Shop-Made Dado Set Case

This is an exceptionally handy project that will help protect an investment. Click image to enlarge.

Text, photos and design by Tom Hintz

We pay a fair amount of money for a dado blade set and it made no sense to me to try and store them in the plastic blister-pack so many come in. I figured that between all the woodworking equipment and scraps in my shop, there had to be a better idea.

   My design considerations were to keep all of the dado parts in one place, hold them secure to prevent clanging together and provide a place in which to store my dado notebook. I keep all my dado setups in this notebook so I do not have to experiment too much when cutting dados for common wood sizes.

   The outside dimensions of this box are 10 ½-inches tall, 10 ¾-inches wide and 2-inches deep. Inside dimensions work out to 9 ¼-inches wide, 9-inches tall and 1 ½-inches deep. Plenty of room for an 8-inch stacked dado set.

   The outer carcass is held together with rabbet joints. I used glue and shot a few brads to hold them together. The back panel is ½-inch plywood, glued and nailed into a rabbet. The top piece was ripped back to clear the dados for the lid. I cut a 45-degree angle on the top front of the case just to be tricky. Actually, I was covering up a mistake, but it turned out looking tricky.

The size will fit most dado blades 8-inch and under. Click image to enlarge.

   The dado set is stored on a 5/8-inch dowel. I dry fit the back and marked the inside corners, and then connected those marks to find the true center of the interior. I drilled a 5/8-inch hole 3/8-inch deep (forstner bit) and glued the dowel in place. The dowel length was determined by installing a longer piece, slipping the lid in, then marking and cutting the dowel to just clear the lid.

   I made grooves in the sides and bottom to accommodate a piece of luaun plywood as a lid that slides in from the top. I drilled a ¾-inch finger hole near the top so I could get it open again.

   Now my dado set is all in one place, secure and protected from most accidental damage. Once again, the scrap pile in my shop yielded another useful project.

Sorry, plans are not available for this project.

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