Thread: Dado blades

I've only ever used a router and straight bit for this purpose, but only because a triton is the closest thing to a tablesaw I own.
Having just completed a mountain of grooves, trenches and rebates for a shop project I'd say one advantage of a dado stack in a tablesaw would be the ease at which it could do deeper, longer and potentially wider work faster. Of course that depends on the tools being compared. A table saw fence (possibly with a sacrificial face) might make setup faster too.
If the dado ends are to be showing in the final workpiece, a router should give a very nice,square and flat surface. That doesn't necessarily happen at the saw.

I guess the answer to your question depends on the amount and stroke of work you'll be doing and, as always, budget.

multiple passes using your current thin blade (flat top blade is best, triple chip is ok, ATB isnt too good but a router plane can clean it up). its no different to those that do have dado sets when they need to make 2" long tenons, they still do it in multiple passes.

You can do it with a router, especially if you have a good fence or track. But I think it is easier with a dado stack as you can use the table saw fence. I think it gives a neater edge and it is much faster. A router lets you make stopped dados. But either way will work.

Trav

Have just acquired a table saw and a dado stack as part of the deal, I reckon that the dado is definitely fast than the router, and I have far more control over a longer run. The stack is Forrest king and leaves a nice finish, with two visible but barely noticeable "peaks" at the edges. I use it with a sled and sacrificial fence for crosscut and when ripping, I have a sacricial fence for ease of adjustment when needing to rebate shallower than the stack width that saves time.

I recently made a Jarrah box, and routed stopped dados in the sides, and used the table saw to do the ends. The table saw did it faster and there were no burn marks left. Both router bit and blade were new.

i will still use the router for specific tasks, bit if I can use table saw instead, I will. Having a decent table saw has added so much pleasure to working with wood, with so much less manual work ie 2 shavings to a glue friendly surface. And the cuts are accurate (except for operator miscalculation that I cannot blame on the tool), making it so much easier to allow a chainsaw carpenter to be happy with his joinery.

if you are comfortable using a router you will be able to cut dados, but from my recent intro to a half decent saw and dado stack, my preference is to use the saw. For the record, I have the Triton TRA001 in a table and a decent Makita plunge router, both with plenty of oomph and using carbi-tec bits. Most of what I have done has been practice work, to become familiar enough to commit real $$$ to some nice timber for an entertainment unit.

for smaller stuff I have a Ryobi Trimmer and a Dremel setup. Both are fine for dados in smaller work. I am a recent woodwork enthusiast, because building houses is too expensive a hobby these days.

I suggest you try each method and find out which suits you best, but it is worth your time to do so. Do you have access to a mate or acquaintance that has one you can try? If you are anywhere near the ACT be happy to let you play.

https://youtu.be/GmaL6PK1zyE

This vid gives a few different ways of cutting a dado. If I recall correctly he doesnt use a table saw at all.

Thanks for the responses, I have cut lots of dados with a router and table saw blade, but never a stacked dado blade, I am soon retiring, so will be buying new gear, including a table saw, I just thought it may be useful to get a table saw that can handle a dado blade.