Blew $340 on a biscuit joiner thinking it would fix my panel glue ups

Used it twice on a cherry table top and went right back to my $25 dowel jig because the biscuits still let the boards shift when I clamped them up. Anyone got a trick for keeping wide panels flat without dropping real money on a Domino, or am I just bad at clamping?

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stella224d ago

Biscuits are actually fine for panel glue ups, the shifting you saw was from your clamp setup, not the joints. Those little footballs swell up and lock the boards in line just like a dowel does, you just have to get the glue in the slot and not starve it. The real trick is putting a caul across the top and bottom and clamping the whole stack flat, since bar clamps alone will bow a wide panel every time. Sounds like the joiner caught the blame for a clamping problem.

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