Is it a stupid idea to make my own dado blade??

[David Lawhorn]

Another vote for the Onsrud set if they are still available on ebay.

IMO very good for the $

[Duane Bledsoe]

OK, I saw a set at Harbor Freight today, and was surprised to learn I can get a dado blade that cheap, so for learning how to use them and to save money in the mean time I'll likely get that set.

But anyway, I'm clueless about the way a dado is supposed to work, other than it leaves a wide cut path when finished. But are there supposed to be spaces in between the blades?? I saw one set that only had 2 blades spaced out the full width of the dado cut, and didn't look like it had anything in between, just two blades only. Then I saw one that only had one regular sized blade and said it was adjustable. From looking at that one it appeared that I'd have to readjust the blade after every pass to eventually get the full width of the cut. If I was going to do that I could just adjust my fence after every pass and keep my standard blade in it instead. Still another one had multiple blades but also had spaces in between them.

I'm interested in a dado blade to cut 3/4" dadoes for shelf and cabinet making mostly. Also for rabbeting with a sacrificial fence and a partially buried blade.

[steven c newman]

OK, the set i use has two "regular" blades. These are used for a 1/4" wide dado, AND as the OUTSIDE blades on anything wider. I can then add a "chipper blade" between the two outer blades. Each of these chipper blades are 1/8" thick, along with (in my set) a 1/16" thick chipper. By adding all the chippers together, with the two regular blades, I can have a width of 1/16" OVER 3/4". I can then bury the set in a fence about 1/16" to make a rabbet of 3/4" wide. I have a picture of that set-up:SDC11878.jpgAs for how one mounts the chippers, I put each on the arbor, then "spin" the stack a bit. I add another chipper so that it's cutters are 90 degree from the first one. As I add more, I split the difference between chipper, trying to balance things out.

There are some dado blades out there that use just two blades. The disc in the center of the set rotates, causing the blades to tilt away from each other. This causes a wobble that cuts a wider dado/croove. There use to be single blade wobbles out there as well. They made a rounded bottom to the dado's groove.

Clear as mud, right?

[Neil Brooks]

Duane-

HERE's a decent how-to about using dado stacks to cut dados and grooves.

[Duane Bledsoe]

Well I'm glad you said that some wobble because if I had installed one and saw it do that I'd figure it was about to come off and I'd remove it and return it as defective. That's probably how that single blade one from HF works that is supposed to be adjustable.

[Alan Schwabacher]

The HF (and better) stacked dado sets are cheap enough that there is no point in trying a wobble dado blade that will cut significantly less cleanly and safely.