Have You Ever Heard of Wood Biscuits?

Biscuits you can't eat? If you are talking about woodworking, this is true. If a woodworker wants to closely join two pieces of wood, he will use "wood biscuits" to do so. They are discs that are cut thinly to fit into a groove on each of the pieces to be joined. Using glue alone to join the boards or pieces would not give enough strength. Wooden pegs or dowels used to be used, but biscuits are stronger and easier to use, especially if you use a biscuit joiner. The biscuit joiner cuts the grooves in each side of the wood; the biscuit is covered with glue and inserted in the grooves, giving a strong joint.

Biscuits are strong and will hold in situations where glue alone will not. Today, these biscuits are made of compressed wood, usually from wood shavings. Once it is inserted into the grooves, it will expand to fit the slot, and make the joint good and tight.

Biscuits are very thin, less than a fourteenth of an inch thick, so they are just about invisible once they are installed. They come in three standard sizes: Number 0 is 5/8" wide X 3/4" long; Number 10 is 3/4" wide X 2 1/8" long and Number 20 is 1" wide X 2 3/8" long. There are other sizes, but those are the most common.

How can you tell which is the right size? Use the largest one that will work in your project. This will give more strength and stability to the project, since the thinner it is, the less strength it will add. Wood biscuits are most commonly used when you are doing edge to edge joints, such as in tables or miter joints, as in picture frames or molding. They are also used in making drawers to strengthen the corners of the drawers. If you are building a book shelf, you will put in a T joint, and adding wood biscuits will give the shelf more stability.

There are some things you need to know if you are going to be using biscuits in your woodworking. They have to be carefully stored in a clean dry container, since they are designed to expand when exposed to moisture. Make sure the biscuit will fit the wood being joined before you put on the glue and put the biscuit in. This is called "dry fitting" and lets you know the biscuit will work; if you put it in and it is the wrong size, you will have a mess with the glue and perhaps not get it out easily.

You can obtain wood biscuits and wood working tools at hardware or home improvement stores, or, like just about anything else, on the Internet.

Linden Walhard usually makes news on things related to machinery and power tools. You can come across his abstracts on power tools and wood working tools over at http://www.insidewoodworking.com