Making Dadoes on a Miter Saw
George VondriskaDescription
How it works
If your miter saw has a flip down stop, you can use it to limit how far the blade will penetrate into your material. The combination of the flip stop and, on most saws, a bolt, lets you dial in depth of cut pretty accurately. Of course when the flip stop is out of the way, you can cut full depth.
Cutting full width
When you use the flip stop to limit depth of cut you’ll find that the kerfs or dadoes you cut don’t call all the way to the edge of the board that’s against the fence. This isn’t a big deal, and is easy to overcome. Simply place a spacer against the fence so the board you’re cutting is pushed forward; off the fence. It’ll take a little experimentation to figure out how wide the sacrificial board should be, but a board about 1-½” wide should do it.
Blade choice
The best blade for these cuts would be an FTG; flat top grind. That’ll leave you with a nice flat bottom on the dado. If you don’t have that particular blade, don’t sweat it. You can still make dadoes. You just won’t get a dead flat bottom.
More on miter saws
A miter saw will do lots more than cut dadoes, of course. Want to learn more? We’ve got lots of ways for you to learn how to use a miter saw.
Table saw dadoes
If you’re cutting more than one or two dadoes, you’ll want to use a table saw instead of your miter saw. Cutting dadoes on the table saw is fast and, with the right instruction, easy to do.
Share tips, start a discussion or ask one of our experts or other students a question.
Already a member? Sign in
9 Responses to “Making Dadoes on a Miter Saw”
Explore Videos by George Vondriska
You may be interested in
Premium Membership
Unlock exclusive member content from our industry experts.
- 24/7 Access to Premium Woodworking Videos, Projects, and Tips
- Step-by-Step Instructional Demos, Plans, and Tutorials
- 50% Off Video Downloads Purchased in the Woodworkers Guild of America Shop
- 2 Printable Woodworking Plans
Unlock exclusive member content from our industry experts.
- 24/7 Access to Premium Woodworking Videos, Projects, and Tips
- Step-by-Step Instructional Demos, Plans, and Tutorials
- 50% Off Video Downloads Purchased in the Woodworkers Guild of America Shop
- 2 Full-Length Video Downloads to Watch Offline
- 2 Printable Woodworking Plans
Gold Membership
$370 Value
Get everything included in Premium plus exclusive Gold Membership benefits.
- 24/7 Access to Premium Woodworking Videos, Projects, and Tips
- Step-by-Step Instructional Demos, Plans, and Tutorials
- 8 Full-Length Video Downloads to Watch Offline
- 3 Full-Length Woodworking Classes to Keep for Life
- 7 Printable Woodworking Plans
- Discounts on Purchase-to-Own Content in the Woodworkers Guild of America Shop
- Access to Ask the Expert Program
- Exclusive GOLD LIVE Streaming Events
nice, I did not realize how I could my my miter saw to make a dado like that. Especially if I was going to only make a couple daddos.
Where are all the responses?
Why can't I see Amy of the responses?
Assuming you have a sliding miter saw!
Good night, it is not necessary to sacrifice the wood made of a stop. Just misalign it from the cut!
You don't need a backer board but that is one option. You just need to put your board on the opposite side of your saw. then clear the rest of the slot. It makes safety sense when making the dado near the end as demonstrated to use the backer board. Still could be done with proper care.
Great idea. Wish I'd known about this a long time ago ..lol Thks
It would be nice if I could get past the first 7 words but it then buffers adnauseum every time.
The stop that was used to cut a dado also can be used when cutting legs to fit flush with the out edge of a table, I used this when building a work bench, and can also be used to cut slots to interlock framing, I used this when framing a lumber rack from 2x4s.