Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 5554 1000 Assorted Biscuits

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been using PC biscuits for several years and have gone through many batches of them. One thing I have noticed is that the number of defective biscuits per container has risen markedly as I purchase newer batches of them. The current batch I have been using has shown about 30% of the biscuits to be defective (by defective, I mean that the biscuit compression is inconsistent, and that many of the biscuits are too wide for the slots cut by plate joiner.)

I store all biscuits in double sealed, airtight containers in a bone dry basement, and am religious about protecting the things.

I simply may have gotten a number of bad batches of biscuits from the several supppliers from which I have purchased them, but I continue to find that a large portion of the units are unusable. While those which do fit in the slots function fine, I'll probably end up buying a batch of the Swiss "L" brand biscuits next. Though they cost twice as much, they are reputed to be extremely consistent, and the cost of the PC throwaway biscuits makes the cost per usable unit of the L brand biscuits extremely competitive.

Be aware, you may have to pick through your batch of biscuits just as you have to pick through stacks of lumber at the local yard.

I was a bit concerned with the quality of the biscuits. I found that about 5%+ where off size or broke easily. I have a small home shop that I do a little work out of. It is important from a $ stand point that the supplies I buy are right. I will buy another, when I need one, to see if I get the same results.

I recently opened a brand new sealed package (read: not having been sitting around open to humid conditions) which I bought here at Amazon. I just finished joining lumber for 6 tabletops. Out of the 200+ buscuits used, I had a failure rate of between 40-45%. This is unacceptable, and I'll be writing PC to complain. Most are just swelled too much to fit in the slot. The ones that do fit work well. There were less than 5% that were obviously broken or cracked. I strongly recommend considering another brand. Not sure who's making these for PC, but they simply need better QC to ensure that this high a percentage of defective units aren't going to the customer.

I received a thousand free biscuits with the purchase of my plate joiner. I've found that maybe 3% of the #20 biscuits are too thick to fit in the slot, and some have rough edges which make insertion kind of tricky when matching up large panels. But generally they work as advertised, and I'm really sold on biscuit joinery.

I took a quick look at the biscuits to see if they were usable (not chipped, broken, improperly pressed, etc.) and saw the nearly all (over 95% in my estimation) were ready for use.
Buying in bulk means you do not get the nice plastic storage containers, but for the cost savings it is worth it. Besides, a clean, relabeled peanut butter container works just as well!

The assortment came and was suitable for use. I liked being able to purchase a variety of biscuits for a reasonable price. Quality was on par with others I have used as well. (How nice do they really have to be?)

Average price, It just saved time running out to get them.

In our area, these are tough to find, and when you do, you have to buy way too many of just one size. This assortment is handy. As for defective biscuits mentioned in another review, I've found only a few, and wouldn't half of them would have to be bad to break even paying double for something else?

These are a good quality and a good price, I would recomend!

They fit well, they arrived well packaged with no swelling, and at this price, they're almost a steal