January 8, 2008

Lamello Classic C3 Plate Joiner

If you're in the market for a biscuit joiner (and who isn't?), you should at least check out the Lamello C3. Lamello is a Swiss company that actually invented the biscuit joiner and their reputation rests in large part on the shoulders of this tool.

The Classic C3 Plate Joiner looks like it has a lot going for it. First of all the slide shoe, fence, and stop square are each made from a single piece of machine milled metal. This gives the tool a high degree of accuracy and, from what we've heard, the high quality construction of the tool eliminates any wiggle in the fence (an ailment that we've seen many biscuit joiners succumb to). The C3 also has positive stops at the most common cutting angles as well as six different depth settings.

Because of its precision and durability the Lamello Biscuit Joiner has long been thought of as the best on the market, consistently taking the number one spot in biscuit joiner comparisons. But this kind of quality doesn't come cheap. The C3 costs about $400 which sounds like a lot of money, but we've gone around and read a bunch of reviews and have yet to find anyone who regretted the decision to buy one.

They also have another more souped up model available, the Top 20 S3, which has a soft-start, adjustable speed motor, a dust bag, and a micro-tuning dial. These extras bump the price of the tool up to the $650 range.

Lamello C3 at Amazon
Lamello Top20 S3 at Amazon