Most woodworkers buy only one set of dado heads, so it’s important to find one that works well at the right price. Author Steve Latta tested 15 sets of 8-in. stacked dado sets with carbide teeth. He and his students compared more than 500 samples of dadoes cut cross-grain in red-oak veneer-core plywood and in particleboard-core melamine. They evaluated tearout, how deeply the outside blades cut a visible scribe, and whether the bottom of the cut was flat and smooth. BC Saw and Tool’s standard 8-in. dado head produced  good cuts in plywood and excellent cuts in melamine; scoring marks were visible but bottom cuts were smooth. This blade is available in different diameters and teeth configurations.

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