Woodworking Made Easy with Hank Metz, Vol. 1: Biscuit Joinery Techniques

(1996) 105 minutes, Easyway Ventures.

Color cover.

I'm frankly a little dubious about titles that have the word 'easy' in them, but if you have a decent understanding of woodworking you'll learn a lot from amiable host Hank Metz's informal instructions. Opening with shop basics, Metz takes viewers through a variety of neat projects, continually emphasizing safety regulations when working with tools. It was smooth sawing for the most part, and even though I'm still "creatively challenged" when it comes to woodworking, I can recognize a popular item when I see it. Of course, if you think that "biscuit joinery" somehow involves the Pillsbury Dough-Boy, you might find yourself drifting off ten minutes into the program. Recommended.

-J. Carlson ***

Woodworking Made Easy with Hank Metz: Biscuit Joinery.

Easyway Ventures, 1996, lO5 min.

684.08 Woodwork-Technique, Joints (Engineering)

Biscuit joinery, a means of assembling woodworking projects using a plate joiner or "biscuit machine." is capably described by a professional woodworker. Emphasizing preparation of materials and safety measures, Hank Metz demonstrates cabinet, drawer, frame, panel, door, table, and miter work in various projects. Onscreen symbols and a "beep" alert viewers when to don safety glasses, earplugs, and other protective devices. Although some previous expertise and a well-equipped workshop are musts, home woodworkers will benefit from this useful program's lucid instructions, well-shot visuals, and the onscreen list of tools and plan suppliers.

-Candace Smith

Biscuit Joinery, the first volume in a new instructional video series: Woodworking Made Easy, with Hank Metz, offers a series of techniques that simplify and speed up the biscuit joinery process.

To cut some common cabinet joints, for example, Metz lays mating boards atop each other, slightly offset, so the boards and the bench top act as fences for the machine, and so index lines are easy to transfer. His methods are designed to level the playing field among all tools so that the fence is no longer an inhibiting factor nor the criteria to justify the purchase of a more expensive machine." With most of his techniques, the fence is left off the biscuit joiner.

Without the need for fussy fence adjustments, the process goes more quickly. The machine is set up to cut biscuit slots that are centered in 3/4" stock, and Metz simply uses shims under the stock or machine for other thicknesses. The fence is only used for angled operations.

Also adding to the increase in speed and simplicity are a variety of techniques Metz uses for marking index lines, most involving the transfer of marks and cuts from workpiece to workpiece, thus eliminating some of the potential for errors in measurement.

The experienced cabinet and furniture maker addresses carcase work; drawers; frames, panels and doors; tables; and mitered joints. Along the way, he offers many other clever techniques and small jigs for a wide range of other biscuit joints and uses, from affixing panels in cabinet frames, to using them as "shrink buttons" attaching tabletops to table frames.

But Metz goes further in this 105-minute video, working to speed up the entire woodworking process surrounding the use of biscuit joints. He demonstrates his favorite methods and products for stock preparation and assembly, favoring, for example, gel glues for their long open times and thick viscosity, allowing complicated assemblies to be done in one step without the fear of glue dripping or setting up too soon.

Metz even includes some pocket-hole joinery techniques designed to supplement biscuits.

Metz emphasizes safety throughout, employing a system of symbols that pop up in the corner of the screen at the beginning of each new operation. The symbols call for dust masks, eye and ear protection, tool guards, push sticks, etc. where they are necessary. The symbol system works well, acting as a pointed reminder without taking over the whole screen.

At the end, a source list is included for all of the equipment Metz uses in the video, and plans are offered for the custom clamps, marking gauges and jigs he describes.

Contact: Easyway Ventures, P.O. Box 516, Mundelein, IL 60060

"Also adding to the increase in speed and simplicity are a variety of techniques..."

"Metz emphasizes safety throughout, employing a system of symbols that pop up in the corner of the screen..."

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