Bat's ears in dado cuts?

[ian maybury]

The Forrest Dado King thread and my present interest in the topic prompted the thought: is there any way around the issue of grooves caused by the bats's ears when using repeated passes with a dado set to cut a tenon?

Is it a case of reverting to the router table where this is an issue?

ian

[joe milana]

I suppose you could send them to the sharpener & have the "ears" ground off, but why bother. They are pretty insignificant, especially on a tennon. Tennons on the router table....yuk.

[ian maybury]

I agree Joe that the router table doesn't appeal. I was thinking of say a bridle joint situation where the sides of the tenon are visible.....

[joe milana]

I'd have to say that there are better ways to cut a tennon than with a dado blade anyway. tennoning jig, bandsaw, shoulder plane, etc.

[Phil Thien]

How about using a tenon jig on the table saw? The cheeks are cut w/ the blade, so no bat ears?

[scott spencer]

The box joint sets tend to have flat ground teeth, which leave no bat ears.

[ian maybury]

Thanks guys. My lack of experience is coming through here in that my shop is just nearing completion after more than a year of work.

I've actually got the option to go the bandsaw, router table or table saw routes - the coming months are going to see a fairly steep learning curve.

That's good news - it tends to suggest that the primary role for a dado slot is perhaps rebates and long slots - in which case the bat's ears are not really an issue....

I'll take a look at the box joint sets too Scott.

ian

[Mike Heidrick]

Try one with the DK - I doubt you will see anything - the grooves will be on the inside.