With this box-joint cutter set from Freud, you can get precise, flat-bottomed cuts every time with little fuss. The set comes with two carbide-tipped blades with 20 teeth and a flattop grind. Unlike a dado set, you don’t need to play with shims to reach the desired width. Depending on the orientation of the blades—face to face or back to back—they
can make either 1/4-in.-wide or 3/8-in.-wide slots that are dead-on accurate. The set also cuts clean dadoes and grooves, although the widths are limited to 1/4 in. and 3/8 in.

The quality of cut for box joints was quite good—better than I’ve been able to get with a high-quality dado set. Used in tandem with a backer board on a crosscut sled or miter gauge, the blades cut with zero tearout. Also, the bottoms are dead flat, which means no gaps in the joints.

If you need to make box joints but don’t have a decent dado set, Freud’s Box Joint Cutter Set is the solution. The set comes with a carrying case and detailed instructions on setting up a box-joint jig for the tablesaw.

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