On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:44:53 GMT, "John Moorhead"
wrote:

Folks -

Okay, Sunday afternoon.... Just finished a glue up, and don't really want
to start a finishing project... So, how about a "shop job"? Sure, he
thinks - How about building that set of drawers for the bench? Maybe get
the crap off of the bench and into some drawers? Maybe? Got enough poplar
and pine on hand? Yep, good! Got 1/2" plywood for the gallery? Yep, good!
Not so fast, bubba....

Okay, I have several sheets of 1/2" ply... I take a look see, and remember
that I got a set of plywood thickness bits from Grizzly as a Christmas
gift.... Good chance to try 'em out making dadoes for the ply. HA!

Okay, WTF? I have 1/2" plywood. One sheet is 1/2" right on the money.
Okay.. odd, but okay.. The other partial sheet is 23/32... That's what I was
expecting. The third partial is just *under* 7/16, and the last sheet is
something that is none of the above, although it *IS* exactly 9mm.

'Scuse me, but how the FAQ is this? I don't want to cut multiple width
dadoes - that's a recipie for disaster.

Am I now to expect that 1/2 ply, er, 23/32 can't be relied upon, and I
should expect something between 3/8" and a full 1/2"? This is NUTS.
Especially at close to 50 bucks a sheet.

How does your scrap bin measure up? This really is a ****er....

John Moorhead


I figure that the 23/32 was actually 23/64. Excepting that, my
experience is pretty much the same as yours.

Even buying from the same supplier, who is using the same
manufacturer, and where the pieces are coming from the same unit -
doesn't get you all the way home.

The usual solution is to not use a full dado but to create a
dado/groove of 1/4" or 5/16" in width and then machine a tongue that
is sized to fit that width.

This goes pretty quick with a good dado blade.






Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website)