OK woodworkers, time to sell off your biscuit jointer, this new tool from Freud will make it almost obsolete. What Freud has done is taken the carcass of their biscuit jointer and made it into a dowel cutting tool. The unit that we tested uses two different drill sizes, we elected to use the size that was in the unit on receipt. On first looking at the tool we see that it has all the same tool adjustments and settings of any top quality biscuit jointer so this tool can be used almost anywhere a biscuit can be used. We were very excited to test this tool as we were looking for a tool that could do what a biscuit jointer could do, but with more accuracy and this is the tool that can do it. Basically it works the same as any biscuit jointer except that instead of cutting a semi round slot in your wood this unit drills two exact holes. The problem I have always had with biscuit jointers, or at least the biscuits that are used with them is they are far from precision when compared with dowels.

Biscuit jointers are used primarily in aid of joining boards together. The whole problem of joining boards together is that they are often mis-aligned with one another, then we go and add glue to the edges and hope they will glue together perfectly even so that there is little or no sanding needed and the boards align beautifully. Sadly this never happens, no matter how hard we work at it because between the slots cut by the biscuit jointers and fact that the biscuits themselves fit very loosely into the slots, there is lots of room for movement, and once the boards are clamped together they tend to move even more.

Click below to read more and see pictures of the Freud Doweling Tool.

Any ROUTER with a ROUND OVER BIT is probably one of the most used combinations in woodworking. Virtually every woodworker has at least one router and one of the first and most useful bits they will ever purchase is the round over bit. If you are like me, you problably have a few different sizes of these too.

Round over bits are great ... MOST of the time, but sometimes with the direction the grain runs on some wood that round over bit you love so much will actually tear out or rip the grain of that wood you are trying to round over. Very often the tear-out is hard to see, but run your hand over it and sure enough, it's rough. There is nothing left to do except hopefully sand the rough part down, and hope it doesn't have to be sanded down so far that it starts to become an obvious flaw in the piece.

Does this sound familiar to you ... you bet it does, has happened to all of us. But no worries, Feud to the rescue with their introduction of Quadra Cut bits. The difference with these bits is they now have 4 cutter heads in stead of 2 like most other router bits. So why 4 cutters instead of 2, well the answer is a few reasons.     

Sometimes I buy tools to do jobs that I hate doing, then I find out that the job wasn't so bad after all when I had the right tool. The feature tool for his issue is something called the "Silent Paint Remover" (SPR). Around our house the paint stripper is my wife, and depending on the project she is working on, she is anything but silent, so this tool intrigued me .... a lot! This tool incorporated a new technology, Infrared, that I wanted to know more about.

There are some woodworking tools that are nice to have and some that are MUST HAVES ... Freud's Glue Line Rip blade is a must have. If you are working with any kind of hardwood or softwood, or even plywood, this blade will make your jointer all but obsolete. The triple chip set tooth design is specfically created to reduce wood tear-out and make a much finer, smoother cut ... and it works like a dream. This is one blade that every woodworker with a table saw should own because of what it can do and the time it can save.