Cutting slots with a dado blade or a router bit

[Mike OMelia]

As I neck down my considerations for a dado blade, I got to thinking about how I can do many slots with a router table. If one can cut slots with a router bit, what does having a dado blade in the holster do for you? Tennons? I'm just asking. One thing I get is the adjustability of the dado blade. Especially of the "twist set" blades. Please tell me about the things that having a dado blade makes doing better, easier, faster, etc. than using a router. (poor sentence construction, sorry)

Mike

[Philip Rodriquez]

I think everyone will use both methods... but I like my dado set a lot more when I am making a through-cut. The router is better for stopped cuts. Also, the router may be a better choice when you are dadoing long skinny boards. This is because a TS may kick-back on you if you are guiding the piece with the TS fence.

[Bill Huber]

Are you talking about slots or dadoes?

A dado blade is not very good for cutting slots, you will have a bevel on each end of the slot that will have to be squared off. For slots I always use the router.

If you are talking about dadoes then I use both at different times as Philip said. If I have a cabinet I am making and it is 6 feet high I would go with the router. Also with tenons I will use the dado blade, I like the cut much better then with a router and it is faster.

If I could only have one of the 2, dado blade or the router it would be the router for sure.

[Mike Konobeck]

Recently lost dado capability by upgrading to an older combo machine that wasn't dado capable. Not a huge loss. Used to use the dial-a-dado by Freud and it worked perfect. Nice tight fit that was easily adjustable but only beneficial for cutting lenghtwise. Wide, long boards were impossible without a slider. Hence my upgrade for sawing. Little bit more setup with the router but sometimes easier to bring the router to the work than the work to the router / saw with the proper jig. There was a good jig idea on the Wood Whisperer recently.

To address the question a bit more clearly you specifically pointed out a comparison of using the router table to table saw w/ dado blade. Sold my router table. It was nice when I needed it but I can do everything I need to on the shaper or throw in the router spindle and still have edge cutting capability. If I need to work with larger pieces away from the edge I just use and guide and router and it works great. Will be building a jig though because you really need to use a template bushing and have the ability to trap it so it can't walk away from the guide. Exactly what the jig mentioned above does.

There was a shootout in a recent Wood magazine. I think it was 2 issues ago. Can't remember which one won but I think it was the dado blade by a small margin. If I recal it came down to personal pref.

[Jay Jeffery]

There was a good jig idea on the Wood Whisperer recently.


Let's see if it will link (http://thewoodwhisperer.com/exact-width-dado-jig/)

[Mike OMelia]

Are you talking about slots or dadoes?

A dado blade is not very good for cutting slots, you will have a bevel on each end of the slot that will have to be squared off. For slots I always use the router.

If you are talking about dadoes then I use both at different times as Philip said. If I have a cabinet I am making and it is 6 feet high I would go with the router. Also with tenons I will use the dado blade, I like the cut much better then with a router and it is faster.

If I could only have one of the 2, dado blade or the router it would be the router for sure.

Bill, Slots and dados. Yes. Thanks.

Mike, not sure about the bushing... when I said slots (or dados), I meant using the end of a spiral bit with a fence to guide the piece. But I do see how a bushed bit with proper height would be faster, safer, and easier. You got me thinking.

Mike

[scott spencer]

Like many things, both do the job well, and there are pros and cons to each. It really boils down to preference. I prefer the stability and power of my stacked dado set on a saw. I also like the infinite fine tuning that you can do with a dado.

[Alan Schaffter]

One advantage of a dado blade- you can adjust it so your slot and stock fit the way you want. With a router you must rely on the bits you have, which may mean using an under-sized bit and making two passes with a fence adjustment between passes or a special jig.

I personally think it is easier to cut matching dados in multiple large sheets of ply or wide, solid glue-ups on the tablesaw using the rip fence. Since the panel will likely completely cover a router table, you'll need to use a handheld router with a long clamping guide, rail, or long jig, and set it for each cut on each panel. You may need to reach uncomfortably way out to push the router across a wide panel.

Deep dados are easier and quicker to do on a tablesaw.

Stopped dados- router or router table.

Dust- goes into the cabinet when cutting dados on a tablesaw. With a router- likely flies everywhere!!

[Gary Curtis]

Router. I bought Festool's table especially for this purpose. Comes with a Guide Rail. Any router will work with this arrangement, but I use the Festool.

Tall cabinet sides scared me on the tablesaw. The issue is materials handling. Pushing a long board through with a Miter Gauge seemed to be inviting trouble.

I also prefer the flat bottoms of Dado's cut with a router. Not that it adds significantly to glue strength in the final assembly.

[Bill Huber]

It is a shame that the Accurate Guide went away, it is a great tool for making accurate dadoes with any thickness of wood. I lucked out and found one at a Woodcraft store on the bottom shelf hidden under some other stuff about 2 years ago.

I use it with the router for just about all my dadoes, I can make a dado in a full length sheet of plywood and it will be spot on. Unlike a table saw and dado blade adjusting for the thickness of a board is nothing and can be done in less then 30 seconds.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/accurateguidervu.html

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I don't think that anyone has mentioned the fact that a dado will hog wood out much quicker than a router. There are lots of other pros and cons of each method, most of it boils down to what you have to use and what you are comfortable with.

[Rod Sheridan]

Well, I can't really give you a good comparison between using a stacked dado cutter in a saw and using an electric router because I don't own a router.

I do however use a dado cutter for cutting grooves and dadoes in solid stock and sheet goods.

As others have said a dado cutter will;

- cut any width groove (within the set range), this allows you to work with any thickness of material (difficult with a router)

- cuts far faster, far deeper in one pass than a router

- quieter and less dusty than a router

I have a sliding table saw which really allows you to use a dado cutter on large sheets of material without issue, with great accuracy and speed.

I don't use a table saw for tenons, I use a sliding table shaper for that, however a dado cutter in a table saw can be used to make tenons.

I've managed to do wood working as a hobby for over 30 years without a router, the same can't be said for a dado cutter, however your work methods may determine otherwise.

P.S. It's much easier to make angled grooves and dadoes with a table saw since the arbour tilts.

Regards, Rod.

[Dave Houseal]

I like the dado stack because its faster once you get it setup. One pass and always a perfect fit. I am almost always doing multiple dados so the setup time is quickly recouped.

I do have a jig I made for routing dados and it works well, but I still have to get it positioned just right and squared up. It's great for stopped dados or when I have an piece that is too large to take care of on the table saw.

[Tony Bilello]

The problem with responses to questions is that most people dont specify the usage. Small stuff vs. large stuff kinda thing. I build cabinets and furniture and use my dado blade all of the time for slots (dados) even on the smaller stuff. A router/shaper table is too small for a full sheet of plywood and takes too long to set up. I rarely use the router table for anything nexcept for shaping edges that need a cutter that is too large for my standard router. I have made router jigs for dadoing shelves before but that too is a pain the rear and much slower.

[Mike OMelia]

I dunno Tony, I have learned a lot here with my rather oblique question. Lots of things I would never have considered or thought to ask about! Thanks all!

Mike

[glenn bradley]

I use the router table for many things. I use the dado for larger or deeper cuts. Still multiple passes but, less of them.

[Mike Konobeck]

Mike, not sure about the bushing... when I said slots (or dados), I meant using the end of a spiral bit with a fence to guide the piece. But I do see how a bushed bit with proper height would be faster, safer, and easier. You got me thinking.

Mike

Should have been more clear. Def not a bearing but a guide bushing in the router itself to run in the rabbet on the jig. Have to watch the Wood Whisperer video to see what I mean otherwise it may be a bit confusing.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a SSC dado machine with a 3 1/4 hp PC, and I still use the slider with the dado blade in most cases. Just is a lot faster. better dust collection.

Tip: When you get a dull 3/4" bit, or whatever size really, take it in and have it sharpened to an undersized bit. A good sharpener can sharpen it to what you want within limitations imposed by the body of the bit. I have three 3/4" bits I had sharpened to different les than 3/4" sizes, and it didn't cost much, and is recycling. I painted then with different color fingernail polish so I can tell them apart.

[Curt Harms]

I did something like the WoodWhisperer's jig except I don't use a bushing but rather a 1/2" X 1/2" top bearing pattern bit. The upside to the bearing guided bit is no chance of error due to a non-concentric bushing. The downside is the inability to do dados less than 1/2" wide. So far that has not been an issue. By using 3/4" MDF for the guide and a bit with 1/2" cutting depth there is at least 1/4" of vertical MDF surface for the bearing to ride on. I can also use this bit https://www.woodline.com/p-2066-bearing-guided-dado-bit-12-diameter-18-cutting-length-14-shank.aspx if the 1/2" cutting height is too much. The shorty bit is also useful for hinge mortising--the mortising jig is exactly the size of the hinge-no offset calculation required when making the jig like there is with a bushing.

[Ben Hatcher]

I also built a jig similar to the wood wisperer's based on a plan in an old edition of ShopNotes. There are a few things that I dislike about the ww's design. His knobs on the bottom mean you'll have to prop up the jig. I cut t slots into the base of my jib and have the knobs on the top. I also found that it is easier to clamp the jig to the piece by running a clamp on both sides of the jig, parallel to the guides. To make this easier, I extended the length of the ends so that the jig looks more like an I. This way, I can actually use the clamps to slightly adjust the angle so that my slots are square.

As for the OP's topic, I prefer the dado blade since you can hog out more material in one pass without fear of massive tearout. On slots for shelves, especially on long pieces like you'd use in a tall book case, the router is easier unless you have a slider or a helper to keep the piece from binding up on the saw.