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Although plate or biscuit joiners have little to no use beyond the one task they’re built for, they complete the task so diligently, that they are a must for every woodworking environment. Referred to as a biscuit cutter, this miniature saw cuts thin slots into edges of wood boards which are then used to hold two pieces of stock together via a biscuit. Hence the name.
What is a biscuit?
Before getting into the nitty gritty of biscuit joiners, it’s helpful knowing what a biscuit is and does. Biscuits are thin, oval-shaped slices of wood and are usually made from compressed beechwood. They are glued to a slot on the edge of one board and in a corresponding slot on the other, and are especially useful when gluing together individual boards when making table tops, cabinet constructions, etc.
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“Measure twice cut once” I always hated this saying, and despite the fact that I forced myself to adhere to it, it STILL cut boards to the wrong length. It used to aggravate me that no one made a tape measure for right-handed woodworkers. Imagine this for a minute, you have a board that is 30 inches long and you need to cut 15-5/16” off it. You pick up your pencil with your right hand and your measuring tape with the left and lay it out on the wood. All the numbers are up-side down. Can you think of any other single thing we do that is more ripe for making mistakes than reading numbers up-side-down?
Oh sure, we can all read numbers up-side down, unfortunately we often read them wrong don't we, that's why we measure twice and cut once, and hope that our brains and eyes were coordinated in seeing the numbers correctly. Well there is HOPE, finally some tape measure companies have realized that seeing the numbers the right way up might be of help to us woodworkers. Infact, some have even made tapes that are for both left and right hand people because they have numbers you can read EACH WAY.
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No self respecting woodworker would use any kind of short cut system to make joints” … that’s what I overheard at a wood show not so long ago. I thought to myself at the time, why would you discount something without ever trying it. I happen to love the Kreg Pocket Hole System and have used it extensively. I have even tested it against other joints, both with and without glue and have found that it not only stands up well but surpasses some joints. In many cases of testing joints with the Kreg System we found that the wood failed before the joint failed.
The real beauty of the Kreg Pocket Hole System is that it is easy to use, fast and accurate (with or without glue). Kreg has made it a point to make a tool that even a novice woodworker can use and make quality, solid joints.
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Choosing a router can be agony. There are so many to choose from … then do you choose fixed base or plunge? And what about collet sizes?
Well Bosch has made choosing a router easy with their 1617 EVS which can be either a fixed base or a plunge and if you buy the dual package you actually get both bases and the router also comes with both quarter inch and half in collets so you can use any router bit you want.
The Bosh 1617EVS is a rated at two and a quarter horse, but the real rating is that it is a 12 amp motor. Most outlets in the average home are 15 amp which is the maximum amperage they will take before they trip the breaker. The Bosh 12 amp is a powerful router but not so big that it is difficult to hold on to for those hand routing jobs.