elliot_allen65•9d agoMost Upvoted

I tried using a 3/8 inch router bit for a 1/2 inch dado on a maple cabinet and it chattered like crazy, what's your go-to for clean dados in hardwoods?

I mean, I was rushing a job in Boise and figured it would be fine, but it left the groove walls all rough and I had to spend an extra hour cleaning it up with a chisel.

2 comments

2 Comments

sams259d ago

Honestly, that bit about hard maple not forgiving a rushed cut is so true. Tbh I had a similar mess with some ash a while back. I was using a straight bit and trying to hog it all out in one go because I was behind schedule. Ngl it sounded awful and the tear-out was brutal. I learned the hard way that slowing down for multiple passes is the only way with stuff that hard.

sandra_black9d ago

My buddy had that exact same problem on a walnut bookshelf last month. He was using a smaller bit and taking way too big of a bite in one pass. He switched to a half inch spiral upcut bit and made three lighter passes instead, and the difference was night and day. The clean-up was basically nothing after that. Hard maple just doesn't forgive a rushed cut.