I just got a Biscuit Joiner!! What should I build?

[javeryh]

My wife just came home from Home Depot with a biscuit joiner for me for my birthday!  Now I want to use it for something but I don't know what... 

Are these things easy to use?  Anything I should know before firing it up?

Norm makes it look simple (just like everything else). 

[Gambit]

I love my biscuit joiner.  It was easy to learn, started building great things right from the start. The first thing I built was a bunch of shelves for my shop. I didn't really have anything to build, so I played with it and joined a bunch of boards together, some of them turned out shelf like so they became new shelves for my shop.

Always use the smallest biscuit possible for the thickness of wood you use.  The biscuits expand when they soak up glue so if you're using thin particle board and a big biscuit it will expand enough to crack it.

I have a porter cable brand, and they have really small biscuits, size FF I think. I use them for most things.

But it makes everything easier to build.  Very quick too. I love it.

[javeryh]

Awesome thanks.  I was also thinking of building some shelves just because I don't know what else to build (of course there is that 3/4 minicab that I've been dying to make).

How easy is it to line the cuts up?  My wife got me this one to match my router... I guess I'm a DeWalt guy by default now...

[Quarters]

I just got a Biscuit Joiner!! What should I build?


A really long biscuit?

How about one of those arcade machines that play lot of games? I know there's Instructions out there somewhere.


Sorry no useful suggestions. Must sleep before any more posting.

[DrewKaree]

You'll LOVE that thing!  If you've got a shop vac, skip even putting that bag on, it's a useless piece of frustrating crap that ends up making a bigger mess when you have to empty it.  Hose on the end, and fire away!

When you go to buy biscuits, don't open the things before you need 'em, they'll absorb some moisture.  Also, after you've opened the container of biscuits, throw them into a ziplock bag and throw the whole bag back into the container.  If the first biscuit you throw in there is tight or loose, keep testing 'em out until you find one that slides in there nice and easy.  To make it easy on yourself in the future, you might as well test the rest of your container.  It'll take a few minutes now, but once you've got 'em all sorted, you'll appreciate it later! If one is too hard to get in without a mallet, take a pliers or vice-grips and squeeze away until you get it to fit better.  For thinner ones, when the wife is taking one of those nice steamy showers, let a few of 'em sit out on the counter in the bathroom and then bag 'em up afterwards.  They should fit a whole lot better.

Edge-joining pieces of plywood becomes a whole lot nicer, they're great for alignment purposes, heck....all kindsa stuff!  One thing you'll want to make is a right-angle jig for keeping your biscuit cutter safely on the workpiece and at the proper angle to the material while keeping your fingers away from the thing.  Just a simple right angle made of two pieces about the same size as the face frame of your cutter.  You'll learn soon enough what you'll need it for

[NiteWalker]

I also have the porter cable 557 and love it. I use the biggest biscuit rather than the smallest for most of my applications. More gluing surface and since I avoid particle board like the plague I never have any swelling issues.

If my biscuits were swelling too much and making a bulge I imagine I'd need to see a doctor. Very quickly.

I love my biscuit joiner.  It was easy to learn, started building great things right from the start. The first thing I built was a bunch of shelves for my shop. I didn't really have anything to build, so I played with it and joined a bunch of boards together, some of them turned out shelf like so they became new shelves for my shop.

Always use the smallest biscuit possible for the thickness of wood you use.  The biscuits expand when they soak up glue so if you're using thin particle board and a big biscuit it will expand enough to crack it.

I have a porter cable brand, and they have really small biscuits, size FF I think. I use them for most things.

But it makes everything easier to build.  Very quick too. I love it.

[javeryh]

I just got the go-ahead from the wife to build a window seat/storage thingy in the foyer of the house.  It will be a built-in box you can sit on (I will have to get a cushion custom made to fit) and inside will be a place to store gloves, hats, toys or whatever.  I'm undecided if I will make it like a toychest where you have to lift the cushion to get to a panel that lifts up on hinges or if I will build doors and drawers on the front of it...  this biscuit joiner is going to come in handy!