Is this safe?

[Brian Brown]

I am making some breadboards for Christmas, and I want to put some short feet on them like shown in the drawing. The only accident I have had in the shop that was more serious than a staple through the finger, happened using a stacked dado set. I nearly lost a finger. I never figured out what caused the accident, so I am now extra careful with a dado set. My question is, is it safe to cut a dado with the blade set at an angle, leaving a dado like the one shown in the pictures. There is a nagging in the back of my brain that says not to, but it may just be the hamburger finger from years past talking. Thanks for the help, and sorry for the lousy drawings.

[Rick Fisher]

Hey Brian .. Great question..

I have never done it but would bet your at greater risk for a kickback.. if the board lifts, it wont lift at the angle your cutting .. I would want to ensure there was a featherboard holding the piece down as well as against the fence ..

I would probably do it with a router .. pin a strip of 1/4" stock to one side, run the router on an angle... I dunno .. I would think it through as to what can go wrong ..

Hmm.. Even my router idea gives me pause .. need an edge guide .. Do you have a radial arm saw ??

[Carl Beckett]

These dont look deep. As Rick points out, if it lifts its gonna grap the edges.

Im not convinced a router would be any safer.

Given the relatively shallow cut, I would likely do it but with a good setup to hold the board both against the fence, but down flat on the table (its a straight through cut so this is good). Make sure the piece is flat and doesnt have any rocking - rocking part way through would also cause it to grab.

At the same time, if its making you nervous... there is a reason. Your gut has these instincts due to evolution....

[Matt Day]

If you're worried about the board lifting and kicking back, here's two ideas that came to my mind:
1. Take a series of shallow cuts with the dado blade.
2. Cut the edges of each dado with a normal kerf blade, and hog out the middle with a dado

[Stephen Cherry]

Brian, I'll defer to others whether it is safe or not to angle the dado blade, I just do not know. That said, how hard would it be to put together a angled jig that rides in the miter slot, and attaches the workpiece with 4 destaco clamps? A couple of wedges of the right angle, a piece of miter bar, a top plywood surface, and the clamps. I've got a bunch of clamps, plywood, screws that I keep because for me it always feels more secure to put together a jig than to worry. Particularly on the shaper.

Also, this is another case where the sliding table saw would, with a good clamp would put you almost there in making the cut, and also would keep your hands somewhere in the next county if something goes wrong.

[Rian de Bruyn]

I made the same thing but on a RAS !!!
I made a jik to cut that with a single blade and multiple passes because i do not have a dado blade
BUT i think you will be able to use a TS with single blade aswell

[Jay Jolliffe]

I made a sled to due dadoes for my table saw & I don't see a problem using it for that as I already have. Just hold it flat to the table or sled.

[glenn bradley]

Rule of thumb; if you don't think its safe, its not. I do angled dados without incident. Kickback comes from a bad feed path or a lack of stock control. A dado is hogging out more material per pass and so the "resistance" to the feed is greater; more chance of material control issues. Generally if it takes more than a mild effort to feed the stock through the cutter, something is wrong. Dull cutters, friction on the tables/fence, poorly prepared material (not jointed flat), alignment or something else that should be fixed before proceeding. I'll stop and re-align the saw before I'll offer up a digit ;-) In the end it doesn't matter what other people do. If in your shop, on your gear, with your hands, it doesn't feel safe; don't do it.

[Sam Murdoch]

In my experience one of the risky aspects of using a table saw - with or without the dado - is passing a small nearly square board over the blade. By small I mean only about 10" to 12" or less. The chance of pushing such a piece, with so little surface bearing against the fence, slightly askew is great and would result in blade grab and throw or worse.

Having said that - I think your intended operation is safe but in order to provide as much bearing and hand hold I would run as long stock as I could - say 3 or 4 cutting boards worth before croscutting. Also use finger boards.

Good for you to trust your inner voice and ask before the operation. As Glenn writes "if you don't think its safe, its not".

[Mel Fulks]

Done that many times. One danger is a little pitch ,rust, glue or other debris on the table or fence. Clean and lube and your work won't hang and twist and kick back. Smooth feed makes it pretty safe, but to can also push with a block with sandpaper glued on,etc., as safeguard.

[jeffrey bailey]

I have made dado cuts like that when making cradles. Never had a problem with them.

[Tom Esh]

I've done it many times and I've never felt it was much different than a 90 deg cut safety-wise. However I use grip-faced push blocks to feed dado cuts, not only for safety but to keep long pieces flat and prevent lifting. If the piece lifts on a straight dado, no big deal - just run it through again to get the full depth. However if it lifts with an angled cut, you end up with a dado that's not only too shallow, but too wide, which can't be fixed so easily. I don't see lifting as being an issue for what you're doing, but I'd still use push blocks.

[Rich Engelhardt]

My question is, is it safe to cut a dado with the blade set at an angle

Make the dado flat. Angle the legs.
Unless I'm looking at it wrong?

[Brian Brown]

The board lifting during the cut is definitely the problem I worry about. I have had it happen with a single kerf blade, and watched the wood go whizzing past me. I don't have a RAS, and my router table doesn't tilt. I thought about using my hand held router with a jig to angle the whole set up, but I only have a 1/4' shank, and that requires the bit to be chucked shallower than is safe, and puts too much force on that tiny shank. That scares me worse than the dado set. Using a single kerf blade with multiple parallel cuts won't leave me with the bottom of the dado angled, but I can just cut the corresponding angle on the mating surface of my foot. Also, it will leave me with a repetitive chevron pattern surface that will take a lot of work with a chisel to clean up. I think will set this up on my TS with the stacked dado set, with a feather board on top, and on the side, and make several shallow passes, Fortunately my dado set is sharp.

Thanks for the help, and alternate suggestions. If anybody has others, I won't be doing this until Saturday, so all ideas are welcome.

[Prashun Patel]

I think this can be made 'safer' by designing a good push jig or sled for this. As long as you are able to move that board straight, it should work.

Also double check your throat plate for level with the saw top.

Last, while it means more passes over the blade, I prefer to do dados in multiple shallow passes. Less force to contend with = easier to move thru with confidence.