Expert: Jamie Yocono - 1/12/2007

Question
I am shopping for a dado blade for my table saw. I have a Jet 10-inch, 1-3/4 hp Supersaw.  I am a hobby woodworker and use mostly the common hardwoods (maple, white oak and cherry...my favorites).  For an everyday blade, I have Forrest Woodworker 2, which I and very pleased with.

Q1. What blades do you recommend?  Based on the Amazon reviews and price, I am leaning toward the Freud 8-in, stacked SD508.

Q2. What do I look for to get a blade that's a good compromise between good for hardwoods, good for veneered plywood?  I'm all confused on the hook-angle and tooth shape business.

Q3.  I've heard about problems with the saw arbor not being long enough to accept certain blades.  Where can I find the specs on how large a blade my saw can accommodate?

Your answers to questions are clear and helpful.  Well done.

Bruce


Answer
Hi Bruce,

Good questions, I'll try to help.

Years ago, I had a job that required cutting a ton of dados. I owned two different dado sets - a small stacked set, and a wobble set. It had been a while since I had used them, they were probably purchased when someone suggested that I "HAD" to have them, they were the next best thing since sliced bread. But the truth is- they both cut poorly.

So I did a few sample cuts and promptly threw them in the trash!

I bought a 10" Freud dado set, and have never looked back. It's awesome, and even though it was very pricey, it's been worth every penny over the years.  I use it in both my Unisaw and my 14" radial arm saw, that's why I bought the 10" instead of the 8" set. But if my RAS was smaller, I probably would have bought the set you're looking at.

On to your questions-

I wholeheartedly recommend the Freud set. I've been buying their products longer than I can remember. They are of excellent quality, although I am like you, I use a Forrest WW2 for my everyday blade. But in the 10 years or so that I've owned the Forest blade, I've lost a few teeth on them, and had to have new teeth welded on. I've never lost a tooth on a Freud blade....never.  You can't argue with that statistic.

I look for a few different things in a blade, obviously it has to be carbide tipped. Since you're looking for a blade that's going to do it all, I would recommend looking for a set that has a good number of teeth on the outside blades, like 50 teeth or so.  If you find yourself cutting dados in plywood more often that solid wood, you might want to see if there is a set that had more teeth on the outside blades. But honestly, I have some 80 tooth plywood blades, and while they made great cuts in plywood, they're terrible in solid wood. Too much burning. So a dado set with outside blades of 50 teeth should work well for you. I don't know if the set you're looking at comes with this many teeth, but if you have a choice- the more teeth, the better the cut is going to be.

Also, about the inside cutters and the shims... I've found my set doesn't do everything I want it to do, but it comes pretty close. I think once or twice, I cut a shim out of a piece of cardboard when I needed something specific. I just took a caliper around my shop and measured stuff until I found something that was the correct thickness. But you want those inside cutters to have the same sharp teeth on them that the outside blades have.  I don't get too caught up in the tooth angle and shape. The place where I bought my blade had a display set up of cuts that various blades make, and I could see the differences... like a blade that you dial (a wobble blade) makes a round bottomed cut. I knew I didn't want that one.

I'm like you, I wanted a good all around blade, so I looked for the one that had the best outside blades, because that's what is going to affect your cut the most.

About the arbor. I've never heard of running out of room on an arbor, but I suppose it's possible. In fact, on my 14" radial arm saw, I had to take off the thick blade stabilizers so that my dado set would fit on it. I ended up having too much length on my arbor. So I cut 2 plywood spacers that go on the two outsides of the dado set. I used Baltic Birch, it does the job fine. If you're worried about the dado set fitting on your arbor, you might want to measure the set. Or call Freud's customer service number and ask them what the maximum thickness is. Once you know it, you could cut a small piece of plastic pipe to the same dimension as the stacked cutters, like 7/8" or whatever the maximum is. Then slip the piece of pipe on your arbor and see if you still have threads left to hold the nut. I've called their customer service department many times, they're quite helpful.

Last thing, I just checked Amazon's website to see the cutter you're thinking of buying. I don't particularly like the look of the outside blades, it looks like they only have 24 teeth on the outside blades. If I were buying a dado set today, I would try to find a set that had more teeth on the outside blades, as I mentioned above.  That's just my opinion, but I don't know if they make a set like that. The blade you're looking at gets excellent reviews though, so perhaps those 24 teeth do the job on a smaller blade (8") than the dado set I own.

Does Forrest make a stacked dado set? Just a thought....

Don't forget you're going to need a new insert for your Jet saw. I make my own, out of 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood. Trace the existing insert and cut the shape with a bandsaw or jigsaw. Sand it to the pencil line on a sander. Then lower your blade, and put the insert in place. I move the fence so it's just over the right edge of the new insert, just barely holding it in place, and clamp a long board over the left edge of the new insert. Leave the blade area clear. Then, turn your saw on, and slowly raise the blade. SLOWLY. It will cut a perfect zero clearance opening for you. I make a half dozen of these inserts at a time, and then use them for the various width cuts I am making. One of my other tablesaws actually had set screws in the insert, so you could adjust the insert height in the opening. I used T-nuts and set screws in the inserts I made for that tablesaw. They're easy to make, and since they're somewhat sacrificial, why not make your own?

OK, good luck, I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back if you have any further questions after reading this. And if this answer was helpful... please take a minute and rate my service. Thanks!

And be careful! Dado sets freak me out, sometimes. They take a huge bite out of the wood, so think your cuts though before you make them. I use a lot of visualization in the woodshop!

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com