Wall Hanging Dado Rack Workshop Projects

One of the minor annoyances of using my stack dado blade set was taking it out of and putting it back into the plastic case it came in. The blades were on one side, while the chippers were on the other, and both were held in with screw in knobs. Beneath the chippers were the shims. Basically, I’d have to take everything out to set it up. That might not sound like a big deal, but as much as possible I like to reduce the number of steps involved in any operation, especially the annoying ones.


To solve this, I thought I would make an open front rack to hold all of the parts individually, making it easier to pull out just what I need. To visualize the layout for the rack, I put everything on my workbench:

I decided that a vertical layout was best, with the blades on top, and the chippers and shims on the bottom.

To hold the blades and chippers, I made holders from 1-1/2″ pine with two different depth slots cut in. The deeper slots are for the blades, while the shallower ones are for the chippers:


Designing on the fly, here I’ve arranged the holders on my bench to get the holder angle and length of the sides correct. The sides are 3/4″ pine, and the top and bottom are made from 1″ thick pine.

A second slot is cut in the bottom holder for the shims:


The holders are cut at the back to the correct angle. Double checking the layout here to make sure there are no problems and the blades can be easily removed.

I can now start assembly by gluing the holders, top and bottom to the side panel that’s on my bench. I’m doing one side at a time, letting the glue dry before gluing on the other side:


With the glue dry, I sanded the rack smooth and mounted next to my heated cabinet.

It’s in a location that’s easy to reach, close to the table saw and I can quickly pick out only what I need:


In my shop, it’s the little things like this that really contribute to a more productive and pleasant woodworking experience. Taking the time to build a rack like this for my dado blade was well worth it, as it will ultimately save time and aggravation.