I swore by my old dado stack for years, but a splintered mess in a Maple Ridge kitchen changed my mind

I was cutting a run of drawer boxes for a client's kitchen remodel, using my trusty 8-inch Freud stack like always. On the third box, the maple just exploded with tear-out, leaving a ragged edge I couldn't use. My buddy Steve, who was helping, pointed out my feed rate was too fast for the hard maple. I slowed way down on the next cut and it came out glass-smooth. Anyone have a favorite feed speed for hardwoods like maple or walnut?

3 comments

3 Comments

susansingh5d ago

My last maple project looked like a beaver got to it.

king.val5d agoTop Commenter

Was it actually maple or something softer? Beavers chew through trees, but maple's pretty tough to mess up that bad. Maybe check your blade, @susansingh.

elliotm575d ago

Hold up, beavers? That's wild. I can't picture a beaver doing that to a maple piece. Those teeth must be insane. Makes me wonder what kind of tools they're using. Seriously, that's some next level damage.