Dado Blades

[Joe Von Kaenel]

Hello,

I want to make 1/2 lap joints for the top rail of my deck. I plan to use 5/4" treated lumber.

Do they make dado blades for circular saws? The boards are 16' long so I don't think on can use my dado set on my table saw. Would I be further ahead using a router? Thanks for the input.

Joe

[Jason Whelehon]

Even if you could put a dado stack on a circular saw, I wouldn't want to be there when you used it!

It'd be much better for you to use a standard blade and make a series of parallel cuts then use a sharp chisel to remove the excess wood.

[Frank Drew]

What Jason said; I've never seen, nor heard of, a dado-capable circular saw, and his method is the one I'd use. You could also use a router cantilevered off a longer subbase.

[Jason Whelehon]

The best way is a radial arm saw with a dado blade. The router technique is a bit faster but you have more setup to do.

[Steve Perez]

Today I lapped jointed several full sized sheets worth of plywood for a shed project I am working on (for the siding). Did this with the router and an edge guide I built a while back. This was actually quite fast and set up did not take long at all. Dusty, but quick.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

An out of doors deck?
I'm wondering why you'd want to do this at all. Wouldn't that trap moisture and dirt and cause grass seeds to tale root in the cracks?


And as to the Circular Hand held saw. You might get away with stacking identical blades but, I bet the arbor won't let you get any more blades on than the one - - maybe two if you are willing to risk the second blade hanging off the arbor a tad.

Which standing alone that latter short arbor problem might be a good reason not to try.