I have owned my Dewalt biscuit joiner for 5 years so I believe I have the ‘Expertise Authority Trustworthiness’ to share with you my experience and could it be an alternative to the Festool
Why should I buy the Dewalt?
This is a difficult question to answer because there is a huge choice of machines out there. You can buy machines from 70 quid to several hundred but deciding on a biscuit joiner which works well and performs accurately is a little more difficult. The Dewalt is an affordable biscuit joiner that performs as expected.
The Dewalt Biscuit joiner is great value
For a respected brand, the Dewalt is a biscuit joiner that should last you for years depending on use. These Dewalt Biscuit Joiners are available on Amazon for under 150 so are excellent value. I have found a Dewalt Biscuit Jointer on Amazon.com here for 136 dollar which is a really low price
Television made the Biscuit Jointer Popular
Norm Abram with his television show New Yankee Workshop is responsible for making the tool popular. Norm would find a use for his tool whenever he could even if not the best method for that project. Needless to say, the Biscuit jointer soon became the swiss army knife of jointing systems. Today we have the Festool Domino for that. Although I feel the biscuit jointer was overused by Norm Abram did enlighten us, woodworkers, to new ways we could use this machine.
My Dewalt Biscuit Joining machine
I have been using this biscuit joiner for some while for a multiple of jointing tasks such as :
- Face framing
- edge joining
- board alignment
- carcase construction
- cabinet hinge mortise
Wooden biscuit plate joiners
These little wooden slips or biscuits that they are commonly known to make for a practical cabinet joinery solution. These machines have revolutionised some woodworking tasks.
Every biscuit joiner is built to a standard and those standards allow us to use standard wooden biscuits. I use size 10 and 20 and it is fine for my uses.
How is the slot made for the plate?
The slot is made using a slot morticer TCT cutter on a plunge cutter mechanism. These cutters are like a small saw blade.
Dimensions of Biscuit joiner cutter
- Diametre 100mm
- Teeth: 6
- Bore: 22mm
- Angle: 15°
D 4 100mm | T 6 | B 22mm | K .157 | P .122
Compound cuts with the Dewalt Quadrant
Sometimes you may find you are presented with a project that requires you to make angular joints. Luckily the Dewalt biscuit joiner has a good faceplate fence that can be set at any angle. As you can see the Dewalt has a Stainless Steel quadrant. Be careful with joiners that have a cast alloy quadrant as these can be inaccurate especially on the cheap machines.
Dewalt Sole plate has biscuit alignment etchings
When using the Dewalt BJ in the vertical you can use these marks to help align the machine to make accurate cuts. The marks represent the middle and the edge of the biscuit cut saw blade.
Dewalt plate joiner dust extractor port
Modern jointer methods dictate to us that the collection of dust and chips made by woodworking machines is a must. The biscuit joiner is no exception as the machine can create a mess and a percentege of the cutttings are fine and potentially airborne. Good extraction via a shop vac is a good idea. I would also wear a dust mask to the standard of:
- P1, P2, P3
- FFP2, FFP 3
- N95, N100
I have written an article on Dust Masks and we have done extensive research into dust masks. Since Coronavirus in 2020 finding good dust masks has proven difficult. It is important to understand the categories of face masks so you can be sufficiently protected.
Dewalt DW682K biscuit jointer overload switch
Unlike many other machines on the market, the Dewalt Biscuit Jointer is outfitted with an overload switch. This switch will cut the power if the machine is overworked causing excessive electrical resistance.
Is the Biscuit Jointer an Alternative to the Festool Domino?
I see so many online posts asking this question but to be honest they are different machines. I have written an extensive blog on Festool Domino alternative here.