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Loose Biscuits!

C

Copymutt

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Sep 3, 2016
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Colorado
Scored a corded Ryobi JM 80 biscuit joiner for $15.00 including a bag of size 20 biscuits. To date I’ve been using dowels & mortise & tenon. Impressed w/ the accuracy, ease & simplicity of the joiner, but the slots are pretty loose on the biscuits.
Can wiggle them up & down on the thickness dimension. Is this normal? Cant imagine the blade is too thick. We have single digit humidity here , so maybe thats a contributor.
 
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whateg01

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doo dah, kansas, usa
I don't use them often but when I've borrowed the biscuit joiner from a friend the biscuits for like you've described and I just assumed it was normal. I'm not sure how they can be relied on for making the surfaces coplanar.
 
R

RMERR

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Mar 22, 2017
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Northern CA
Mine slip right in, not tight, but "snug". Definitely not sloppy enough to move in the thickness dimension. Since it's so dry there, could the biscuits be old and maybe shunk slightly? Any access to a friend's biscuits to see if they're slightly thicker or maybe buy some new biscuits and test?
 
T

tarmy

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Mine are snug as mentioned. Wet the entire biscuit and a few drops in the slot as well…. They swell up and sometimes need a tap. Clamp, wipe up the dribble and have a beer.
 
M

Miss the Pontiacs

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Saskatchewan Canada
My joints with the biscuit are a little loose as well. Allows for a little play before setup of the joint which I thought made sense. Once the beechwood biscuits swell up everything should work out. As someone else mentioned the biscuits may be a little dry as well. If you have reservations do a test piece.
 
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JMLangford

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Upstate SC
The biscuits are designed to be a tad loose for fine adjustment and to allow the glue to swell the biscuit.
If the biscuit is to tight, when the glue swells them they will "telescope" their shape in the glue line.

Biscuits are suppose to be kept dry as possible....if they are tight in the slot it means they have picked up moisture from the air.
 
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C

Copymutt

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Colorado
This☝️, I read on woodworking forums more issues w/ biscuits being too tight than loose. Was always humidity related. I always acclimate the wood for projects to its intended environment prior to construction. Wetting the biscuit gives concern for what happens to its joinery integrity after it drys out again.
 
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PassnThru

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Jan 5, 2010
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Bowling Green KY
Are you using the fence when you cut your slots? If so you may be moving the tool up and down a little as you cut your slot or the fence may have some slop in it. Set it on a flat surface with the fence up and make a slot into a 2X and see if it's tighter.
 
F

Fixr

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Dec 23, 2012
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SW VA
Several decades ago I read in some woodworking article that biscuits are supposed to slip easily into the slots. The biscuits are compressed and dried well past typical lumber moisture content so that they will swell when exposed to moisture via glue, and solidly fill the the space, tying the joint together. Or so I read. As a result I have kept my joinery biscuits sealed in plastic bags in the freezer, and they have seemed to stay dry and un-swollen.

What the rest of you do with your biscuits is none of my business.
 
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