Woodworking Tip #4: Level Biscuits

Should a biscuit slot not be exactly at right angles to the surface, the desired alignment of the pieces is inevitably thrown off.  Yet often cutting the slot cannot be accomplished easily with the fixed shoe of the joiner on a flat surface.  I solved this problem by gluing a line level on the base of my DeWalt Plate Joiner.  With the workpiece plumb, of course, centering the bubble on the line level gives you a slot cut perfectly perpendicular to the surface without depending entirely on the fence.  This is especially helpful in cutting the slots on, say, the edging piece to a countertop or such.