Average Customer Review: ( 69 customer reviews )
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88 of 90 found the following review helpful:
Weekend Woodworker... Perfectly Happy Jan 05, 2004
By D. Thiel
"Wood, Photos, Music, and Tech"
I used these blades on a 1hp, 3450rpm Craftsman tablesaw. I am pretty experienced at rough carpentry and am just now getting into finer woodworking.
First of all... these reviews include many people complaining about how difficult it is to put the shims on and off... I dunno, I'm a VERY impatient person, but I found the 5 seconds it takes to add/remove a shim worthwhile.
Also, some folks had said that the measurements are "nominal" and not actual... who knows? Bottom line is that you need to do a test with scrap wood to make sure you have exactly what width you want... (and doing a test with scrap wood is a good woodworking practice and a good habit to form.)
In the "box": the outer blades, chippers, shims, and a case/rack which holds it all quite well. (Note, most other sets in this price range don't come with shims.) Freud includes instructions which are pretty straightforward, but again you should run scrap because every bit of wood is different -- not to mention that humidity can affect the thickness of your stock.
I find this set to be excellent and well priced. Couldn't be happier. Easy to use, well packaged in a carryall/case.
Worked so well my wife thought Norm had dropped by to help me.
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EDIT: I've now had this set for years and have since upgraded nearly ALL my tools, including the purchase of a cabinet saw. I still feel no need to upgrade this dado set. Works great and gives nice flat dados.
83 of 85 found the following review helpful:
Nice Blade Jan 18, 2001
By allen twiford I just put this through the paces rabbeting (yes that's how it's really spelled) several drawers I installed under the bed (much to my wife's delight). Very accurate and well made blades. One word of advice: the blades and wing chippers cut 1/32" light of their stated width. I think this is because plywood is is 1/32" light of its nominal thickness, ie 1/2" plywood is actually 15/32". So this is actually a good thing for cutting grooves for plywood. To actually get 1/2" thickness, add two of the shims supplied with the blade. The nly reason I'm not giving this 5 stars is that the directions don't give you this handy tidbit, I figured it out with a test cut and some research.
56 of 57 found the following review helpful:
Looks flat to me!! Aug 12, 2001
By Karl Zemlin Just picked up one of these blades. The old Craftsman stack I inherited from my Grandfather just isn't up to the requirements of my next project.I read the previous reviews as part of my decision making process. I am a mechanical engineer, machine designer, and a machinist. The review that complained about the lack of flatness was a real concern to me. Precision is very high on my list of priorities. After the first few cuts with the new Dado I felt compelled to run to my computer (I'm covered with saw dust!!) and add my two bits to the list. I am completely satisfied with the cut quality of this dado. The cuts are smooth, very flat, and clean. I have not measured/checked the accuracy of the width. I will use the included spacers to tune the width of any slot I cut. I don't expect the stack height to be precise. This one's a keeper!
37 of 37 found the following review helpful:
Groovy Oct 14, 2001 Good quality for the money. Never used a stacked dado set before. I was surprized how heavy the full stack was. Cut quality I thought was very good. The only problem I had was when stacking the set on the arbor of my saw, the thinnist shim .008 kept dropping into the grooves of the threads and prevented full tightening of the stack. Make sure the shim(s)are fully up against the blade before tightening. I guess someone who'd had experience with stacked dados would have known this, But I didn't. Their were no instructions for first time users. Just a diagram to determine your blade combinations. All in all I was very happy with the purchase.
33 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Even a beginner can cut master level dado's Nov 27, 2002
By Tim Gungoll I had never used a dado blade in my life. This blade comes in a nice carrying case. When I opened it up I wasn't sure what to do with it since I had never used one. I read the instructions, and looked at the picture on the carrying case, and put the blades on the saw for a 3/4 inch wide dado. I set the depth of cut to 1/4 inch and cut two beautiful dado's in the base board of a project I was working on. The dado's were very clean, perfect, and square. If a beginner like me can use this blade to perfection, anyone can.
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