Woodhaven Biscuit Master Jig: Discontinued — What to Buy Instead
A router-based biscuit jig no longer sold. Whether a router can replace a biscuit joiner, and what to buy now.
Disclosure:As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This costs you nothing and never changes which tools we recommend. Read more.
The Woodhaven Biscuit Master was a jig that let a router cut biscuit slots using a slot-cutting bit. It is discontinued.
Can a router cut biscuit slots?
Yes, and the joint is identical — a crescent slot for a compressed beech biscuit. A three-wing slot cutter of the right diameter and thickness in a router produces exactly what a biscuit joiner produces.
What the jig was buying you was indexing: a reliable way to place the slot at a consistent height and a consistent position along the edge, without measuring each one.
That is the part that is hard. A biscuit joiner has the fence, the plunge and the depth stop built into one body; a router-and-jig combination has three things to set. For a few slots in a panel it works fine. For forty slots in a kitchen it is slower than the dedicated tool and offers more chances to get one wrong.
Where the router approach genuinely wins
Slot depth and thickness you can choose. A slot cutter set gives you cutters of different kerf, so you can slot for a plywood spline rather than a biscuit — a much stronger joint in a carcase, because the spline runs the whole length.
Cutting in the middle of a panel, where a biscuit joiner’s fence has nothing to reference against.
If you own a router and a slot cutter, do not buy a biscuit joiner for occasional work. Build a simple fence and stop from ply.
What a biscuit is actually for
Alignment, not strength. The biscuit swells with the glue’s moisture and stops two boards sliding out of register while you clamp. As a structural joint in a frame corner it contributes very little.
What to buy
The Makita PJ7000, linked below, is the dedicated tool worth having if you slot regularly. Its fence is the reason: rack-and-pinion height adjustment with positive angle stops, so the setting you dial is the setting you get on the tenth cut as well as the first.
If your goal is joint strength rather than alignment, neither tool is the answer — cut a real joint, or use a domino, a dowel or a spline.