Recently I bought an older Craftsman radial arm saw and put it right to work rebuilding some decking — afterwards the carbide edges on the old blade were rounded over, and it was well past its useful life. Some fellow woodworkers informed me that since this saw will only be used for 90-degree crosscutting, I want a blade in the 80-tooth range, and since Forrest blades are too pricey I decided on the Freud TK806.

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My quest for a dado blade began on eBay where, after numerous searches, I picked up an older 7″ adjustable dado with carbide blades. The first time I used it I discovered that my contractor saws won’t hold most blades — the shaft diameter was right, but there weren’t enough threads to hold the blade on.  So I did some additional research, found out that I’d need to use a smaller blade, and ended up with the Craftsman 6″ Stacked Dado Blade.

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Grizzly’s come out with a new cabinet saw for 2009, and to my untrained eyes it looks equivalent to the Jet, PowerMatic, or Delta saws — but it’s priced $500 to $1,500 less than all of those. Maybe the build quality isn’t as good as the competition, but I’m guessing this saw could keep any hobbyist or pro woodworker happy.

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Here’s one for the woodworker who has everything:  a Variable Gang Saw from Veritas.  They sent out the release today, which made me pause and doubt the tool’s reality — but I hope it’s not an April Fools prank because I see dovetails in my future with this tool.

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A little while back Bosch announced the rollout of their new “Edge” metal recip demo blades.  Bosch’s marketing department created a lot of fanfare around the release and did a good job trying to make ‘em exciting, which is difficult — because it’s a recip blade, not the sexy front runner in a hard-hitting leaflet campaign.  Here’s what it boils down to:  Bosch says that, thanks to its new tooth design and many other features, the Edge cuts faster and lasts longer.

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The versatility of the reciprocating saw puts it on the list of must-have tools, but here’s one use we bet you hadn’t thought about: power rasp!  Paws Off manufactures a rasp blade that fits most reciprocating saws, for if you ever need to remove some wood in a hurry.

Attach the Woodhog-Rasp to clean out notches, round over edges and corners, or shape curves faster than a hand-held rasp and without banging your knuckles.

We’ve yet to see pictures of the other side of the rasp, so we’re not sure if it’s curved or flat, or if it even has teeth, but if the Woodhog fills a need that you didn’t even know you had, you can pick it up for around $27.

Woodhog-Rasp Adapter [Paws Off]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Chicago Electric makes this inexpensive chainsaw sharpener that sells for $35 at Harbor Freight.  Sure, the quality of tools purchased from Harbor Freight can be suspect, but how can you screw up a chainsaw sharpener?

The 0.5″ to 0.8″ capacity vice on this sharpener adjusts from 0-35° to the right or left.  The 115V, 0.75A ball bearing motor spins the 4-1/4″-diameter by 1/8″-thick grinding wheel at 4,200 RPM.  A safety guard covers most of the wheel, exposing only the section that comes into contact with the chain.  You can either hold the sharpener in a vise or mount it to your bench or garage wall.

The question before us today: Can buying this cheap chainsaw sharpener be a better deal than doing it the old-fashioned way with a guide and a file?  Or does doing it yourself even make sense when you can pay $10 for a professional to do it?  Let us know what you think in comments.

Chainsaw Sharpener [Harbor Freight]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The Dremel has long reigned as king of the multi-tools because it can handle most small to medium-size jobs with ease, but several contenders are looking to unseat the Dremel from its throne, including Rockwell’s SoniCrafter.  Instead of turning its attachments through a full revolution, the SoniCrafter’s “Microsonic” technology creates a high-frequency oscillating back-and-forth motion that makes the tool easy to control.

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Like most table saws’ stock miter gauges, mine isn’t good for much except to play sword-fight with, so I’ve been looking for a replacement miter gauge, a bigger one with better angle accuracy and a higher fence — the EB-3 hits all of those marks.

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Not long ago I was watching Norm knock out some dados for a garden fence project, and I felt inspired to go to Sears and check out their selection of radial arm saws.  Back in the day — the ’80s and ’90s at least — you could always find two or three versions of the radial arm saw in any Sears store.  Well, folks, it looks like we’re down to one sole survivor.  The good old days, when Toolmongers young and old could browse through all the different models and features, are gone.

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This dado measuring gauge from Infinity Tools tells you exactly which blades and chippers to use for a given dado thickness.  Simply find the slot that matches the stock and read the combination next to it.

Designed to work with their Dadonator stacked dado blade set, the dado measuring gauge should work with any stacked dado set that uses 1/4″ blades and 1/16″, 3/32″, and 1/8″ chippers — practically all of them.  It’ll measure 19 different thicknesses, accurate to within .003″.

Available directly from Infinity Tools, you’ll pay $30 plus $8 S&H for this gauge.

Dado Measuring Gauge [Infinity Tools]

Delta’s Unisaw has been kicking around longer than most tool guys out there today.  Over the years they’ve changed it to fit the times and added a few things here and there that make it a little more pleasant to deal with — this March, Delta’s launching the latest incarnation of this famous saw system, and they’ll be accepting pre-orders in a matter of days.

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Scale Hobbyist is selling this Zona 8″ Back Saw for $5.69 — great for doing dovetails on fine woodworking projects or anywhere a small, fine, and stiff blade is required.

Zona 35-380 8″ Back Saw [Scale Hobbyist]
Street Pricing [Google]

Two dado blade types dominate the industry.  Wobble dado blades are simple one-piece blades where you adjust the width by making it wobble more or less — unfortunately this leaves the bottom of the dado slightly concave.  Stacked dado blades include blades, chippers, and shims which you add or subtract to get the correct width.  These type leave a flatter bottom, but are usually more expensive and can be difficult to adjust.

Freud tries to combine the advantages of both types of dado blades with its Dial-A-Width sets. The sets are in essence a stacked dado blade without the shims.  Instead Freud uses a patented dial hub that adjusts the blade width by .004″ with every click.

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Milwaukee put out one of the coolest tools we’ve seen in 2008, the M12 Hackzall — even in the list of our favorites, this is the spoiled youngest child of the bunch. Ever since the fateful day we had to cut apart my power steering pump with one, it has claimed a place of honor in the shop.

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If you really want to give a group of full-grown adults a hard time, give them a child’s toy. Often it’s the simple-looking puzzles that can be the biggest challenge, and this little wooden puzzle is a great deal harder to reassemble than it looks. However it’s easy to make one. We put together a little walkthrough to show you how to get it done.

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Ron’s Home and Hardware is selling the Evolution Rage 2 metal-cutting chop saw for $250.80. It’ll cold-cut steel and other metals cleaner and faster than an abrasive cutoff saw.

Evolution Rage 2 Chop Saw [Ron's Home and Hardware]
Street Pricing [Google]