Dados

[Frank Drew]

I used a table saw dado set almost exclusively for both dados and tenons; especially if your saw has sliding ability, good stops that are easy to set and a precise measuring scale you can do very accurate work. I agree with Ric's answer, that when possible it makes sense to buy equipment with more capability rather than less.

[John Gulick]

I bought a dado set when I was first starting woodworking and I've never used it.

Mike

We have a Unisaw in our shop dedicated for dado work, accurate and quick. I always use featherboards with our dado (Unisaw)

[Larry Foster]

As a corollary to my previous post. I think there are two levels of amateur. There are the amateurs that are not on the 'creek and there are the amateurs that are. In my mind, being on the 'creek makes you a more serious amateu

Anthony, I'm not sure yet what kind of amateur I am, yet.

I know I have some projects I want to do but still have to figure out how much I will be in the shop on a daily or weekly basis.

At this point, I don't see myself as someone who will be spending all their days there but I like making things.

I'm not saying the 'creek is the end-all, but it is a great place and if you know enough to join, post, and ask questions, then you are trying increase you knowledge, experience, and skills

Still trying to figure out this "creek" thing you mentioned joining.
Looked around and didn't see much info

[Stan Calow]

A dado set can also make tenons, although I ended up getting a tenoning jig instead of a dado set. I've gotten by for years with a router for dadoes and grooves, as they've always been the width of a common router bit.

[jack duren]

It really depends on the projects you take on in the future. Somethings route easily for dado's and somethings require dado blades for accurate chip free work...

[Rich Engelhardt]

How important is the ability to use a dado head on a table to a casual hobbyist?

I'm going to say that it......is extremely important.
Not because it's important to actually use a stacked dado, but, the only saws that can't accept one tend to be pretty low quality and/or deficient in other ways.

[Phillip Gregory]

Another of my dumb noob questions.

I have seen where people make dados with routers and just the regular blade on their table saw by making multiple passes without a dado head.

How important is the ability to use a dado head on a table to a casual hobbyist?
The reason I ask is that one of the table saws I looked at Delta 36-6020?) does not take dado heads but is almost $200 cheaper than the other Delta or Dewalt I'm considering.

Thanks for your indulgence.

Probably the most important point I can make is that you will greatly regret buying a cheap tablesaw. Intend to buy stationary tools once and only once, they are often difficult to sell when you "trade up" later. The first tablesaw I used was my Dad's speedometer cable late-1970s Sears 1 hp 10" contractor saw. That was a miserable saw to use, underpowered, no splitter (required two people to do any ripping), terrible rip fence, and held an adjustment about as well as a modern preteen with an iPad in front of them can pay attention. The units you mention are not going to be much better. At the very least, get a 10" cabinet saw such as an older Unisaw/PM66 in decent condition, or the Grizzly Chiwanese equivalent (G0690/G0691//G1023). I got a Shop Fox W1820 (Grizzly G0691 in different paint, a 3 hp left-tilt Unisaw clone) and it is worlds better than the old Craftsman unit my Dad had. But I still on occasion wish I held out for a truly great cabinet saw such as an old Oliver, Tannewitz, or Whitney, or at least a 12-14" saw such as a Delta 12-14 or PM 72. A "casual hobbyist" would do well to get a 10" Unisaw or PM66 and put new bearings in the arbor and motor, and de-gunk it, and have a very nice saw for what a very regrettable unit would cost new from a big box store.

A dado head for a tablesaw is a very useful tool, particularly if you don't have a lot of other tools. A portable router can do anything you can do with a tablesaw and a dado blade, but it will be noisier, and likely be less precise, more difficult to set accurately, and have poor dust collection.

[Larry Foster]

Thanks, Phillip.

I've eliminated from my selection process any saw that won't take dado heads.

Cheap is a relative term.

For my budget, $600 isn't cheap but at the top of what I'm able to spend now.
Been checking craigslist in Pittsburgh and finding a lot of Craftsman saws and some older stationary saws that are anywhere from $1000-$3000.

Unless I get a real find in the next week or two, it's between the Dewalt DWE 7491RS and the Delta 36-725.
The Dewalt is a little ahead, right now for a couple reasons.

My Lowes no longer has a floor model Delta to touch and feel and the high number of negative reviews with a lot of them about motor problems.

I want to like the Delta but those two things give me pause

[Bill Adamsen]

Late to the party. I have an older Unisaw with a dedicated box joint cutter setup which cuts nice flat bottomed joints. I use it for fast and accurate box joints but also rabbets, dadoes or grooving which doesn't require precision I'd preferably cut on the shaper. I end up using the Unisaw for these purposes a lot. I also use a router especially on plywood panels when its nice to be able to see the dado/rabbet being cut.

I would second the comments of others ... that $600 should buy a very nice used tablesaw that will likely as not come with a dado blade. I even see some Powermatic 10" and 12" in my area for sale at that price.

[Larry Foster]

Thanks, Bill.
I've been checking Craigslist for about 3 weeks almost every day and haven't seen any good deals like that yet.
But I have a week or two before I commit

[John Gulick]

In the field I have been using my handy 7 1/4" skilsaw with a series of cuts at the correct depth about 1/8" apart and cleaned out with a reasonably sharp chisel. It has served me well for many years.

In the shop we have a Unisaw dedicated for dado cuts

[Phillip Gregory]

Thanks, Phillip.

I've eliminated from my selection process any saw that won't take dado heads.

Cheap is a relative term.

For my budget, $600 isn't cheap but at the top of what I'm able to spend now.
Been checking craigslist in Pittsburgh and finding a lot of Craftsman saws and some older stationary saws that are anywhere from $1000-$3000.

Unless I get a real find in the next week or two, it's between the Dewalt DWE 7491RS and the Delta 36-725.
The Dewalt is a little ahead, right now for a couple reasons.

My Lowes no longer has a floor model Delta to touch and feel and the high number of negative reviews with a lot of them about motor problems.

I want to like the Delta but those two things give me pause

The current Delta company has nothing on the former Delta company- products made in China and of Harbor Freight quality, except Harbor Freight has better customer service and much lower prices. I made the mistake of buying one tool from them, an 8" bench grinder, which shook more than a washing machine with a 50 pound dumbbell in it. I replaced the awful "new Delta" grinder with a 50 year old Powermatic/Baldor unit which after I replaced $35 worth of bearings, is absolutely excellent and worth the several hundred bucks more than I paid for the Delta. Delta was previously a good maker, the recent stuff is sad. We had a 1943 Delta 1160 "tilty" tablesaw when I was growing up. My Dad who was a manager of a factory "made it disappear" after a goofball cut off his finger with it at work and it was unfortunately relegated to the garage as a "scrap cutoff saw." He replaced the original 220/440 volt (wired 440 volt) 1 hp 3 phase motor with a 3/4 hp Marathon 4 pole 120 volt motor, but even with the power decrease and a very cheap sheet steel motor pulley, it still was a nice saw, much nicer than his late-70s Craftsman speedometer cable saw that we used 99% of the time, but for some reason he kept the Crapsman and sold the Delta tilty at a consignment auction that mostly sold farm equipment when I was about 15 for $50. Really wish I had the foresight of a few decades later to have simply asked to keep it (I'm sure he would have let me have it), but what did I know, I was only 15 and once I left home at 18, didn't get back into woodworking until I was about 30.

It takes a while to find something on Craigslist, but you will eventually find what you are looking for. I bought the first half of my shop from Grizzly as I wanted to get started woodworking and didn't want to wait a year or three for some great piece of old iron to show up on Craisglist or elsewhere. I bought the second half slowly and later as I had enough to work with from the new stuff (which is mostly decent clones of midrange Delta stuff, a Unisaw clone, an RC-20 clone, an improved version of the RC-33 four-post planer, and a 17" steel framed bandsaw) in order to wait to find the nice old iron show up in decent condition in a decent radius- the 7 1/2 hp 16/20" medium arm DeWalt GE radial arm saw, a dual-spindle Whitney shaper, a 20" Clausing drill press, and the Powermatic/Baldor grinder. Give it time and don't rush it and you will find things.

If you have to find something now, go buy a very nice new tool and pay the $$$, you will cry once paying $2-3k for a decent tablesaw vs. paying $600 for a poor-quality one, cussing at it repeatedly, and then spending $2-3k a few years later to replace it.

[Larry Foster]

Thanks, Philip for your input.

If $2-3K were remotely possible, I would look at saws in that range.
$600 is about my limit.
Since I'm not sure how serious I am, I think that range is ok.

I'd hate to sinl a whole lot if all I may do is occasionally monkey around.
Besides, I can always go up if I find myself wanting to be a serious wood worker.

[Roger Marty]

I use a table-saw Dado stack primarily for doing box cuts and for making tenons. A router is not really a replacement for those use cases. For making straight up dados, sure, use a router.

I started out like you and devoted < $600 to a table saw. I got a Ridgid R4512. A new, heavy-duty cast iron saw with a big flaw-- the fence. But frankly for a budget of $600, I would buy it again. The "blade shift" issues are overblown and fixed. The riving knife is a good safety feature. The fence is crummy and really hard to repeatedly lock down perpendicular, but workable in the short-term and upgradeable in the long term.

After a year of using it and having a "close call" where I almost put my hand into the blade, I decided to get a SawStop PCS 1.75. I couldn't be happier with it.

[Larry Foster]

Thanks for that, Roger