Arbor nuts go on snug

[Rich Engelhardt]

not so tight the little veins on your neck stick out.

I found out today that if I snug the arbor nut on my Freud Box Joint blade instead of tightening it to death, it makes a perfect 1/4" cut & stuff fits together like it should.

If I (over) tighten the nut - it isn't 1/4" wide anymore & it will put you through "shim hell" trying to make it 1/4"...

[Mel Fulks]

And if you don’t tighten them, they tighten too tight by the motor ! They really over engineer those things !!

[Lee Schierer]

When I tighten the arbor nut on any blade, I hold the blade(s) between the fingers of my left hand while applying pressure on the nut with the wrench that came with the saw with my right. I don't apply so much pressure that my fingers might slip. I have never had the nut self tighten more after doing that nor have I had difficulty getting it loose again.

[Doug Garson]

I do the same as Lee and to loosen the nut I wedge the blade with a stick and apply moderate pressure on the wrench. Don't use a dado stack often.