Rolled my eyes when a guy swore by the Dado stack trick... now I use it every single job

I've been building cabinets out of my shop in Portland for 8 years and never bothered with a stacked dado set, thought it was just extra setup time. Last month I had to do 40 kitchen drawer boxes and finally borrowed my neighbor's set just to shut him up. Now I'm kicking myself for wasting all that time with router jigs... anyone else resist something simple for way too long before trying it?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_black6d ago

Man I feel that pain in my bones. I wasted probably two full years fighting with router bits and clamp jigs for drawer boxes before my buddy literally handed me his stacked dado set and told me to just try it. After the first cut I sat there staring at the clean groove like an idiot wondering why I made everything so hard on myself. That moment of realization is honestly embarrassing but also kind of funny looking back. The router has its place in my shop but for dados it just makes no sense to keep fighting with it. Good on you for finally giving in, your shoulders will thank you later.

the_charles8d ago

Learned that lesson myself about 6 months ago on a set of bookshelves. Spent a whole day setting up a router jig for the dados, and it still came out slightly crooked on two panels. Swapped to the stacked dado and had all the grooves done in 20 minutes. Clean, square, no fuss. Just wish I had caved in sooner.

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