Australian Wood Review – September 2019

http://www.woodreview.com.au 47

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

I

n 1956 a Swiss carpenter, Hermann Steiner converted

an angle grinder to make simple joints for panels made

from a then-new material known as chipboard. Later on,

Lamello was the name he chose for the 1968 release of the

first portable version of a quick jointing tool.

When Festool released their domino tool in 2007 it was

a game changer. The actual technology had been around

for years in heavy joinery machines but packaging it in a

handheld power tool was an innovation. I sold my biscuit

joiner and converted to dominos and have never left them.

But recently, I’ve come back to the biscuit.

The joiner

The motor in this tool is housed in a barrel driving a

100mm diameter TCT tipped, 4mm thick sawblade –

actually on my calipers it was 4.16mm thick. Plunging the

tool leaves an arced slot that accepts manufactured wood

joiners called biscuits – hence the name biscuit joiner,

although plate joiner is also used. The fence and depth

adjustment system set the height of the cut and depth.

The biscuits

The biscuits are compressed slightly and usually made

from beech. Biscuits are 4mm thick and available in three

main sizes – #0 at 47 x 15mm, #10 which are 53 x 19mm,

and #20 at 56 x 23mm. This offers a range of widths for

different workpieces.

1

2

3

1. With the extra
   fence fitted
   slots can be
   cut in various
   thicknesses
   of wood.


2. Marking out
   for a shelf.


3. With the shelf
   clamped down
   along the pencil
   lines, the lower
   edge is the
   reference face.