LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Dado Set

2K views 20 replies 16 participants last post by  isu1977 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm looking at buying a good Dado set that will last me awhile and perform well. Any ideas on what to buy?
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've owned 4 sets…first was a Freud SD208, then a DeWalt/Delta 7670, Systimatic Superfine 37163, and now have an Infinity Dadonator set. All were very good sets that did a good job…each set was incrementally better than the previous.

IMHO the DW set was the best bang for the buck at a ~ $100….with 24T cutters, 4T chippers, it has twice as many teeth as the Freud set and made cleaner cuts. It also has great shim stock, and an excellent carrying case. The design is somewhat of a watered down version of the Forrest.

The Infinity Dadonator is just impressive…best of the bunch. It's hard for me to imagine another set giving better cuts. (~ $190 shipped) See my LJ's review here.
 
#4 ·
You are going to get a large variety of responses. I work with a tighter budget and a 1.5 horse saw. I went with the Freud SD206 set as it received generally good reviews and sized sufficiently for my needs. I read a Wood magazine article covering 6 inch as adverse to 8 inch dado sets. The larger sets offer you deeper dadoes but I have yet to have a project where I required dadoes deeper than what my current set can cut and without the additional load on my saw.

David
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
Don't get a wobble set, the bottom of the dado won't be flat(unless I'm missing something). I've used the Freud set at work. For home I just bought the Oshlun set on sale from Amazon, but havn't used it yet. There's a review of it on here. As noted in the review, except for the cardboard box, it looks good. I'm paying for the blades, not the box. I can build a better box. For $50-$60 bucks you can't beat it.
 
#6 ·
Some general advice. Most people do not need an 8" set. A 6" set handles everything I need to do and it is cheaper.

I use the Freud Dial-a-Matic. It uses no shims. I can fine tune the width by turning a dial. I like it. If you have any curiosity about this option, I wrote a review on this set where I tried to objectively spell out the good and the bad.
 
#10 ·
rance - The dial-a-matic mechanism causes my dado to not cut as deep as normal 6" dado sets. I can only go 1.25". In the type of work I do, that is all I need. If I ever needed a deeper cut (unlikely) I would make multiple passes with a normal saw blade.
 
#13 ·
I personally can't stand dial-type dado blades. Not only do i find they leave the bottom slightly cupped, but the thought of a blade wobbling around under the wood just doesn't sit well with me. That said, I know several people that swear by them. Lately I've been making my dado's using my router, I find it a cleaner result and a lot easier to do.
 
#14 ·
Four years ago, I bought a cheap 8" set from HF … they were a waste of money. A couple of months later, I bought a Freud 6" stacked set and have been happy as a clam with them.
 
#15 ·
ZeroThreeQuarter - I believe you are thinking of a wobble dado set and I agree that they are far from accurate and do look scary when they are running. The dial-a-dado set Rich is talking about is like a compressed full stacked dado set that expands and contracts to the dial size indicated. They are kind of slick (but expensive) as you can make adjustments by dialing in without having to add or remove shims.

David
 
#21 ·
After reading all your suggestions and reviews of different Dado sets I decided to venture out and see what our local stores had to offer. I am actually very lucky, I am 1 mile from Lowes to the SW, 1.2 miles to Home Depot to the SE, 2.1 miles to Menards to the NW and 2 miles to the Woodsmith store to the NE. I visit at least one of these daily. The guy at the Woodsmith store store sold me, however. He said to points everyone that comes in the store to the Oshlun dado set. I was going to get the 6", but ended up getting the 8" simply because he said the 8" would give a better finish and last much longer. I read a lot of reviews on this set and they were all very possitive, except for the case, but who cares about a case. Thanks for all your advice. Can't wait to start using now.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top