SDS-0842 8-Inch 42 Tooth Stack Dado Set with 5/8-Inch Arbor

I could not be more satisfied with the superb performance of this dado set. The cuts were super clean with a perfectly flat, even, clean bottom of the cut. The shim set lets you adjust thickness to the closest 5/1000 of an inch. And since different lots of wood can vary slightly in thickness, using a digital micrometer on your wood tells you pretty closely what adjustments, if any, you need to make with shims. But in the end, you still need to do a test cut using some of the same wood, checking joint fit, and tweaking the cutting width if needed. Totally worth the investment.

I have turned some very expensive wood into sawdust and regret. Surely with this tool I can do so at a much faster pace. I have never used a stack dado set before but some would-be-wood-worker-guys on YouTube make it look pretty easy, and most of them have their fingers. So how hard can it be? I threw away the instructions ‘cause, who needs those? When you have 3lbs of steel spinning at 6,000 rpm who cares about that? The center hole for the arbor is extremely close tolerance (and for good reason) which made installation and removal a bit challenging but when installed, very very secure. The instructions indicate the blade stack and shims are “under rated” or “under sized” to accommodate the nominal thickness of various woods. So I took them at face value and installed the 3/4” setup. Now, let me be clear, I have NEVER used a dado set before. I took out my calipers and measured the stack installed and tightened. Just short of .75” as promised. So far so good. Used a square to measure cut depth. So far so good. Set up the fence to center the cut at 4” from the desired edge. So far so good. With nervous anticipation green button, on. Soft start up, check. Dust collection, on. All seems to be going to plan. No noises. No vibrations. No issues. Time to put the wood to it! The cut quality was PERFECT! No tear out, no truly discernable ridges in the cut. The chippers made relatively clean cuts the whole distance. My first dado cut was 25” of pure success. The fitment of the dado was near perfect as far as I could tell. I glued it up, threw in a screw or four and all is well. I wiped the blades down as they had plenty of oil to protect them. The shipping/storage box is not pretty but adequate to protect them. Would recommend to anyone needing the occasional dado cut.

Product was shipped and delivered promptly after order was placed. The blade set I received was in the aluminum case with heavy foam support around perimeter and foam sheets in between all blades. I am a weekend hobby woodworker and never used dado blades before the purchase. These work great for me! All the blades and shims in my set came clearly marked and I found it easy to make slight adjustments and dial in the exact width of cut I needed. I have a 15+ yr old JET JWTS series contractor saw and the blades and shims went on and off my factory 5/8" arbor with no problems. I will say that the shims can be a little tricky as they tend to find their way down into the arbor threads so be careful with that. All the blade teeth were complete and sharp (no nicks or quality issues as some other reviewers have cited). I have used once so far making many dado slots in MDF. The cuts were clean with a smooth, flat bottom. As the manufacturer clearly explains in the included literature the outer blade teeth are angled and slightly deeper intentionally to cut a crisp clean edge and bottom with minimal tearout. The minimal bottom corner groove produced by the outer blade teeth is barely noticeable and not a concern for me. Another positive for me was the full chipper blade design. I was down to this set or the similarly priced set from Freud. I had read a few reviews that indicated the partial chipper blades in the Fred set were not so easy to align and hold in place when installing on the arbor. That was a key factor in my choice of the Oshlun set. I have to say that even with the full chipper blades, aligning multiple blades for wider cuts can be tedious, especially if you need to use a few shims. I am very glad I went with the Oshlun in that regard because I understand now how much more difficult it would likely be with partial blades. Overall I am 100% happy with my purchase and I highly recommend to anyone considering.

Bought this as my first dado set. Out of the box, the blades felt extremely sharp, and cuts were very clean, with almost no visible blade marks, even with multiple blades. It's been 3 years since buying these, and they're just as sharp. However, as they note, the outer blades create "bat ears" at each side of the cut. I was skeptical at first, but have grown to like this 'feature'. I find the small channels significantly help keep the boards flush with each other, making for an overall better fit. Though not sure whether it helps with tear-out, as they suggest, since I've never used any other dado stack. However, I also intended to use this for other joinery like rabbets, box joints and general cleanout on half-lap/bridle joints, something this set is not suited for. For example, if making a half-lap, you end up with bat ears in random places throughout the cut (depending on how many passes you make and where), which means you end up having to clean up the joint like you would with a standard combination or ATBR blade. If doing box joints, you end up with bat ears in every finger, meaning you either have to fill them in or have an unsightly joint. Rabbets aren't quite as bad as long as you set the stack width wider than your rabbet, so you only end up with one bat ear on the inner corner. It's definitely a quality set of blades, but your options with the kind of joinery you do is quite limited. Looking at other dado sets, it seems they all pretty much do this. I'm not disappointed in buying the set since it has its uses, but if I were to do it over, I'd have just bought a 10" flat kerf/rip blade instead.

I'm pleased with this set! I ordered it from Amazon, built the box joint jig according to the included instructions, and made a box. The cuts are, as advertised, dead flat, and based on the quality of the cut, the amount of carbide on the blades, and the included instructions, I consider the money well spent. If you're going to be making box joints on the table saw, you'll find these blades to be a worthwhile upgrade to a standard dado set. My first test joint was in 3/4" AC plywood, and there was no tearout--not surprising since the blades were new and the cuts backed up by the jig. The pieces went together firmly without needing to be forced. Of course, all new blades cut well, and it will be interesting to see how these ones last over time. In order to prolong their effectiveness, I will store them in the box they came in (cardboard, but sturdy enough, and well padded). I also will not be using these blades instead of a dado set for general dadoes or grooves, since those cuts involve a lot more heat and wear than box joint cuts ever will. I assume that a sharpener who knows what he's doing would be able to keep the set cutting flat and true even after sharpening, but if I'm only making box joint cuts, I imagine that it will be a long time before these need to be sharpened. One note: if you're going to be using this joint a lot (and I assume you're planning to, if you're considering the purchase of a dedicated blade set), you might want to look for plans for a box joint jig that will allow for some micro-adjustment. You can do this with the design described in these instructions with just a little modification, or you can look around online or in magazines for other designs, since most operate on the same principle. Basically, the ability to slide the registration key towards or away from the blade a minute distance (literally the width of a hair, maybe) can make a substantial difference in the tightness of the joint, especially since inaccuracies will compound over the width of your stock. Many years ago I made a box joint jig from plans I found in a book or magazine (I've searched for the reference but can't find it). Unlike most homemade box joint jigs, it does not screw to the miter gauge; instead it has two runners. It uses both of the saw's miter slots, and it provides for the possibility of lateral adjustment to tighten or loosen the joints. I highly recommend that you consider different jig designs to find what works best for you. However you decide to do it, though, I think you'll be happy with the Oshlun set. I've never owned one of their blades before, but I'll definitely consider their products in the future.

Very nice quality blades and a superb cut. I added .035" of the supplied shims to get a 3/4" dado but the results were perfect. Note that the supplied box is cardboard but heavy enough to store the set just fine.

This are very sharp! Quality product, was tricked to buy adjustable sets years ago and RANDOMLY used them. I use these for the back side to make my own poplar door casing.

In general, this is a good dado set. It comes nicely packaged, with the blades offset in order to avoid the carbide teeth hitting each other, and outer blades separated by foam. I used them to make box joints on both laminate and solid wood, and the blades performed really well. The price is good for the quality the kit provides. However... There are three sore points with this kit: a) One of the blades came with a chipped carbide tooth. I didn't observe it until I needed that blade. By then, it was too late to return it for a replacement. My mistake for not inspecting the product upon delivery. b) The kit comes with spacers. The spacers' bore is less than 5/8" diameter. (See pics of table saw arbor and spacer bore.) Thus, they don't fit right out the box on the table saw's arbor. Enlarging the bore is tricky because they're thin, and a drill bit can easily snatch on the material. When that happens, it'll ruin the spacer(s). Enlarging the spacers' bore is doable (I enlarged mine), however, it required a lot of attention in order to avoid damaging them. b) The markings on the spacers are way off. The 0.02" (or 0.508 mm) shim/spacer was labeled as 0.2" (5.08 mm), and the markings contain a mix of metric and Imperial dimensions. The bore is labeled as 17 mm, however, it's nowhere near that value. (See point b) above.) The last two images are for the Oshlun people so they learn the difference between a 0.02" and a 0.2" dimension. Would I buy it again? Maybe. When I purchased it a year ago it provided a good value for the money. Today is $20 more, and that is after the price cut. Having to modify a part of the product (i.e. the spacers) make me wonder: what if the wrong bore was not on the spacers, but on the blades? What then?