biscuit joints

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

phil2010

Established Member
Joined
16 Sep 2010
Messages
81
Reaction score
0
when using a biscuit jointer what is the min thickness and width of rail that can be jointed.
 
phil2010":2r8dypoh said:
when using a biscuit jointer what is the min thickness and width of rail that can be jointed.

I suppose around 3 times the thickness of the blade, so around 9 - 10 mm. If the rail is too thin you can get a telegraphing effect where the location of the biscuits can be seen as shadows on the surface of the rail.
Depending on your jointer, blade thickness and size of biscuits it might be an idea to experiment. You can also get mini blades that use smaller than normal biscuits but not all jointers can use the mini blade.
 
I agree with what Noel says and I have successfully biscuit-jointed hardwoods only 12mm thick without the aforementioned "telegraphing" effect. With pine or something softer (tulipwood, polar, lime) however, the results may vary slightly.

With regards to the minimum width, that largely depends on the size of biscuit you intend to use and, perhaps most importantly, the width of the slot you're jointer is going to cut. On most models, this you can fine-adjust to allow for a tight fit or, a small amount of compensation either side of the biscuit, just in case you didn't have your tool set perfectly centred on the pencil line when you made your cut.

With dowels and dominoes, you would be able to joint narrower sections than with biscuits although, thickness is still important.

Hope this helps. :)
 
Back
Top