Your free toy chest plan A2 PLANS TECHNIQUE ‹ BISCUIT JOINTING WITH THE THE ROUTER WITH BISCUIT JOINTING Biscuit jointing with the router Anthony Bailey proves the router really takes the biscuit 1 BY GMC/ANTHONY BAILEY PHOTOGRAPHS The biscuit jointer versus the router... a any woodworkers now use works well in most circumstances but more even contest than you might imagine biscuit jointers, just like if you already own a router then you M James Hatter when building can buy a biscuit jointer cutter set for his portable saw table unit. If you as low as £30. want to minimise your outlay and already own a router, or need to form There are other reasons to do biscuit joints in awkward locations, 2 biscuit jointing using the router. why not try using a biscuit jointing Since a standard jointer can only work cutter set fitted to your router? on flat surfaces, any attempt to do the same thing on a shaped edge will fail For anyone not familiar with as the blade may not even touch the 2 1 biscuit jointing, it is normally surface, let alone make a slot. A done with a dedicated biscuit jointing typical example would be a postform Only a router biscuit cutter will do for machine. This creates a 4mm slot of a kitchen worktop joint, held together biscuits in tight corners depth that can be easily changed to by special worktop bolts fitted into suit one of three standard sizes of 0, routed recesses underneath. Biscuits 10 and 20 biscuits. The speed and are the perfect way to keep the two ease of jointing has to be seen to be surfaces flush but the dogleg shape of believed – it also allows a degree of the joint created, will prevent a jointer sideways adjustment which is useful. from doing the frontmost slot. Using a The biscuits are formed from router and biscuit jointing cutter compressed beechwood cut at an overcomes this problem. angle for maximum joint strength, and with a hatched grip pattern that holds The typical cutter set can be on 1 3 the joint tight as the glue in the joint 3 any standard shank size but a ⁄4in swells the biscuits. The biscuit jointer, fitting is probably best, as you can use The cutter set with the different biscuit with its flat front face and fence, a small lightweight router. The cutter sizes and their respective bearings 50 WOODWORKING PLANS & PROJECTS ISSUE 49 www.woodworkersinstitute.com TECHNIQUE ‹ BISCUIT JOINTING WITH THE THE ROUTER WITH BISCUIT JOINTING 4 Anthony has a set of templates to give the correct cutter plunge depth 5 6 7 Anthony also uses a registration stick to The cutter slides in sideways and you A dry fit will check for flush faces and mark out the length of the biscuit cut move the router along the correct width that the joint will close properly is either fixed or removable – in the outside marks where the slot should latter type you must ensure the cutter start and stop. You need to is fitted the right way round for the experiment to get a slot deep and motor rotation. There will be three wide enough – this will vary according bearings: the largest being for size ‘0’, to what biscuit size you are using. the next one for ‘10’, and the smallest The best solution is to make a for ‘20’ biscuits. An Allen screw and registration stick to suit each biscuit PHOTOGRAPHS BY GMC/ANTHONY BAILEY PHOTOGRAPHS washer or nut are used to keep the size and use it to mark out each bearing and cutter in place. biscuit position. 8 To set up your cutter, choose Make sure the depth rod is locked To form T-joints, you will need to use a 4 and fit the appropriate bearing 6 tight and the router plunged and straight cutter with light cutting passes and check the cutter can plunge also locked tight. Plug in and sit the through the machine base. Plunge to router base on the workpiece just Such a cutter set is fine for edge- the correct depth with power off, enough to support, but so the cutter 8 to-edge joints, but cannot do which should normally be to half the cannot contact it. Switch on and slide T-joints such as shelves in a carcass thickness of the board to be jointed. the router into the job sideways and where the cutter needs to be well You can verify this by doing a test cut. start to cut from the first mark, and away from the edge of the workpiece. stop at the second. Pull the router out In this case, you can use a 4mm Normally with a biscuit jointer, sideways. DO NOT UNPLUNGE! straight cutter to make the slots using 5 you would just place a strike mark a guide rail, or T-square to guide the across both boards to be joined and Machine the other half and do a router. There is more strain on the this would be the centre mark for the 7 dry fit with a biscuit to check for cutter so do it in a couple of passes. slot. However, this time, you need two fit. Repeat for your other joints. This cut through shows how a 9 biscuit fits in each type of slot. From left to right: biscuit jointer, router biscuit cutter, and 4mm straight cutter. The last two leave bigger glue pockets and the last doesn’t give a lot of strength, so ensure the glue has plenty of time to dry. Polyurethane (PU) glue has the advantage of gap filling but good clamping is required. Here’s a section through the different biscuit joints. The jointer (left) produces So there you are... biscuiting 9 the best result, followed by the cutter set, and then the straight cutter (right) without a biscuit jointer! ■ www.woodworkersinstitute.com ISSUE 49 WOODWORKING PLANS & PROJECTS 51.