Customer Reviews

Freud SD208 8-Inch Professional Dado

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

The set of 2 outside blades with 4 two-wing chippers cut well in soft or hard wood. The negative hook angle makes a great flat bottom with virtually splinter-free cuts. I have the Dewalt 744 which is underpowered and it works great. Comes in a nifty case to protect it with clear instructions. It does cut a little undersized but that's easily reconciled with the spacers.

I purchased the Freud dado set sever months ago. Until recently I have been using it on plywood, MDF and Melamine . It worked great. However, recently I was making 3/8? finger joints on some hard maple stock, the blade pushed the maple and resulted in finger joints that did not work. I repeated the process with heavy clamping to the jig, same result.

For the price it is an excellent dado blade. I like the fact that the blades will give you a Dado that is slightly under the fractional size. If your ? plywood was manufactured to 0.740 it would be a bummer to have to stack up 0.057 in shims to get you from 11/16 (.688) to .745 for the proper sized dado. With the Freud set, you can stack up the chippers to get close, and then add just a few shims.

I would recommend purchasing the Freud shims with a 1? hole. The shims that come with the blade have a 5/8 hole. These shims can be tricky to use since they can catch in the threads on the arbor. If you can, put the shims next to the first outside blade so that the shims are on the solid part of the arbor, and not the threaded section.

The set I received had numerous chipped teeth. I looked at several sets on the shelf at Home Depot and all of them had a few blades and/or chippers with chipped teeth. It looks like Freud has a quality control problem. If you buy one, be sure to inspect the teeth. After all, why should I settle for a defective product when I've paid full price for a brand new one?

First of all I have modest experience with dado blades and molding heads because quite frankly they scare me. Now just because I don't have a hundred years experience I can tell you a few things I've learned from guys who do. In the first place it's WOODWORKING! Like that old guy on "Router Workshop" says - "I laugh when people say they have to adjust things down to .0001., IT'S WOOD - IF YOU BREATH ON IT IT WILL CHANGE THAT MUCH IN AND OF ITSELF. I have used and set up this blade enough to know that it makes completely flat bottom dados. I have mine on a Craftsman 10" radial arm saw (your laugh here) which I personally haven't had problems with after six years. I don't know why people feel the setup for this dado set is complicated. I'll admit that the charts for it are not really directions , but the amount of trial and error required to get a snug fit is minimal. I haven't had any problems with the shims "falling" into the arbor threads,- of course I haven't figured out exactly how something with a 5/8" hole "falls" on a 5/8" arbor either. (Get a 10$ set of magnetic shims - though the slotted type look like they could "fall" indeed ,if you have the wisdom to figure this out). Maybe another reviewer can explain this to me. I know that it's wonderfully easy to work with on the Sears RAS(being above the table). I checked the condition of my arbor before I bought this blade and I'd bet some of the people who have complaints did not do that. I can see the "etched" blade tracks at the bottom of the dados sometimes, but its nowhere near the fifteen thou that others are complaining about.(less than .0001 that I can see) The fact is it has as much to do with the wood itself. Forget dadoing warped or twisted wood. If I had a scanning , tunneling electron microscope I might be able to find a "ridge". I have cut as many dados with this blade that look like they were routered.(correctly) I haven't felt the slightest bit of kickback with this blade either by the way and I thought there would be an increase in noise over using a single blade but strangely I believe it is noticeably quiter - of course my RAS is very quiet to begin with.

This dado set is as good as described by all the readers. Also it is very easy to install and remove the blade. A caliper will be a handy thing to have when using this stacked set.I don't want to repeat the good things that all the readers have already mentioned.