Will it hold?

I have a storage bench I am building that was featured in issue 74 of Australian Woodsmith magazine. It has a hardwood seat made from 4 lengths of tasmanian oak each 1186mm x 112mm x 19mm. The problem is I don't have a biscuit joiner, which I would presume would be perfect to join the four lengths together side by side.

I am now left wondering, will it be enough to just glue the pieces together? Or would it not be strong enough to act as a bench seat without the biscuit joins? After they go together they are to be planed so they are flat, and I do have an electric planer so there is no problem with that. But I don't have a biscuit joiner. I am not completely against buying a biscuit joiner, but I'd rather avoid it as this is the only use I have for it at the moment.

The biscuits only really help to keep the boards in alignment while you are gluing them up. They add little or no strength. The strength comes from the fact the edges are well prepared, so the boards fit together without any gaps.

you could dowel them, only need a drill
les

thanks

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Originally Posted by switt775

The biscuits only really help to keep the boards in alignment while you are gluing them up. They add little or no strength.

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Hmmmm; a common misconception regarding strength. Aussies struggle to come to terms with bickies for three main reasons; 1) Aussie hardwoods tend to be much harder than even high quality biscuits (beechwood) so they are not really comparable to "proper" joinery, 2) Aussie made biscuits are utter rubbish; pine is NOT a suitable material for biscuits; and 3) biscuit strength lies in the shear plane; if the joint is subject to other stresses then a biscuit isn't suitable.

US and European cabinet makers have been successfully using biscuits for decades; but they use softer timbers, better biscuits and joinery techniques designed for them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by switt775

The strength comes from the fact the edges are well prepared, so the boards fit together without any gaps.

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Now this I fully agree with; for your application if you properly prepare the plank edges and clamp the joints tight then a smear of glue is all that is needed. The edge from an electric planer isn't really good enough though; ideally you need to give them a lick with a handplane to remove the scalloped surfaces left by the planer's rotary cutting edges. A tiny gap in the centre of the edges to be joined is ok but we're talking a gap the thickness of a sheet of paper. You mustn't have any gaps at the plank ends.

Rather than spend money on a biscuit jointer buy a 2nd hand Stanley number 5 jack plane and use that to joint the edges smooth. Once the boards have been joined together it can then be used to flattern the surface and remove any high spots withy more accuracy than a hand held electric planer.

As switt 775 said A good glued edge is the strongest joint. Biscuits or dowels will not add any strength but help align the boards so final flattening of the top is less work. Biscuits or dowels are no substitute for poorly jointed boards either. When the edges to be joined are planed they need meet together with no gaps. A couple of examples from the net that should cover doing it with machines or hand tools. Plenty other info out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmPPPoe_kk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rgfrHyJ6i0

Regards
John

Wow, this thread came back from the dead! Always an interesting subject though. Pretty hard to beat glue and the right equipment to control alignment.

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Originally Posted by aldav

Wow, this thread came back from the dead! Always an interesting subject though. Pretty hard to beat glue and the right equipment to control alignment.

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Hmm, brought back by a first time poster with no input on the subject????

Gunna have to look at the dates in future!