PREMIUM DADO BLADE SHOWDOWN

We set out to compare 11 premium dado blades to help you sort out which might be right for you

- Willie Sandry

Dado blade stacks, comprised of two outer blades and a series of inner chipper blades, may have not changed much in the past 15 years, but recently new features have appeared, promising quicker and easier dado stack setup. So, I set out to compare all of the premium dado blades from number of popular manufacturers. Instead of creating strict guidelines for what qualifies as “premium,” such as tooth count or price, I simply compared the best offering(s) from each company. While most manufacturers consider higher tooth count premium, that wasn’t true across the board. So, if you’re in the market for a new dado blade, let’s sort out the details to find what might be right for you.

Test Limitations and Procedures: To determine how each blade performed, it’s important to set some parameters and tests for each. Remember, that some of these are subjective, but here are the metrics we used in this test:

Most of the dado sets made clean grooves in plywood and hardwood. The following 3 cuts help to further evaluate exit chipout and scoring lines.

1 Grooves with the grain

2 Intersecting cuts

3 Double-wide dado

The best in the bunch left truly flat-bottom cuts, with only faint scoring lines on passes wider than 3/4".

Procedures

A. General blade test: A series of grooves and dadoes were made in domestic hardwood and cabinet grade plywood.