Kenny, Thanks for the amazon link. If its good enough for you it's good enough for me. I let the company by it for me since I worked so hard today.

 

I have the Oshlun set and used with an Incra jig to make a bunch of kitchen drawers.
I am happy with the results.

 

Thanks for the input Joel. Looks to me like the the Oshlun set works just fine

Glad I could help you spend some money CF

 

IMO any of them will work if 1. sharp and 2. backed up correctly.

Check Infinity they make a set of box blades up to 3/8" IIRC. I know their Dadonator is made by Amana. I have a Forrest Dado King and I'll put it up against it anyday. I would assume it is of the same quality.

Of course, one trip to the wrong sharpener can ruin any dado set DAMHIKT>

 

Completely agree Robert. I wouldn't consider any blade that wasn't from an established and respected maker. For me, this decision came down to best bang for the buck. If I ran a cabinet shop and needed to cut box joints every day, I'd have a few of the Forrest sets. But, I cut them a few times a year so I just don't need the longevity and robustness of Forrest if a set 1/2 the price can deliver the results I need as a hobbyist. Chances are, these blades may get sharpened every 5-10 years. So I don't need blades that can handle 10 sharpenings before they're spent

And yeah, sharpening is a whole different ball of wax. A crappy sharpening job can ruin the best of blades…

 

My set arrived Friday. It could be months before I use it because I need to build a jig first. It's on the list.

 

It's a stud CF. Worth the money vs the time it would take to build one anywhere near as user friendly and accurate.

 

I'm kicking myself for not buying that jig when they were $135 a couple years ago.

 

Kenny, You are what my mother used to call "a bad influence"

 

I'm what everybody's mother used to call a bad influence ;-)

 

I am pretty sure we are all bad influences when it comes to enticing others to buy tools.

 

Just wanted to update this thread. I bought the Freud set back in August but just cut my first box joints since buying it last night. I think it was well worth the investment The cuts were crisp and square and the bottoms were much cleaner than with a dado stack. No bat ears.

Sorry, I know that pic doesn't show the cut detail but I didn't think to take any pictures before fitting the joints together. There are two things I found to keep in mind. Not necessarily shortcomings of the product, just things that are good to know. And for reference, I was using my Incra I-box jig to cut my joints.

1. I had the blade in the 1/4" orientation. When I cut my parts to size, I sized them for six even 1/4" fingers so they were 1-1/2" wide. (Which is a newb mistake to begin with and I knew better. I should have cut them 1-3/4" then ripped to final width.) But the actual kerf from the blades is .265". So I ended up with 5 "fat" 1/4" fingers and one ~3/16" finger. Fortunately it won't hurt anything on this particular project but I made a note to stick in the holder with the blade noting the actual kerf width. I don't know what the actual kerf is in the 3/8" orientation but I'll know to test before I set up my jig…
2. The blade seems a little more prone to tearout than my dado stacks. Probably because there are no bat ears and therefore no relief in the corners when the FT teeth plow through. Normally I can shift the backer on my I-box to a fresh spot once I get the final settings dialed in. But on these parts, I had to move the backer two more times in the process of cutting the joints on the 12 pieces. To be fair though, these were 1/4" thick Walnut stock so they are probably more prone to tearout anyway. But I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on the edges where the blade exits anyway.

Like I said though, those are minor considerations and not hard to accommodate. For the quality of the cut surfaces and the speed and ease of setup, this box joint set blows my dado stacks out of the water. Of course there's also the fact that you only have two choices of finger width - 1/4" or 3/8". But to me, knowing that up front makes it easy to design for the blade. And if I do need different widths, I still have my dado stack

So in summary, this blade set isn't as versatile as a dado stack but it does give good, clean and square cut surfaces and setup is a breeze. The blade may be more prone to tearout than a dado set with "bat ears" though and you'll want to measure the actual kerf before making your final cuts. If you cut box joints often though and can design your projects to use either 1/4" or 3/8" fingers, I definitely recommend it.

 

Kenny, I'm sure you checked, but one must be careful when tightening your arbor nut. The outer blade can rotate back and let it's anti-kickback pawl contact the trailing tooth of the inside blade. I'll usually slip a thin piece of wood between the teeth as I tighten to keep the tooth gap open. I believe these pawls are recessed so the teeth wont ride up (and apart) if the teeth are making contact, but worth a check.

You also could have a grind issue, my set comes in at about 0.252"

Check the 3/8" setup and see if you get a narrower (< 3/8") notch.

I have used dado shims between the blades when I need something between 1/4 and 3/8.

 

Thanks splinter. I'll check that. I still have the blades installed on my saw so I can see if I accidentally let one of the blades contact the tooth behind it. I did notice that there's nut much clearance between them when I installed it so I'm fairly sure I got it installed correctly. I'll double check to be sure though.

I did think about dado shims. I'll do my best just to design parts so I can use the easy setup though When I get ready to change my blade out, I'll go ahead and swap the blades around and cut a kerf in the 3/8 configuration and see what that actually is too. As long as it's within .015 or so of nominal, I'm happy. I normally leave my boards wide and rip them down after cutting the joints anyway. I just had a brain fart last night I guess…

 

I'll just keep plugging along with a saw and chisel approach..

Because I can also vary the size of the fingers, to allow for sawing off a lid…

"Blade".....6mm wide chisel, usually….YMMV..takes me about 15 minutes per corner..but..I'm not usually in a rush…

 

I would add one idea to the discussion.

A couple of years ago I bought a PantoRouter. (Pantorouter.com)
It is an investment, but it makes great box joints, dovetails, mortise and tenons and a variety of other very creative but accurate and repeatable cuts; including angled joint cuts on all those mentioned. Set up can be even easier than cutting box joints with a dado stack. My 10 year old grandson even used it to make box joints.

If you haven't seen it, take a look at their web site.
No, I do not have any financial interest in the company.

 

I've seen that before Les and it is really cool looking However, far above and beyond my needs for simple box joints. If it was something I felt like I'd use a lot, it would be worth considering though.

 

Man, I'm liking that Pantorouter! I can't justify buying one though, given the number of joints that I'll be making over the rest of my life.

 

The Pantorouter is an invention of Mathius Wandel of woodgears.ca. He sells plans for making your own for $20 and instructions on how to build it for us cheapskates. I think it would be fun to have but then I would have to find a place to store it.

 

The Pantorouter is an invention of Mathius Wandel of woodgears.ca. He sells plans for making your own for $20 and instructions on how to build it for us cheapskates. I think it would be fun to have but then I would have to find a place to store it.

- Lazyman

I don't have enough room to actually do wood working without a struggle, so, yeah, I get your point.

 

Good point about making one Lazyman. But even Mathius admits the metal one works far better. He was actually a consultant on it's development and production.
Storage space is about 30" square. Plus I made a dovetailed box with it to store all the accessories it uses which fits in that same space. But if you enjoy using it you would never put it away, right (-;

To be honest about it, I had trouble justifying buying one but my lovely wife saw me looking at it online and she was looking for a (special) birthday gift for me. So she is the one that bought it.

Admittedly it would get far more use in a small commercial production shop but once you get one you start looking for projects to use it on.

 

Kenny, I m sure you checked, but one must be careful when tightening your arbor nut. The outer blade can rotate back and let it s anti-kickback pawl contact the trailing tooth of the inside blade. I ll usually slip a thin piece of wood between the teeth as I tighten to keep the tooth gap open. I believe these pawls are recessed so the teeth wont ride up (and apart) if the teeth are making contact, but worth a check.

You also could have a grind issue, my set comes in at about 0.252"

Check the 3/8" setup and see if you get a narrower (< 3/8") notch.

I have used dado shims between the blades when I need something between 1/4 and 3/8.

- splintergroup

Just an update, mine cuts .265" in the 1/4" configuration and .390" in the 3/8" orientation. So about .015" oversize in both directions. And I did check to make sure the blades were seated properly. Which works out fine for me with the Incra jig I use. But it's definitely something to be aware of if you're looking for a kerf closer to the nominal dimensions.

 

Thanks!

Definitely a factory grind issue then. Might be worth a check in with Freud to see what they think.
Personally I depend on the accuracy for other tasks, maybe they'll treat you well 8^)

 

Dimensional accuracy is why I prefer the router vs TS/dado for box joints. My router bits are dead on. So is my incra. Any variance in your dado width DOUBLES the error in the joint. Wide dado = slop, narrow = won't fit. I know it's time to replace my carbide 3/8" straight cutter when the joints get snugger as the bit wears. At 0.003" under the joints start to significantly tighten with a 0.006" (there's that pesky doubling again) interference fit.

0.015" is a crappy fit. 0.030 is ~1/32" per joint. It might be ok for drawer boxes or in plywood or pine, but for decorative pieces in hard hardwoods (jatoba) it's simply not good enough. Plus the router gives dead flat bottoms-no bat ears.

 

Not bat ears on this box joint set either MM. Which is what differentiates it from a dado stack.

If I had a fixed box joint jig, the deviation would be a problem. But, with the incra Ibox jig I use, it's not an issue at all. I just dial it in to whatever the actual kerf width is. Easy peasey. The joints I just cut with this thing were a perfect fit.

Thanks!

Definitely a factory grind issue then. Might be worth a check in with Freud to see what they think.
Personally I depend on the accuracy for other tasks, maybe they ll treat you well 8^)

- splintergroup

Good idea. I'll reach out to them and see what they have to say. I won't go to the trouble of exchanging it since I want it solely for box joints and the actual cut doesn't really matter with my setup (as long as the kerf is consistent which it is). But I am curious to know whether they say .015 oversize is within their tolerance or not. I'll report back with their response for posterity.