I purchased this several months ago and have used it quite a bit. I hadn't used all the chippers at one time until the other day. When I attempted to use the chipper I hadn't used before the hole is not round, its oval, so it doesn't fit on the saw. Next, one of the chippers broke. The blade part, which is welded on flew off. I mainly used this with plywood and used my Forrest for other wood. I have to say, there is no comparison between the two in quality and cut.

Timberline has some shill seller accounts they use to deflect negative reviews. They have a lot more negatives than they are showing. If they run one of their bogus offers they charge your card then cancel the order. Then when you go back to the offer it was from one of their front shill sellers so they avoid the negative feedback. Nice way for them to move to the top of the movers and shakers list and then sell at normal price by canceling all the orders at the bait price. AVOID TIMBERLINE theyFreud SD508 Super Dado 8-Inch Stack Dado are bogus!!!!!!

Not a good unit for the price. This has gone up since I bought it and is too high. All the shims are accurate and easy to set up. I thought a high dollar dial-in would have been nice but those were at least twice the price and do not always give a flat bottomed dado, but now I wonder at the current price.

Freud isn't your run of the mill brand, and neither is this stack dado. Very precise.

I haven't even been able to try this set yet. First set came with shims all rusted together plus some rust deposits behind the outside cutter teeth. When spending $200 on a dado set you expect the condition to be pristine. Replacement set was sent and had even more rust deposits than the first.

Spoke to a foreign based cs agent who said that all they could do is offer a refund on the set. I asked why it wasn't possible to check the replacement set before being sent that it was free of the rust. Didn't get satisfactory response.

I'm sure that this set works really nicely per the "FW" review, but don't want to start off with a rusted set and have to buy third party shims.

I've had this dado set for about 4 years and have plowed untold feet of dadoes and grooves in hardwood, plywood and MDF. I can always count on getting clean, chipout free, flat bottomed dadoes with this set. The 3/32" chipper makes it much easier to set up for undersized plywood or oversize laminates.

If you're looking for the same quality for a less money, consider Freud's 6" stacked dado set.

This would've been a 5 star, except that I had to send the first one back. About half the carbide teeth were chipped or had pock marks on them. Cutters were dirty and had finger prints all over them. Not sure if someone had a bad day at the factory or this was return. The exchange process with Amazon was seamless and the second one had none of the issues the first one did. In addition it cuts beatiful dadoes - flat bottomed with almost no tearout.

Buyer beware! We all assume that buying online will be our best value. I've found this same item at Home Depot for a $100.00 less

Great product. But now, maybe, the dial-in model is newer and easier if it produces as good a cut as SD 508???

I've had this set of blades for over a year now and am very pleased with them. I use them on my Delta Unisaw and they work great. The most freqent use I get from them is making dados in plywood or hardwood cases for plywood shelves and dividers. The adjustability with the various blades and shims helps me to match the groove exactly to the various widths of my sheet stock. The bottoms of the dados are very smooth. Not router bit smooth, but perfectly acceptable for fit, finish, and glueups. They make very clean cuts and I have seen almost no tearing or chipping when cutting in veneered plywood. In a pinch I had to use this set once on a project that used green treat lumber. They tore through it with ease, and most importantly kept their edge. These are very high quality blades and should cut great for years if properly taken care of. I store them back in their hard case with the supplied dividers between blades after every use, so they still look like new after many hours of use.
***As other posters mentioned, the shims are not labeled. Something I cannot believe was not done on a set as expensive as this. One of the first things I did was mic the shims and mark them with a Sharpie as to their individual thicknesses. This has saved me headaches and trial and error numerous times.

Bought this dado set a couple months ago, so far so good. As many other reviewers have posted I wish they would have labeled the shims so you could tell what size they are. Other than that I have no complaints. This is a vast improvement over my previous craftsman dado set.

I bought this dado blade as the result of reading a review in a woodworking magazine. I needed it to make about 300 dado cuts in plywood for a project that needed to be done quickly. The blade made very clean cuts. In fact, another woodworker saw the results and though I might have used a router since the cuts were so clean. The bottoms of the cuts are flat and were fairly smooth.

The blade storage case is nice to have. It comes with plastic spacers to separate the chippers and blades from one another when the blade is stored in the case. These spacers are a little cumbersome to use and the blades had moved around in the case when I first opened the box.

The chippers are not labeled so I had to use calipers to figure out which chipper was which. Once figured out the thickness of chipper and labeled the chippers with a permanent marker, the blades were easy to set up for the correct thickness using charts that came with the blade. I was using 1 / 2" plywood and set the width of the cut to 15/32" and the width of the cut was perfect. The blade included metal shims for fine-tuning the width of the cut, but I did not need them.

The blade also includes a DVD that shows how to use it. I was able to use the blade without the DVD, but the videos were well done and contained useful reminders on how to use the blade safely.

One thing you'll need to use this blade is a new table saw insert. I made a new one out of hardwood using a planer and bandsaw. I then clamped a dado sled on top of it and raised the blade into the insert, creating a zero clearance hole for the dado blade. If you don't want to go to this trouble, you can always buy an insert.

This is an expensive dado set, but the results are excellent. Since I plan to use it to make nice casework (and wood is expensive), it is worth the money.

I'm very pleased with the way this dado set is working out. I was concerned with using an 8" stack with a 1-1/2 hp delta contractors saw, but so far it's working out great--even with all the blades installed. I don't have any experience with other dado stacks, but to my eye the cuts from the SD508 are superb. Clean, flat bottoms and sides. No chip out at all. The only thing that is a hassle (not unique to Freud) is that it IS a dado stack. Putting the both cutters and the chippers together for a cut can be a chore. Now I know why Bill Hylton says avoids using a dado stack in favor of using a router to make dados in some of his books. :-)

Other reviewers said that they had a hard time judging which chipper is which. There are 4 in the set. Two 1/8", one 3/32" and one 1/16". I found that looking at them carefully from the side made it easy enough for me to determine the widths without resorting to using a dial caliper or other measuring device.

The box the blades come in is nice, sturdy and protects the blades well. Just make certain the tabs to hold it closed are secure. Otherwise there's the potential for all your blades to fall out if you aren't careful.

There's a dvd with an intro on how to use the dado, as well as a chart that tells you which cutter and chipper combos will produce a certain size dado/groove, that comes with the set. The dvd is specific to the dial-a-width product and really doesn't cover much other than the 'basic of basics' on how to use the dado. It also has a plan on it for a dado sled.

One other thing. Using any saw blade can be dangerous; using a full dado stack the first time can be VERY intimidating and dangerous if you aren't careful. Make sure all your safety gadgets are in place so you can deal with the intimidating part so you don't 'accidently' experiance the dangerous part of while using it. That said, after making a full depth, clean bottomed dado in one pass, all I can think to say is "sweet"! Feeling intimidated by all those spinning blades quickly fades to healthy respect.

I've had this dado set for 3 months and it has performed very well. The blades come in a sturdy case. The cut is very smooth with little cut-out even on plywood.

If I had to say something negative, I would have liked the spacers to be labeled for thickness. It's easy to caliper though.

The price was great on Amazon and shipping was free.

This dado set creates perfect dados. There is no rip-out and no splintering. The edges are clean and the bottoms smooth. The especially helpful feature is the 3/32" chipper. 3/4" plywood fits perfectly using this chipper. If you get an especially odd piece or plane your board to an odd size, there are a complete set of metal shims. On top of everything is Freud's lifetime guarantee (which means less at my age than it will to many of you). I recommend this to beginners and old-timers and the price is right.

Fantastic set of blades. Cuts as advertised: Smooth, clean, no tear-out. The precision is TIGHT and my 5/8" mdf fit my dado so snug it took a LIGHT tap of a mallet to set it! I got similar results in oak and hard maple. This set is a keeper for sure. This set even cuts tiny grooves in the corners to hold glue squeeze-out. I was cutting a dado in maple and accidently hit a screw I missed before cutting (stupid me!). I was quite angry and when I went to inspect the damage to my spendy dado set to my surprise NOT A SINGLE CHIPPED TOOTH! No kidding, this is very high quality carbide. I did notice a perfect dado cut through the screw though! I have purchased several Freud blades and found them to be equally impressive (try the glue line rip, it's unbelievable). The owner of the local woodworking shop insists Freud blades are every bit as good as Forrest blades and frankly I have to agree.
Disclaimer- I have no affiliation or financial interest in Freud or Forrest

its alot of money for a blade but the forest dado king is even more, but you get what you pay for. this blade cuts great, oak plywood to solid stock.i bought this blade because of the good reviews and i am happy i did.ya the case is not top notch and the shims are not labled but why does it matter mark them yourself.make a new case out of wood, we are woodworkers..right hey i did not even expect a case.

happy customer and amazon is great

The Freud Super Dado works exceptionally well once you figure out how to use it. And that's the rub. They send you a nice instructional DVD but it's for the pricier "dial a width" dado blade. After watching it, it provided absolutely nothing about how to use the blade I bought! Went to the enclosed booklet to set the blade up and it showed what sequencing of different sized spacer blades you needed to make specific width dado cuts. That was all well and good except the spacer blades are not marked in any way so you get to measure each one to figure out it's width. Surely Freud could mark the blades????? Finally, the case that the blades came in is cheap plastic with flimsy catches and a plastic insert that won't last and is certainly not worthy of a $200 set of blades. I am pleased with how the blade cuts so it's worth it. I am not pleased with the items noted above. I expected better of Freud.

Very high quality product -- all that I would expect from "Freud"

I selected this set because of the negative rake angle. This geometry eliminates splintering when cutting dados cross grain in plywood. I am quite pleased with the results so far. Additionally, the bottom of the dado is very clean and even.

The cut produced by this blade is everything I expected and more; sure, it does leave the bottom with a slight in-cut from the side cutters, but I believe any dado will. Bottoms are otherwise flat and true; little or no chipout, even on veneer plywood. I'd definitely buy this again (hopefully I won't need to). Would be nice if the blades and shims were somehow marked as to size, but I can live with this.

Once again a quility produce from freud!! Easy to set up, cuts with perfect accuracy. Very happy with this dado set. Highly recommended. The price may be high but you get what you pay for!!!!

I have now been using this dado stack for two years and it still works great. I have a small cabinet shop if you are curious. I use it mainly in plywoods and melamine. It wooks incredibly well in these. I would surely buy another if I neeeded to.

This is my first dado set so I splurged an got what I was hoping to be one of the better dados out there. Well after my first setup and cutting my first dado all I can say is I am very pleased, good clean cut , flat bottom, no tear out on veneered plywood. There's only one recomendation,it would be a big help if the filler cutters were marked with their corresponding alphabet letter.Following the instructions is a bit confusing because the setup guide shows an alphabet letter assignment then later assigns a thickness to that letter and that thickness does not translate to the carbide it refers to the body thickness. The cutters should be marked with their letter this would save alot of time for first time users.

I've used this set in my radial arm and Unisaw. They're easy to use and do a really nice job. To make things easier on yourself, label each of the chipper blades to make setup quicker. I wish they would have done that at the factory but it took 5 minutes so it wasn't a big deal. The shims are handy and there is a little instruction book that tells you how to set up for different size cuts. I'd also recommend using a dial caliper if you're a real stickler for accuracy. I'd be interested to try out the new dial-dado from Freud, but until these wear out (which should take a LONG time) I'll stick with this.

So this 15 year old kid from canada decides that the needs a dado blade for his new hobbie so he gose out and buys this mastercraft dado blade (if you ever see this two bladed with a plastic hub piece of s**t... run!) that blade left a extremley large mountain! in the midlle of the dado wich rocked the adjointing piece and vibrates so bad the saws hight knob would rise! i imediatley stoped the saw and went to the hardware store luckily for me is just accros the road(not so luckey for my wallet!) i was a little worried about buying a stacked dado blade because of the longer setup time vs a wobble dado

It finaly arrived 1 week after i ordered it now this cost me 350$ yes canadian...but this is worth every friggin penney!the difference between my old dado (wicth cost 200$ )is like night and day my old one would tearout badley on melamine this one there is none. none. setup time> well this is not a a problem for me i keep a little book next to the table saw i write the cobinations of blades chippers and shims so the next time i alredy know what to put in the saw and i get a perfect fit evey time i cant say anything bad about this dado freud i love you guys! keep up the good work!!! this is the set to get no dout about that stop complaing about the price for a dado that will last a lifetime and preforms like a champ buy quality u only cry once

Howdy All,

I picked up this dado set after having purchased its smaller brother (Freud SD506)in recent months. I needed this set as, the smaller 6" set would not allow me to cut out the notches in the 4x4 material that I was working with. Just as the smaller 6" set, it performed flawlessly!! There are a LOT of dado sets out there in the world folks BUT, what separates the men from the boys is, that THIS SET will cut FLAT bottomed and SQUARE dados!! Don't be fooled by cheaper sets, you won't be happy with them when your stock is ruined by their poor quaily.

So, if you want a QUALITY dado set at a fair price, then look no further.

Ciao!!

My set suffers in that the chippers cut slightly deeper than the outside blades. So, I get a slight, but noticable, shoulder on each side of the dado. This is particularly noticeable on exposed joints like finger joints. I'm in the process of finding out how Freud suggests this be remedied. I may post again once that's taken place. Otherwise, the groves are smooth with little tearout and the horizontal dimensions of the set are dead on.

I'm editing this review because I found out the culprit was my Sears table saw arbor. After the good service folk at Freud inspected my set they determined that there must be a valley at the end of the threads of my saw arbor. Sure enough there was and with there suggestion I filled it with JB Weld to the same height of the rest of the arbor and the set works wonderfully now. I've changed my rating dramatically upwards. But, don't get me started on the Sears saw!

I'm really impressed with this blade set now that I understand what I'm doing with it. My set produces flat bottoms and square shoulders. I suspect people that have problems with grooves in the bottoms are using saws without flat-threaded arbors. One blade can hit a thread funny and spin out of round.

Let me save you 45 minutes of frustration with this set:

Measure the width of the chippers at the shank, not the tooth. The teeth measure 1/16" over what the instructions call them. So, the 1/8" chipper measures 3/16" at the tooth. I thought someone shipped me the wrong chippers until I figured this out. Maybe a rookie mistake...but it could have been clarified.

Overall it's an awesome set. It's really everything I was looking for and worth the extra money. Don't try and justify a cheaper set, you won't be happy with it.

I do a lot of cabinet work. This blade set is worth the money if you're making furniture or cabinets. The grooves are square and the bottoms are flat. As for the quality, even when cross-cutting oak plywood there is no tear out of the fibers. I was so tired of having to go back over all my cross-cuts with sandpaper and then the joints wouldn't be tight due to the bottoms not being straight. This blade set also comes with a nice set of shims to "Dial In" the thickness and the extra blades are great with plywood. It's expensive but with this product you get what you pay for. If your doing quality work don't skimp on a cheaper blade set trust me when I tell you, pay a little more it's worth it.

I'm very impressed by the quality of cut you get with this blade. Flat bottom cuts with no chip out. I was most impressed when I was cross cutting veneer oak plywood without a zero clearance insert and the cut was prefect every time with no chip out.

I must applaud Amazon.com, I ordered this set on Sat (3/1) and received it on Thu (3/6), that's some response. On to the blade. I've been using a craftsman dado set for the last several years (non-carbide), it never gave flat bottom channels, and chipped the hell out of plywood. PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT COME WITH THIS BLADE. I like most macho guys don't usually read instructions, and nothing was different when I got this dado set. I popped it into my saw to cut 1/2" width, and get this, I didn't even see the words in big bold letters printed on each outside blade that said "this side out", yep, I put them facing "inwards", made my cut. I was impressed as hell, 90% better than my craftsman, nice fairly flat bottom with 2 very fine deeper depressions in the bottom of the cut channel from the outside blades. I was still impressed, but said to myself for [$$$]it should be better than this. Yep, that's when I had the brainstorm to read the instructions and also noticed I had the outside blades facing the wrong direction. Well, upon reading the instructions (after you face the outside blades in the right direction) you will see how to orient the teeth of the outside blades to each other by following the picture's of the teeth orientation in the instructions. Well, after I did all this, blades and teeth orientated properly, this thing cut like a jewell, perfectly flat bottom, no uneven channels. The only thing is 2 very very fine cuts (from the outside blades) on each side of the channel where it meets the wall about 1 or 2 thousandths deep, not noticeable if you weren't looking at it.
I am very satisfied with this dado set. Then onto the real test, crosscutting oak veneered plywood, cut a 1/2" channel across the grain of the plywood, couldn't believe it, no chipping at all, not even a little, the cut was perfect. I have never used or even seen the Forrest dado set in action but find it very hard to believe it will cut a better dado for the extra [$$$] you'd spend on the Forrest. This is one great set and highly recommend it to even the most discerning woodworker.

I bought this Freud 8" Super Dado set, hoping to improve on my Sears Excalibur adjustable. Success! The adjustable Sears blade left a slight roundness at the bottom of the cut. When making finger joints, you could see a slight belly where the bottom of the groove met the flats of the adjoining finger. With the Freud Super Dado, it makes a perfectly flat mating. Not even a thousandths of a gap anywhere along the edge of it.
Critically speaking, their is a tiny ridge that is made when you look down into the groove at the bottom, but it is so small, that you have to scratch it up to a moving blade, or should I say multiple blades. It does not result in any edge imperfections whatsoever. At first notice, I was relieved to see a perfectly smooth cut. After using it multiple times, and looking too deeply, I noticed the tiniest ridges. I believe these ridges are a result of having to move the board across the blade, and all it takes is the slightest movement as to the heighth of the board, to cause it to get closer to the blade, and thereby giving you the tiniest ridge midstream. Even with that, their isn't anything less than a perfect seam along the outside edge, without having to do any sanding, filing, chiseling etc. It is perfect right off of the blade.
The dado this blade makes is perfectly flat, smooth, and at a perfect right angle. I just went into inspect a job that I just did in large sized wood, and did not notice even a slight edge imperfection in all of the joints I inspected.
In plain words, perfect joints, great price for a tool of this quality (zero tearout as well).
I haven't tried every dado blade out there, but I feel comfortable saying that if I had to do it all over again, I would buy this again. How do you improve on the best. Hope this helps.

Used this dado blade on my DeWalt portable Table saw, Dados were amazingly clean. High quality item. You pay for quality. As my pappy always said "Buy Quality, you only cry once" That says it all.

I chose this dado set based on the top reviews, and I am somewhat disappointed in the product. A substantial number of the carbide tips on both the outside blades and the chippers have imperfections and chips. The brazing is not as uniform as other saw blades I own. Some of the chippers were a little rusty. The cuts are decent, though the points of the ATB outer blades leave a fine but slightly deeper groove than the chippers at the extreme edge of the dado. Additionally, the chippers cut about 1/100 of an inch shallower than the outer blades, so I have to clean up every single cut when making a box joint.