Dado King 8" Question

[Carroll Courtney]

Guys each time I do a project and make alittle money off it,I go and buy something for the shop.I would like to buy a good dado blade once and for all,no cheapo this time.
Question: Is it worth the 250.00 bucks,will it be put on sale since Christmas is around the corner?Thanks Carroll

[Peter Quinn]

I have a 6" dado king in my own shop, I use a 10" at work, and both are fine dado sets worth the money IMO. I don't know about any seasonal sales promotions. I have also used a number of Freud dado stacks, and they are very high quality too. Perhaps the surface finish is a bit better on the Forrest, well not perhaps, it really is a bit smoother. But given most everything I use a Dado blade for is blind work, it is of little consequence.

[Doug Shepard]

I've had a DK for a long while and it's been one of my best tool buys. That said, I think if I were shopping now I might go with one of the Freuds that doesn't require any shims but has a hub thats dialed in to set a small amount of wobble. Dont confuse that with a crappy wobble dado blade though. It's a stack dado set but you get to forego the pesky shims. One other suprise from my DK set recently though: In the midst of cutting a bunch of dados and rabbets in ply I needed to re-rip a piece of poplar. Rather than change out the dado set for that one cut I just raised it up and used it to rip. To my surpise I got a better edge than my dedicated Freud rip blade. Go figger.

[glenn bradley]

Dado King does get high marks. I got the Freud SD508 for $149 with a 25% off coupon at Rockler. It has proven to me why it wins the bake-offs so often. It can be a bit confusing as Rockler seems to have multiple promotions going on all the time. The only reason I joined Facebook was that you get free shipping from Rockler (although they have a free shipping promo right now so who cares). Signing up for their store and corporate emails gets you lots of coupons and specials as well. Just a thought as it would save you some dough and get you one of the top rated dados out there in the 8" size.

P.s. Doug is right on the money; if your arbor will support it, the SD608 is the way to go.

[roman fedyk]

I love my Forrest Dado King. It is an awesome cutting set and extremely sharp. Gives excellent flat bottoms very necessary when building cabinets. More expensive than others, but I think in the long run, an excellent choice.

[Darrell Bade]

I cannot give you an honest answer because I have never seen the dado king, but I would give the adjustable freud a good look. It does not wobble, the outside blades overlap a bit and turning the center adjustment knob chnages the width by a certain amount. I never want to use shims again after using the easy adjustment method IMHO.