have you ever seen an idea that is just so clever you want it to smack yourself in the forehead for not thinking of it before this is one of those ideas I'm going to cut a perfectly fitting dado with no measuring no shims or complex setup no test cuts and I'm not even going to need a dado blade all I need is a regular saw blade and two scraps of wood the thick scrap is just a piece of the same material that I want to fit inside the dado in this case that's a metric plywood which normally requires a lot of shimming and fussing to match but as you'll see I'm not going to need any shims or special Cutters the second is a scrap that is of the same thickness as my table saw blade now I can test this by simply fitting it inside a kerf that I cut and aboard I want a good fit but not so tight that it won't slip in easily finding this fit is not as hard as you may think many saw blades are about an eighth of an inch thick sometimes just a scrap of eighth inch plywood or hardboard will fit perfectly other times it may be a little bit loose so I just add some strips of tape to take up that slack and my second spacer is done now let's cut the dado I'm going to start with the thicker spacer the one that's of the same thickness as the work piece that I want to fit inside my dado I clamp this to my table Saw's fence notice how I've marked on my board where I want the dado to fall so I can see what I'm doing and with the end of the board against my fence I'm aligned right inside that area now it would be dangerous to Simply push that board through the cut with just the narrow end against the fence so I'm going to use a miter gauge to guide it and keep it perpendicular to the fence as I cut usually you wouldn't want to use a miter gauge and a rip fence together but in this case it's perfectly safe because my cut is not going all the way through the work piece and no loose offcut is going to be produced that may be caught between my blade and my fence and kick back at me after I make the cut I remove that thick spacer notice how this allows my work piece to slide toward the fence and amount equal to the thickness of the spacer however now my cut looks like it's going to fall outside the area I have marked and make the dado too wide I need to come back away from the fence and amount equal to the thickness of the saw blade and that's where the thin spacer comes in I place it between the end of the board and the fence Shifting the work piece back so my blade now Falls inside my cutting area these two cuts defined the outer edges of the dado and all that's left to do is remove the waste between with a few more passes the result is a perfect fit with no special blades shims or fussing now here's what's really cool about this it doesn't matter how wide a dado you need to cut the process is the same just as quick just as easy because the key is the thinner shim the one that matches the saw Blade's thickness mark it and keep it in a drawer and you'll never have to measure and fuss with the dado again want to see something else interesting it's just a couple of cuts your ears will be fine right they will be if you have your isotunes Bluetooth earbuds in because you'd already have your ANSI certified hearing protection on because you're listening to your favorite music and podcasts and you're supporting a small family business at the same time please use the link below this video to learn more and to show them you support what we do as well
