edge joining timber

bigstar

hello there

just wondering what people think in regards to edge joing boards. is glue enough or do you recommend biscuits, i always just glue for small things like but for a table top do you think glue is enough. i dont have a biscuit joiner btw, so thats shy i dont use biscuits

Carpenter

Hi
I can lend you 1 if you need it my son

SpitfireIV

bigstar wrote: »

hello there

just wondering what people think in regards to edge joing boards. is glue enough or do you recommend biscuits, i always just glue for small things like but for a table top do you think glue is enough. i dont have a biscuit joiner btw, so thats shy i dont use biscuits

Do you have a table saw? even a small table top one, or a router? You could cut or route a slot along the egde of each board and fit a thin slip of timber in. The same idea really as a biscuit.

MathsManiac

Or you could buy a biscuit jointer in ALDI this Thursday for €40!

kadman

Rubbed glue joint was the norm for many joineries and cabinetmaking shops years ago. Biscuit joining, dowels , tongue and grooves are used more widely now than years ago, even though there are far superior adhesives available .

Glue joints failing in a table top , would be more likely to occur with poor methods used in attaching the top to a frame , rather than the lack of dowels, buscuits ect. Properly prepared joints prior to gluing , will perform as they should. Relying on glue to fill a poorly made joint, or even a biscuit to hold a poor joint is a recipe for failure.

Maybe a couple of test pieces , would give you some confidence in a glue only joint. Jointing cutters for spindles and routers , also give excellent jointing abilities by increasing the surface area of the edges to be glued.

kadman

bigstar

thanks all
thats what i was thinking kadman, the glue should be enough. biscuits etc. are relatively new methods. thanks for the offer carpenter

ennisa

Biscuits and dowels are usually used to help keep everything level when you are doing the glue up, stick 4 boards together with glue on the edges and tighten them up and you'll be pulling your hair out trying to keep all the boards lined up as the clamps tighten.
Usually dowels or biscuits referenced off the top face of the board so that they are all the same distance from the top means that they don't go slip-slidin' all over the place when you tighten up the clamp. Any of the test I have seen on line show that dowels only improve the joint strength marginally and biscuits are only a little better. With a good jointed edge or maybe even a slight spring joint the glue should be more than enough to keep it together and to be honest from what I have seen it is usually the wood that will fail before the glue joint does.

Hope this helps bigstar

Alan
Ireland/Dublin