Let me start off by saying that I have never used a high end Forrest or Freud Dado set but this is by far the best dado I have ever used; in comparing price I can't imagine the others are twice as nice. Excellent outer blades and six tooth chippers really gives you a smooth operation with a nice flat dado cut. I tried it on a number of veneers as an experiment and it never split or separated the outer layer, I am very happy with this set. I would actually give it 4.5 stars, it misses all five because of the "case". It is just a cardboard box; that will probably get damaged in shipping. I built a case and now have a high end dado set for half the price of the better known names. Oshlun SDS-0842 8-Inch 42-tooth Stack Dado Set with 5/8-Inch Arbor
I've only used this set a few times but am very impressed with how clean it cuts. Nice flat cuts. Very well packaged though I would have liked to see it in a better built box. But considering the cost versus the really expensive sets, this is a very good buy. The blades are packaged with styrofoam between each blade. I am a cabinet maker by trade and if these last near as long as my expensive set did I'll be happy. The directions are very well done as to what chippers and shims to use for each size of cut. I may look into their other blades. This is a very good buy.
For 50 years I have endured the less then satisfactory results from my Sears adjustable dado- not that it didn't performed as advertised.
This Oshlun is like from heaven. All my dado's are letter perfect.
That plus the rapid delivery from Amazon satisfies all my needs.
I had been indecisive on which Dado stack would replace the lousy Skil (rebranded Vermont American) High Speed Steel set. I had to stick with a 6" set to go with my Ryobi BT3100-1 table saw. It was going to be either the Freud SD206, or the Oshlun SDS-0630. It came down to personal recommendation from a local woodworking club, and price.
I can honestly say, the Oshlun SDS0630, is about as close as you can get to Dado stack perfection while still holding price within the realm of reasonable cost...
Fine width adjustments with 1/16", and 1/32" chippers, combined with the nice selection of shims make fine tuning your dado to the funny sheet goods sizes easy as can be. And if you aren't sure how to set it up and adjust it, Oshlun includes a fairly straight forward instruction sheet.
The blades are clearly marked as to direction and proper position to insure foolproof installation. The chippers are clearly marked for thickness, as well as rotational direction.
This set leaves laser perfect smooth cuts, and bottoms in everything I have thrown at it, from MDF, Melamine board, Baltic Birch plywood, white oak, pine ply, solid pine etc...
The objection otherwise mentioned here to the fact that this ships in a cardboard box is not misplaced, but honestly, what we are reviewing here is the Dado set, not the storage box. If you want a solid storage case, build it. You are a woodworker right? Yes a nice case would have been a good addition, but at this price point I think the manufacturer would have had to cut back on the quality of the blades to fit a proper case in the budget. Not a good trade off. Heck, use the Dado stack to build your storage case for the dado stack! This thing honestly makes cutting dadoes precise, accurate, fast, and even somewhat fun...
I have not had this blade set long enough to give a fair assessment of long term durability, but from the way this thing is built, I do not expect there to be any problems with it holding up well.
Oshlun dado set is of excellent quality, perfectly balanced
for cero vibrations and neat cuts. The set is very easy to install and use.
Furthermore, Oshlun customer service is trully the best you can get. Recently I dropped one of the blades over
hard metal and damaged a couple teeth,... wrote to customer service about it
and immeditely got a new replacement blade. I am very impressed and pleased with the Oslum service and
very reliable products. That is why I am giving Oshlum much more than five stars.
I am using this dado set on a 10" Delta Contractor's saw. The dadoes I have cut are very smooth in the bottom and on the sides. The way the teeth are set on the outside blades leaves a small "v" groove on each side of the dado at the bottom. This seems to help prevent tear out. I am using this set mostly in plywood so the edging covers these tiny groves. I don't think they would be objectionable in solid wood either. Of course a blind dado will cure that if it's a problem. The extra teeth on the chippers seems to account for the smooth cuts. I would recommend this blade to any serious hobby woodworker. I'm not sure how it would hold up in a commercial shop setting but a great set for the home shop.
Sure, the cardboard box is cheesy, but that's not why I bought this set. I'm making a chest that requires hundreds of dado cuts. I'm an intermediate woodworker and this dado set helped make quick work of it. The only issue I've had is some tearout when cutting cross-grain dado cuts in the edge of 3/4 inch oak, but I suspect this might have been an issue with any dado or maybe with my feed rate. Maybe finer teeth would help, I don't know... but that might compromise other performance. It seems very easy to get the exact cut width I want and the set looks like it will be very durable.
Oshlun SDS-0842 blade set arrived on schedule in excellent condition. No chips in carbide teeth. Like many I have a 25 yr. old set of Sears "Craftsman" stacked blades. (There is absolutely no comparison to the new set.) I have used the new set on several projects and once set up they work just as advertised. I'm sort of hobby/pro because I do sell most of my work and I can't think of any reason to spending any extra money on dado blades. Highly recommend this set if you're looking to buy. - Dado Set - Dado Blade - Dado Blade Set - Dado'
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