Wasted $300 on a fancy biscuit joiner I never needed

I fell for all the hype about needing a biscuit joiner for every joint. Spent $300 on a Porter-Cable model at Home Depot in Akron last spring. Used it exactly twice before realizing my regular doweling jig does the same thing for a fraction of the cost and setup time. The biscuits never lined up perfect anyway and I had to sand all sorts of divots out. Honestly, a cheap kreg jig and some glue has been way more reliable for my cabinet projects. Has anyone else bought a tool they barely touched that seemed like such a good idea at the time?

2 comments

2 Comments

mila_sullivan9d ago

The biscuit joiner hype got me too a couple years back. Bought a DeWalt model thinking it would save me hours on panel glue-ups and instead it just created more gaps to fill with sawdust and glue. Those little football shaped biscuits never seemed to swell quite right in my humid basement shop either. You're right that a doweling jig is way more forgiving, and I've honestly gotten better results with just using a simple tongue and groove router bit for my shelf cabinets.

barnes.shane8d ago

Yeah my buddy bought one and returned it the same week.