Biscuit Joiner Handbook [Paperback]

Hugh Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1990

Make attractive, durable joints, eliminate time-consuming mistakes, and find shortcuts around hours of tedious work. Totally revised, with all the latest models, this guide shows every facet of each machine, and explains how to do almost any type of joinery. Plus: expert ratings of the major brands, models and accessories, complete how-to information on edge-joining, butt-joining, and mitring techniques, a helpful checklist for maintenance and troubleshooting. "Foster provides a wealth of information about the use of this tool."-- "LJ

. "Anxious to delve into a relatively new method of wood joinery? Try this book...a complete rundown of the when, how, where and how much aspects of the method."-- "Booklist

. 192 pages, 229 b/w illus., 8 x 10.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Be careful that this title doesn't get in with the cookbooks; the biscuits in question are made of pressed wood, not flour, and will surely give your patrons indigestion! Biscuits are used much like dowels to hold projects together; a biscuit joiner is a tool that cuts the slots for them. Biscuits have been popular in Europe for years but are a recent arrival in most U.S. workshops. Foster provides a wealth of information about the use of this tool. However, fully half the book is devoted to in-depth descriptions of particular models of tools and accessories, and the majority of readers will be bored by such excess. Biscuit joiners are, comparatively speaking, an easy tool to operate, so most collections do not need this book. Only comprehensive collections need consider.
- Jonathan Hershey, Akron-Summit Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Woodworkers have for years used such traditional methods of joining two pieces of wood as dovetail and finger joint, but biscuit joinery is a method that's not only faster but maybe stronger. What Foster accomplishes here is a complete rundown of the when, how, where, and how much aspects of the method. Although a book like this tends toward overkill (after all, showing the many models of biscuit joiners comes to seem like advertising for them), there's enough information in it to convince most woodworkers who now turn their noses up at this newfangled technology that there just might be something to it. Meanwhile, once those who work wood for profit notice that they can crank out, say, a bookcase in half the time by using biscuits, they will become biscuit joiner devotees. Jon Kartman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (March 22, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806968001
• ISBN-13: 978-0806968001
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,049,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ins and outs of biscuit joining, April 15, 2000

By 

Robert F. Arbuckle (iowa city, ia , usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Biscuit Joiner Handbook (Paperback)

I have owned 3 different biscuit joiners and I just recently reread this book. After owning three biscuit joiners and using a biscuit joiner for thousands of biscuits, I appreciate this book much more now than I did on its first reading. After noticing the weaknesses in the porta cable and the dewalt I finally got wise and bought the Lamello Top 20. Most of the illustrations in the book are from Lamello and most of the valuable tips work best with the Lamello. If your time has any value and you dislike sanding and scraping glue with a chisel this is an excellent book to own. They give great tips on how to get exact strong joints, but I know from experience that the Lamello is the only hand held machine out there today that has exact tolerances of less than .001. Most people that first buy a biscuit joiner would probably breeze right over the excellent tips and not even notice. Some of the woodworkers in the shop next to me still have not figured out how to use the biscuit joiner to its full advantage after 5 years of use. Their are two kinds of people, those who look at the words and those that actually read. I disagree with the previous review where the person compares the porta cable handbook with this book. I had a port cable and I gave it away because I thought it and its hand book lacked the finer points of what a wookworker really wants. The book gives an example of how you can cut, biscuit joint, and glue up a complicated bookshelf in 1 hour with no glue to clean up or uneven wood to sand. This book deserves at least two readings if not more. It might be a little out of date, but the tips that you need shall still apply. Learning how to use a biscuit joiner can save you time, and money that you might spend on other tools that you do not need. After 20 plus years in this business I am finally getting wise, and in a few more years I shall die like many masters of what they do and all of that knowledge goes with us. Thank goodness someone wrote a book of excellent wisdom to pass on.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Biscuit Joiner Handbook, January 10, 2000

By 

Robert Chapman (Marquette,MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Biscuit Joiner Handbook (Paperback)

As a new user of a biscuit joiner I found about the first 70 of this book's 208 pages somewhat useful, although most of the information prsented I had already read in the Owners Manual provided by the manufacturer of my joiner[Porter Cable]. Most of the book is devoted to a reveiw [with no recommendations] of joiners which were on the market when the book was published in 1995-outdated information.

After using my joiner I believe that it is such a wonderfully straightforward tool to use that it would be very difficult to write a book which provides much useful information beyond what you get with your owner's manual.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of good information. Good overview of biscuit joining, October 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Biscuit Joiner Handbook (Paperback)

The book covers the most important topics relating to biscuit joining. It tells how to make a variety of biscuit joints with helpful hints on doing it correctly. It is espcially good at describing the spectrum of biscuit products and accessories available (glue bottles, self clamping biscuits, etc). A large portion of the book describes in detail the features of various biscuit joiners. This is useful if you are about to purchase a joiner.