Q. I am building a red oak curio cabinet, and I was wondering if biscuit joints would be as good as mortise and tenon joints. I don't have a mortising tool, and I haven't had any luck with handmade mortise joints.

A. Michael Dresdner: "As good as mortise and tenon? No. But that does not mean they will not be adequate. Properly done, biscuits can be very strong and very appropriate for woodworking. However, I would stop short of calling them equal to a properly executed mortise and tenon. Still, I think the objective is to make it good enough. As Hallack Brendan once said, 'Sometimes, the best becomes the enemy of the good.'"

A. Rob Johnstone: "While I must confess to having just purchased an new biscuit joiner, I am not a huge fan of the tool for tasks like constructing a face frame. (I am sure that they are sufficient to the task &it's just not my method of choice.) I like biscuits for helping to align glue joints; that's where they really shine."