In the recent issue of Tools and Shop, Asa Christiana’s article on Versatile Shop Storage describes the slots on the crosswise position of the cabinets as “grooves”. Isn’t the proper description of them is dadoes?. I recall the grooves is used to describe the lengthwise slot on a board or side of a cabinet.
Danny Frodin
Replies
Ooooohhhh... burn!
All dadoes are grooves, but not all grooves are dadoes.
Don't even get me started on slots.
tomato/tomahto
Why do we care?
"Groove" is a word that everyone understands, but "dado" is a more precise description that also informs you as to how it is done (i.e., you can cut a groove by hand with a plow plane or while using a rip fence on a tablesaw, but you can't cut a dado that way - you need a dado plane if cutting by hand or a miter gauge if cutting on a tablesaw).
This a little nit picky topic but since we started it. In my 40 years of Woodworking a dado was a groove cut across the grain. A dado can be cut with a plough plane as long as it's close to the edge. The biggest advantage to using the classic terms is if you were given directions to cut a dado in the middle of a square board you would know exactly where to cut the joint with no other directions. With the loose use of the terms today especially amongst hobbyist there is no way to know without more specifics.
Accuracy seems to be important in this business. Sticking to standard terminology avoids unnecessary confusion and questions.
If that's the biggest advantage, I'm good. Approaching 50 years of woodworking I have never been directed to cut a dado in the middle of a square board, and I'd be surprised to hear from others who have.
We can get REALLY kwazy and talk about how we are always cutting cross-grain on plywood (like on Mr. C.'s shop cabinets)...but as jfsksa says; who cares?
For me, potahto. Let's call the whole thread off. (see what I did there?)
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