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• Biscuit jointers get their name from these chips. They are made of compressed wood that swells and locks in place when glue is applied.

• Dados (wide slots cut in a board that another board fits into) are usually made with a router or dado blade in a table saw. But if you lived before either of those were invented, you could use a dado saw to cut both sides of the slot, and then chisel out the center. The saw is designed to be held at both ends, and used very carefully to cut just a short distance down into a flat board (which may be much longer than the saw blade).

• This fancy—for its time—wobble dado has big chunky carbide teeth.

• Profile Cutter

• This stacked dado set has plain steel teeth: it’s a low-end model.

• This rustier set is a higher quality version with carbide teeth.

• A shaper blade is sort of like a fancy dado blade. Mounted in a table saw it will cut a variety of interesting profiles into wood passed over the top. In my opinion this is a tool best admired in the box. Actually using one seems to me like an activity with a poor risk profile: go with a router or a real shaper in this case.

• This model has steel teeth. Imagine one of those breaking off and coming at you!

• Biscuit jointers are basically circular saws that are meant to do just one thing: make a plunge cut to a measured depth, and then pop right back out again. The slot this creates is then used to hold a “biscuit” that spans between two pieces of wood you want to join together.

• Bisquit Jointer

• Chicago Electric Bisquit Jointer

• These solid dado blades are more likely to be referred to as slot cutters, because they come from the metal machining world. Same principle, stronger teeth.

• In the serious machining world these things get really wide!

• For serious cutting of profiles there are solid profile cutters: these are meant for a horizontal milling machine, but the same idea is used in woodworking tools called shapers.

Do you have a better example of this kind of tool? Let me know by leaving a comment, and include a picture of it if you can so everyone can see!