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. Freud’s SD508 8-in. dado head produced  excellent cuts in both plywood and melamine, with no visible scoring marks and smooth bottom cuts. Author’s choice for Best Overall.

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