" (19 mm) stock and the distance from the base of the machine to the blade will put the biscuit slot in the centre of the edge of a 19 mm ply/MDF/MFC carcass component if used in this way. If you are making cupboard carcasses and need to cut slots at the top and bottom of a side panel, make up a tall fence (150 mm or more) that sits at right angles to your reference surface. Stand the side panel on end against the fence and again use the biscuiter on the reference surface. The slots cut this way will align perfectly with slots cut in the same thickness material laid flat on the surface to make a right angled joint. For edge to edge joints just make sure each piece is reference face down on the reference surface. If you want a double row of biscuits, as in thicker stock, the jointer can be shimmed up on e.g. a piece of 12 mm ply for the second row of slots using the same witness marks.

I hope I haven't rambled too much and that what sounded like sense when I typed it actually makes sense to you...The original advice came from a paperback book called "success with the biscuit jointer".