which dado set?

Hi,

I am trying to decide which dado set to buy................could someone give any suggestions on dados? This is mostly for fine work like joints etc. I am looking at Dimar's 46 tooth set. Regards. -Guy

Reply to
Guy LaRochelle
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You generally get what you pay for. My older Amana set, while pricey, will cut a lot of clean, crisp edged dadoes before sharpening, while some of the cheaper sets cut good out of the box, but soon lose their crispness, particularly on laminates.

Reply to
Swingman

I bought a Ridge Carbide dado set at a woodworking show about two months ago, after seeing it demonstrated and comparing the cut to the Forrest Dado King. Both make *very* smooth-bottomed dados with negligible tear-out of the edges, better than any other dado set I'd ever seen. The differences that caused me to buy the Ridge set instead of the Forrest are:

- although the Forrest leaves only a very tiny "wing" in the corner of the dado, the Ridge leaves a nearly invisible faint _hint_ of a wing.

- the Ridge set is almost a hundred dollars (US) cheaper.

Slightly better cut at sixty percent of the price is a no-brainer.

The only complaint I have about the Ridge set is that it's hard to get on and off of my table saw arbor: the OD of the arbor is 0.625", and the IDs of the borings in the dado cutters must be about 0.6250000001". Seriously, they both measure dead-on 0.625" on my dial caliper, and it's a *really* tight fit. By contrast, the ID of the boring in my Forrest WWII blade measures about

0.6255", and the extra half a thousandth makes all the difference in the world in the ease of getting it on and off. Light polishing of the inside of the Ridge cutters with 800-grit sandpaper has helped quite a bit.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Forrest, especially if you do oak.

Reply to
George

I noticed some sets like the Forrest King has 24 tooth outside blades while Dimar has 24 and 46 available. Is there any particular reason a person would buy a 24 tooth instead of a 46 tooth on an 8" stacked dado set? Wouldn't a

46 tooth naturally make a better cut than a 24 tooth? Or is there other reasons why I should buy a set with 24 tooth outside blades? Regards. -Guy

Reply to
Guy LaRochelle

I have had good luck with the Systi-matic high end 8" set. Clean cuts even across the grain in plywood.

Mike from American Sycamore

Reply to
Mike at American Sycamore

"Guy LaRochelle" wrote

I got this blade for use with melamine and am very happy. Works well for all around use too and is a good price. I haven't used anything better at any price. However the tooth geometry is designed for fine cut of veneers without chipping so if I were just plowing miles of dadoes in plain wood i would choose a different one.

mike

Reply to
Mike

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