Dado/Groover Tooling Decision

[Patrick Kane]

Nope, not the ATB bat wing grind of the outter chippers, this was straight down the middle of the dado. We arent talking much of a difference here, but the dado would be "striped" along its length. Say i plowed a 5/8" wide dado, i would see 1-8 distinct lines that were 1/8" wide along the length where a chipper was a smidgen taller or shorter than the other chippers and outer blades. The reason i mention the Maloof joint is because that is exactly the situation i had where i discovered the discrepancy. I ended up having to alter the depth of the dado with a router plane to level it all out.

[Jim Becker]

Perhaps it's a fictional memory artifact, but I seem to remember something from long ago when there was a bad batch or something...but I could be wrong about that. The Dado King I owned back when I had my cabinet saw was clean, clean, clean and totally flat bottomed...other than the bat wings. I mean "really smooth" clean, too.

[Patrick Kane]

Perhaps it's a fictional memory artifact, but I seem to remember something from long ago when there was a bad batch or something...but I could be wrong about that. The Dado King I owned back when I had my cabinet saw was clean, clean, clean and totally flat bottomed...other than the bat wings. I mean "really smooth" clean, too.

Funny you say that, because this 10" set that i sold with the saw was old. I purchased it off SMC for a great price, but i guess that set was atleast a decade old. Compared to the 8" set that i purchased new about 4-5 years ago and had nothing but superb results from. Thats kind of why i was asking about groovers versus dado blades. I havent used a groover, so i just dont know, but the 8" dado set was excellent. I havent used this 10" dado set.

[Frank Martin]

I have a 8” Forrest dado set for use in my sliding saw. Have been very happy with it. I purchased a 6” set with custom 1.25” bore for use in my shaper (part of the Minimax combo) as a groover. Have not used it yet, but fully expecting it to be very smooth. I have never used a groover, so not sure if it is better. Adjustable groovers appear to be a great option, but I have no direct experience.

[Joe Calhoon]

I kept a Systimatic dado set from my table saw days. It was far better and cleaner cut than others I had. I plan to have it bored out for the T17. Dados have a wider range than adj groovers and for most cuts on a saw are fine.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm kinda' with Jim on this one: If someone has a Felder saw and plans on doing a lot a slotting, I think the dedicated groover makes more sense. The results are a lot cleaner than any standard dado stack I've seen. But it's your call.

Erik

Hi Erik, I have an FS Tools dado stack, it makes as flat a groove as my Felder adjustable groover, and it goes to 20mm.

I did also buy a 4 to 7.5mm groover for veneered panels....Regards, Rod.