I read several postings regarding the "$20" dado blades at HF. HF has several dado blades - some extremely cheap, some just plain reasonable.
Which HF dado blades are the best value? I want something that I can use for more than a month or two. I am not a professional woodworker, more a weekend hobbyist. Thanks.
Look here:
Brian
I bought one but returned it for a refund. It cut very round bottomed dado's. Useless for my purpose.
I suspect that you bought the wobble setup and not the stack dado set. I have not seen a single stack set that leaves rounded bottoms, but virtually all wobblers do.
Digger
Nope, it was the stacked set. Perhaps I just got the one that wasn't right. I was cutting box joints and they looked terrible with the gap in the sides beneath the fingers. I'm estimating here but there must have been between 1/32 to 1/16 gap near the center of each 1/2 inch wide opening or dado. To add insult to injury I paid the regular price of 39.99 otherwise I probably kept it as not worth the trouble to return. They sent a postage paid return label very promptly so I was happy with that. May try again next time their on sale.
You get what you pay for. A HF dado will not cut accurate width dadoes or grooves and will not have flat bottoms and will be dull in no time.
Bob
Based on your use of one? First hand experience ?
He's full of shit and there are numerous users, myself included, that offer first hand testimony to the contrary.
It always amazes me when guys on here bag on a tool, while never owning it or trying it, and say all the guys using them with good results are wrong. It's like they want to get into some snob club, and one of the entry rules is that you have to talk shit on anything that dosn't have Delta, Jet, PM, L-N, etc on it. It happens all the time here. The bad part is that while the above mentioned brands are good tools generally, they have a few dogs in their midst also. And while HF and some of the other import or "price" houses have some crap on their shelves, some of it works very well. If you are the type who tries to figure the price-to-performance ratio on these type of things, the dados set from HF @ $20 and real life testimonials compares extremely well to a $150 Freud set. Not that the Freud is bad, but if you are a hobbyist woodworker (which accounts for the majority on this group), the difference adds up to money for wood or another tool.
The funniest part is when you see one of these naysayers blow smoke out their south ends, and a few weeks later mention in another thread that they have and like one of those crap products. It has happened here on screwguns, tablesaws, the infamous dado blades, and others.
I'm proud to say that I own Delta, Jet, HF, Craftsman, Grizzly, Central Machinery, Stanley (plane), and other brands with good and bad products. The biggest piece of crap I own is the DELTA compound miter saw. As much as people hate the Craftsman TS fence (and I'm one), the Delta CMS is the reigning dog in the shop here.
Digger
Mine does AND it has not dulled in quite a lot of use.
The local HF had them for $19.95 a week ago. I think the sale ended the
16th. Greg
While we're on the subject of refunds. Now I've done my share of HF bashing in the last years but I find their return policy is second to none. I had occasion to need a metal brake and arrived from UPS in very sad shape. I had to repair the shipping crate(a generous description) to return. I called HF and got a human that was courteous and asked,"do you want a replacement or refund." I opted for a replacement. Well UPS showed up the next day to send the bad brake back and already had a return label ready. In about a week the replacement came in much better shape and has worked fine. Larry
I got one of their $20 dado blades as a backup about a year ago and so far, it's done everything I've wanted it to with moderate use. For the price, you can't beat it.
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