new Freud blade set

Messages
1,456
Location
Central (upstate) NY
I saw something I've never seen before today. The Freud 8" reversible stacked finger joint blade kit. It is essentially just the two outside blades of a stacked dado set, no chippers and no shims, but the blades have offset carbides and make a 1/4" kerf stacked A-B-arbor or 3/8" kerf stacked B-A-arbor.

Let me see if I can find a link. Here they are on Amazon. The local store I saw them at has them at $10 less then Amazon. Maybe I'll go back Friday and spend some overtime money.

I wonder what rake angle these guys are? For that matter, do I go to Freud or Bosch website for more info? Aha! The Freud website still has some info. Rake appears to be 20 degrees (also called hook angle). A bit much for pull operation of the RAS (I don't like going above +5 degrees and won't do pull cuts above +15 degrees - in fact, I think +15 degrees is the most aggressive hook angle blade I own), but pushing and ripping modes of operation should still be ok.

So, I answered my own question about hook angle. Does anyone know what sorts of conditions should be avoided to avoid unevenly stressing the offset mounted carbides?

Thinking about this more, I think I may just have thought myself out of the purchase. I started thinking that since this is essentially an FTG grind that it wouldn't be good for crossgrain dadoes, but might be ok to use to cleanup the bottom of a 1/4" or 3/8" dado cut just under depth using the stacked dado set. Then I got to thinking that I have 1/4" and 3/8" router bits (straight) and could just cleanup said under depth cuts on the router table. That led me to thinking that maybe I should get one of those tenoning jigs to use on the router table instead.

Has anyone used tenoning jigs on the router table? What sorts of things have you used them for? Would you buy a tenoning jig just for the router table if you didn't have a table saw to use it on?

Trying to figure out the best way to spend my overtime money from last week is harder then I thought. Guess that means I'm just about done with tool collecting and it is time to get my back healed up and make stuff. :huh: :wave: :thumb:
 
Dunno that I'd use the Freud box joint set on a RAS, but it sure is a sweet addition to a tablesaw. Charles McCracken from Freud may have some suggestions, both on the blade question and the router question.
 
Mark
I've had that set for a year or so, and it does a great job for finger joints.

I've never tried it for cross-grain dados, but I don't see why it wouldn't work very well. Tear-out shouldn't be a problem - particularly if you'd scribe the cut lines before sawing.
 
other than the convenience of simply reversing the set-up to change between 1/4 and 3/8 thick finger joints, I don't think you'll get any better functionality than the dado stack you already have on hand. IIRC and you do have a dado set, What else are you interested in that is about the same cost?
 
Mark,

The SBOX8 is intended for box joints on the table saw where the cuts are with the grain so the tooth geometry is similar to a rip blade. There are some who use them as dado cutters but I would not recommend it for a RAS due to the aggressive hook angle. The tooth offset is not a durability concern because the tips are securely brazed to the bodies.
 
Charles - thanks for the reply about the carbides.

I understand that this hook angle is not recommended for pulling cuts (a type of climb cut) on the RAS, but pushing cuts, as an anti-climb cut, should be ok, right?

Ned - The advantage of these over my dado set is that these are FTG, leaving a perfectly flat bottom, while my dado set is (erm, kind of) ATB+R, leaving slight deeper valley at either side of the cut.

Given that I am not happy with the key slots of the ever-in-progress jewelry box, I could use this blade to recut them at 1/4" (otherwise known as, what is the fastest way to disappear 1/8" by 3" by 6" worth of purpleheart). I could then either splurge for a 1/4" dimensioned piece of maple at Lowes, picking through to try and find on that might have interesting figure or use one each 1/8" purpleheart and paduak or mill my own maple or something (trying to contrast with walnut, so if paduak darkens maybe not best choice).

I think what this is going to boil down to is after budgetting tomorrow if I have more than $200 to spend on shop stuff and I get out of work early enough to get to the store before they close on the way home I think I'll pull the trigger.
 
Trigger pulled. Will try to post pics tomorrow - I bought some other stuff too. On the other hand, if it is warm tomorrow I might try to play in the shop as long as my back lets me. Doc says backs are slow to heal and might be months til all better yet. Hopefully that coincides with the end of winter.
 
Top