# dado tearing out



## jamfu (Nov 11, 2015)

I just got a brand new freud dado set , and i am making drawers out of poplar. the damn thing is tearing out the back side of all the finger joints. can anyone tell me why a new blade would do this? i am making half inch fingers with half in thick stock. it looks terrible, and i would not have expected this for the price i paid for the dado set.
Thanks
Jim


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## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

That is the way of dado sets it doesn't matter how much you paid for it. You need a backer board.
All saw blades will tear out when cutting like that to some degree dado sets just do it worse. When cutting box joints on table saw or router table I always use a backer.


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

Not sure just how you are making the cuts. Most any blade or dado stack can, and will, tear out the back side of the cut if the workpiece is not supported. For cutting finger joints most would use a jig that does several things at once. It sets the space for the first cut, and then sets the spacing for all of the subsequent cuts, and it provides a perfect backing to prevent tear out in the stock.


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## woodbutcherbynight (Oct 21, 2011)

You could use a backerboard. Myself I use blue tape before I cut to eliminate this problem. I have access to 2" tape free so it is never an issue how much I use, have no idea how much it costs normally.


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## jamfu (Nov 11, 2015)

ok damn .. i should have done that


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