Had to pick between a biscuit joiner or a doweling jig for a job yesterday

I was building a set of kitchen cabinets for a client in Denver and needed to join some panels. Couldn't decide between my old biscuit joiner or a fancy doweling jig I borrowed from a buddy. I went with the doweling jig since I heard it gives stronger joints. Turns out I misaligned two holes and ended up with a crooked panel that took me an hour to fix. Has anyone else had doweling jigs slip on them during a big job?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairc901mo ago

Stronger joint or not, a biscuit joiner never would've done you dirty like that.

foster.tessa1mo ago

My buddy Greg swears by biscuit joiners for exactly this reason (he calls doweling jigs "alignment gamble machines" which I think is pretty funny). I've been using a biscuit joiner for like 15 years now and I've never had a joint misalign on me, even working with oak or maple on big panels. The key is you get a tiny bit of adjustment room with biscuits that dowels just don't give you, and that wiggle room has saved my skin more times than I can count. I heard the same thing about dowels being stronger, but honestly for face frames and panel glue-ups in cabinets, biscuits have held up fine in every house I've worked on over the years.

wendy8201mo ago

Huh, biscuits actually swell up with glue so there's not much wiggle room once they're in.