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- 7,991
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- falcon heights, minnesota
after reading all of this, i'm gonna throw in my 2 cents as well.
in my building of the furniture in our apartment, i've made more glued up panels than i care to think about, from the tops of the plant stands (8x14 inches), up to the top of the entertainment center (7x3 feet), and would never think of gluing them up without biscuits. on the one hand, they do impart a bit of extra strength due to there being that much more surface area, and they are invaluable for aligning your boards. not just horizontally, but vertically as well. unless you flip your boards around after cutting the slots, there shouldn't be much more of a cat's hair difference, if that, along the joint. i've found that if there is more than that, it was due to excessive pressure applied while clamping. with all the panels i've made over the last several years, i've never had to do more than some light sanding, let alone plane any of them. without biscuits, you run the risk of horizontal movement, and especially vertical movement, as the force brought to bear in clamping is looking for the path of least resistance.
in my building of the furniture in our apartment, i've made more glued up panels than i care to think about, from the tops of the plant stands (8x14 inches), up to the top of the entertainment center (7x3 feet), and would never think of gluing them up without biscuits. on the one hand, they do impart a bit of extra strength due to there being that much more surface area, and they are invaluable for aligning your boards. not just horizontally, but vertically as well. unless you flip your boards around after cutting the slots, there shouldn't be much more of a cat's hair difference, if that, along the joint. i've found that if there is more than that, it was due to excessive pressure applied while clamping. with all the panels i've made over the last several years, i've never had to do more than some light sanding, let alone plane any of them. without biscuits, you run the risk of horizontal movement, and especially vertical movement, as the force brought to bear in clamping is looking for the path of least resistance.