Took me 20 years to figure out I was cutting dados wrong

Finally dawned on me last week when I was helping a younger guy set up his shop. He asked why I always cut my dados from the outside in. I said 'cuz that's how you do it.' He just stared at me. Then he showed me how he cuts them from the inside out and uses a backer board. Felt like an idiot. Been fighting tearout for two decades for nothing. Anybody else find out they been doing some basic thing the hard way?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese5504d ago

Wait, what? Inside out with a backer board? That's genius... I've been doing it the same way you were for the last 15 years and just dealing with the tearout like a chump.

reese_lane294d ago

Man that hits close to home. It's funny how we get locked into a method just because that's how we first learned it and never question it. Reminds me of how people drive to work the exact same route for years even though a new road got built that would save them ten minutes. We just go on autopilot and assume the old way is the right way. Breaking that cycle takes someone else asking a simple question or showing you a different move. Makes you wonder what else you've been doing the hard way this whole time without even realizing it.