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Vent: biscuit joints failed on a built-in last month and I still say the glue was fine
Everyone on here preaches that biscuits are just for alignment and the glue does the real work, but I had four joints on a white oak built-in pop loose in a clients house over in Boise six weeks after install. I clamped them for a full day, wiped squeeze out, the whole deal. My old boss swears I starved the joints, but I used Titebond III straight from a fresh bottle with plenty left in it. Here is the thing nobody admits: biscuits swell with moisture and can actually push the joint apart a hair while the glue sets if your slots are tight. I switched to floating tenons on the redo and those things are locked in tight. Cost me a weekend of unpaid rework and about $180 in new oak. So am I wrong that biscuits are overrated for anything holding real weight, or did I just get a bad batch of glue?
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bens811d ago
Did you check the moisture content on that white oak before you cut it? I read a piece from a woodworking mag a while back that said biscuits can wick moisture out of the glue and swell up, and if your slots are cut tight that swell has nowhere to go but into the joint line. Sounds like exactly what bit you. Titebond III is good glue but it does not fix a design that fights itself. The guys who say biscuits are just for alignment are right in theory, but in the real world a swollen biscuit can win the tug of war. Floating tenons give the glue room to do its job without the biscuit pushing back. You are not wrong, and the redo proves it.
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