HF Dados

[headhunter636]

I finished up my first Christmas present, it was a bunkbed for my daughters Amercian Girl dolls. I am now starting the second one which is a wardrobe for the dolls and I am going to be doing some more dados and my current blade is missing th 1/16th chipper and I am thinking of just picking up one of the cheaper HF 8 inch Dados to be able to finish these up. I am cutting mostly Poplar.

Would I be OK with one of these or should I pony up the extra 60 bucks or so for a Freud 6"?

I am happy with my HF clamps and Drill Press but I am not too sure about bits and blades.

Thanks.
David

[dbhost]

If you are running a BT3x00, these are 1.5HP saws, you really ought to be using a 6" dado...

Having said that, I can highly recommend the Oshlun SDS0630. I got mine at Rockler on sale, but even at full price, it's still not horrid. Fantastic flat bottomed dadoes every single time...

Check out my posts, and you can see I am not a Harbor Freight hater, but I must say... I will not buy bits or blades from them. I have had nothing but bad experiences with their blades...

[Hoover]

Rockler still has the Oshlun 8" on sale

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...6&cookietest=1

If you have a free shipping code then it is $48.00

[headhunter636]

Hoover,

The link you posted is for the box and finger joint blade, the 8 inch Dado is showing up at $89.

I will probably wait and get the 6 inch Oshlun or Freud, maybe one of them will go in sale soon.

Thanks.
Dave

[Knottscott]

The Oshlun and Freud sets are definitely made better than the HF set, and either of those two should perform well. Holbren sells the 6" Oshlun for $63 shipped with "BT310" discount code. I wouldn't suggest going with the HF set to save money...I prefer to use a decent dado set on the TS, but if money is the primary motive for buying it, I'd go with a router instead.

The DW7670 set from Grizzly is more money yet (~ $100 shipped), but is cleaner cutting than the entry level Freud set IME.

[pbui3057]

I bought a used Freud SD506 for less than $100 shipped and it was great to use. The Oshlun is also really good but I think that the sd506 was better.

[Hoover]

!!

Hoover,

The link you posted is for the box and finger joint blade, the 8 inch Dado is showing up at $89.

I will probably wait and get the 6 inch Oshlun or Freud, maybe one of them will go in sale soon.

Thanks.
Dave

Yeah!!! What's your point? You need this one too!! Happy holidays!!!

[JimD]

I have the HF dado set, I am a sucker for cheap stuff, and I do not use it because it is inaccurate and not rated for the rpm of my BT3100. If you were doing something where you do not care a lot about flat bottomed cuts and could deal with the unusual thickness of the cutters, it could be of some use. If you want to do "nice" woodworking, I would get a better dado set. I use the least expensive Freud and it works great.

Jim