Dado Recommendations

[Edward P. Surowiec]

The Forest Dado King or Freud Super Dado, which one would recommend??

The Forest is $100 more than the Freud.

Thanks Ed

[Larry Fox]

I have the Forrest and love it. That being said, I understand that the Freud is a wonderful blade. The SD508 I believe is the one that get's good reviews.

[Tom Veatch]

Have no experience with the Forrest, own the Freud 8" (SD508), am well pleased with its performance, and can recommend it highly.

[keith ouellette]

Have you thought of the freud dial a width dado set. Thats the one I have and it's great. Tweaking the width of the dado is so much easier with out shims. it is the last good thing I bought before i went broke.

[Michael N Taylor]

I have the Freud Super 8" dado and really like it, it cuts like butter and leaves a perfectly flat bottom.

[Greg Funk]

Another vote for the adjustable Freud SD608. I never liked fiddling with shims. Cut is flawless.

Greg

[Gary Keedwell]

I never understood the "getting the dado right on 1st pass" mentality. I always do 2 passes when I do a dado. I stack an undersized dado and run the wood through it. I measure the the dado with calipers and move the fence accordingly and run the wood through again. Only takes a few minutes. I use an indicator against the fence but I am considering the Wixey digital readout for my saw. Opens up alot of possibilities.
Gary

[Jon Bonham]

I never understood the "getting the dado right on 1st pass" mentality. I always do 2 passes when I do a dado. I stack an undersized dado and run the wood through it. I measure the the dado with calipers and move the fence accordingly and run the wood through again. Only takes a few minutes. I use an indicator against the fence but I am considering the Wixey digital readout for my saw. Opens up alot of possibilities.
Gary

Some people don't understand the "why do something two times when you can do it right once" mentality. To each his own I guess.

[David Weaver]

I have the 8" dado king set, and run them on a hybrid, which is supposedly a no-no. They do a fantastic job.

Can't say whether or not they're worth the extra $$. They were a standard $249.99 when I got them last year, and sometimes back then, they would go on sale for $229. I understand that they're higher now.

It's hard to go wrong with top notch offerings from either freud or forrest.

[Steve Mellott]

I have the Ridge Carbide and it works great - perfectly flat bottoms.

[Greg Funk]

I never understood the "getting the dado right on 1st pass" mentality. I always do 2 passes when I do a dado. I stack an undersized dado and run the wood through it. I measure the the dado with calipers and move the fence accordingly and run the wood through again. Only takes a few minutes. I use an indicator against the fence but I am considering the Wixey digital readout for my saw. Opens up alot of possibilities.
Gary
I'm sure your method works well for a few dados, but for lots of dados like this, the extra effort to set the dado to the right width is worth it to me...

[Dave Verstraete]

I have the Freud SD 508 and am very satisfied with it

[Gary Keedwell]

I'm sure your method works well for a few dados, but for lots of dados like this, the extra effort to set the dado to the right width is worth it to me...
Your right. If your doing a bunch of them it is definetly worth the effort to make one pass through the blade. I should have been more clear. Most of my projects don't require but the occasional dado...;):)

Gary

[Jim Solomon]

I'm happy to hear most are happy with the 508. A fellow on Craigslist in my area offered me the 508 and a Fusion for $160, both new. I was about to post and ask the same question, so I guess I'll tell him I'll take it. Does the 608 adjustable cut flat bottoms like a stacked dado?
Jim

[Jim Becker]

The Forest Dado King or Freud Super Dado, which one would recommend??

Yes! :D


Seriously, both the DadoKing...which I own and use...and the SD508 are excellent stacked dado setups. In many tests, the Forrest has received the nod, but for the money, the Freud is an excellent value and tests nearly as well.

[Brian Penning]

Anyone get those little owl head lines/grooves in the corners though?

[scott spencer]

I'm happy to hear most are happy with the 508. A fellow on Craigslist in my area offered me the 508 and a Fusion for $160, both new. I was about to post and ask the same question, so I guess I'll tell him I'll take it. Does the 608 adjustable cut flat bottoms like a stacked dado?
Jim

That's a heck of a good package deal IMHO...

[Greg Funk]

Does the 608 adjustable cut flat bottoms like a stacked dado?
Jim
Yes, the 608 is pretty much the same as the 508 except the outer blade has a large knob to adjust it's spacing. It replaces the need for shims.

Greg

[John Newell]

I will jump in here and say that I bought a Freud 208 8" and am not really very happy with it. It does not generally produce flat bottomed cuts. The pricing is attractive, but the 508 seems to be a better tool and therefore a better value.

[Lee Koepke]

Some people don't understand the "why do something two times when you can do it right once" mentality. To each his own I guess.
because something like that is so simple, it plum evades me.

I have found myself spending alot of time sneaking up on the setup, spening alot of time adding spacers .... trying to make one pass.

Once again, my contribution has paid off.....thanks guys for restating the obvious for guys like me ...

[Jim Becker]

I will jump in here and say that I bought a Freud 208 8" and am not really very happy with it. It does not generally produce flat bottomed cuts. The pricing is attractive, but the 508 seems to be a better tool and therefore a better value.

What model saw do you have John? Many times when folks report they are not getting flat bottoms with a stacked dado set it has more to do with the arbor than the stack. There have been a few arbors with this issue...

[Gary Keedwell]

because something like that is so simple, it plum evades me.

I have found myself spending alot of time sneaking up on the setup, spening alot of time adding spacers .... trying to make one pass.

Once again, my contribution has paid off.....thanks guys for restating the obvious for guys like me ...
Well Lee...over the Christmas season a ton of guys were purchasing the Wixey table saw read-out that Woodcraft had a sale on for $99 bucks. They were also throwing in a free Wixey angle gage and free shipping.
With a read-out on your table-saw...it actually elevates your saw into a precision machine. You have the capability to now move your fence a thousand of an inch at a time. Say that you make a dado and it is .010 too small. Instead of spending all the time to remove that whole stacked dado and try to find the right spacer...all you have to do is leave the stacked dado on the machine and simply move the fence .010 and send the wood through again. Your dado will be done before you can put your arbor wrench on the nut to remove the dado blades.
That being said....if you hace a production job requiring a dado of only one size, you might want to spend the time fiddlin with the shims.
Gary

[John Newell]

What model saw do you have John? Many times when folks report they are not getting flat bottoms with a stacked dado set it has more to do with the arbor than the stack. There have been a few arbors with this issue...

Hmmm, interesting! Bosch 4001. Arbor runout or undersize arbor? Other?


With a read-out on your table-saw...it actually elevates your saw into a precision machine. You have the capability to now move your fence a thousand of an inch at a time.

I have a Bosch 4001 with the digital readout which, as far as I can tell, has identical functionality. I love it. I also fell for the Wixey digital height gauge, and like that. However...:)...there is no substitute for test cuts when doing things like setting up grooves and rabbets for a drawer! :D

[Charles McCracken]

Hmmm, interesting! Bosch 4001. Arbor runout or undersize arbor? Other?

The arbor being undersized (either in some areas or along the entire length) can cause uneven dado bottoms. The blades will hang instead of locating and will therefore cut at varying depths. Are the blades difficult to install (normal) or do they slide on easily (not normal)?