School me on Jigsaws!

Exile_D

Exile_D

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So the wife found this "great" DIY gift idea on pinterest or instagram or wherever they go for this stuff. It involves tracing shapes on a 2x10, cutting them out and then assembling them into some sort of motorcycle-style rocking horse. Motorcycle may be to generous, it might be a vespa, lol.

Anyway, the only jigsaw I have is a fairly old and small one that an elderly neighbor gave me years ago. It saw little use from me and honestly seems undersized/powered for this (maybe the blades are all dull too). So it seems to me to be a great time to upgrade to a nicer one!

I'm thinking something reasonably priced that can do most home repair/project type work and will actually hold up for more than a couple years.

What say you, oh wise and mysterious DIY section?!
 
Bosch. JS470e
About $150 , but well worth it, you'll pass it down to the kids.
From your old one to this, you'll be shocked.
If you were closer I'd loan you mine.
 
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Blades depend on what you are cutting and how smooth you want the cut. The more less teeth the faster rougher cut, more teeth is smoother and slower.
 
Ive had Bosch, Skill, Craftsman and Festool. Have to admit that the Festool is my favorite. It’s significantly more expensive than the Bosch though.

The thing to keep in mind re blades is that you want at least 3 teeth in the cut. So when cutting thin material use a fine tooth blade, and when cutting thick material go with a lower tooth count.

For what you’ve described, the Bosch would be an excellent choice.
 
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Definitely go with Bosch I have had 2 the first one was stolen out of my building. I have us d several diff ines and Bosch is by far superior.
 
Bosch always seems to get good reviews and had good luck with one dad has when I borrowed it, just besure you pick up the correct style blades for it made that mistake first time I used a bosch from a old school style I had, they use the t style end but after using them I like them.
 
Wrong tool for the job, you want a bandsaw with a narrow blade.
 
Exile_D said:
One day, one day!

Thanks all! Hopefully I won't cut my finger(s) off, or worse! :p
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There are a number of members with bandsaws, bet one would help you out.
 
Wolffy said:
This.

In 2x material a jig saw blade is going to flex and not give you a straight cut.

A bench top band saw isn't much more $$ than the jig saws mentioned. If you're close you may borrow mine.
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An exception to this general rule would be the Festool jigsaw with Festool blades. I have successfully cut 10/4 material with mine and the cut stayed straight (black walnut). This was even cutting both straight cuts as well as angle cuts.

The Festool brand long blades that I was using are very stiff and high quality though. What you might want to try is to use the Bosch jigsaw but with the higher quality Festool blades. That would be the best budgetary compromise.

Both use the “t” tang style of blades, so they are interchangeable.

Here is the part number of the blades that I use for 2’ material. You can buy them on Amazon.

  • 81n9IjxD6IL._SX522_.jpg
Touch the image to zoom in

Festool
Festool 499477 S 105/4 FSG Jigsaw Blades, 5-Pack
 
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^^^ This^^^ will do the job perfectly.
I guaranteee.

Watch your lateral movement pressing against the blade, and it will cut it 90 deg.
Wish I were closer, we'd knock those parts out lickity split.

JimB said:
There are a number of members with bandsaws, bet one would help you out.
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I've got one he could use, I'd still go all jigsaw on it.
 
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JimB said:
Wrong tool for the job, you want a bandsaw with a narrow blade.
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I agree. If you are looking at Jigsaws, you can't go wrong with Bosch. But, I don't think a 2" thick material will do well. You'll probably have too much flexing of the blade and it won't be even on both sides. I'd recommend a band saw with the widest blade you can get by with with still being able to make the cuts you need.
 
Thank you for all the advice! While I would like to have a bench saw or scroll saw, space is limited unfortunately. I'll try out the Bosch with the Festool blades and see if I can get this thing knocked out.

I really appreciate the offers to help too! :cool:
 
Man...why on earth would an intelligent human being use a jig saw for detail work. They can't be controlled well enough. You need a scroll saw. I spent one whole spring cutting Christmas ornaments from glued on patterns that my sis drew up. Get a scroll saw please sir. You turn the saw on and guide the work piece not wrangle a wrist and finger wild saw that has to have the work piece clamped for cuts. It's way enjoyable to see how intricate you can make tiny detail cuts with the saw. I'd use a jig saw for cutting holes for electrical outlets and large pass through holes, or any hole that doesn't require accuracy or maybe a corner rounding, but never for detail work. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Shop-Serie...MI7MHU8o2R2AIVFZ7ACh0MpA64EAQYASABEgJN1fD_BwE <---- as you can see, they don't cost that much and you'll not hate yourself quite as much as you would trying to use a jig saw. The deeper the throat, the larger work piece. I would purchase the deepest throat I could afford.
If you are using a drawn pattern, add depth by cutting the frame and engine on separate pieces then gluing them over the cutout. use your imagination....I can see this being a nice piece of work.
 
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MuzzerFuzzer said:
Man...why on earth would an intelligent human being use a jig saw for detail work. They can't be controlled well enough. You need a scroll saw. I spent one whole spring cutting Christmas ornaments from glued on patterns that my sis drew up. Get a scroll saw please sir. You turn the saw on and guide the work piece not wrangle a wrist and finger wild saw that has to have the work piece clamped for cuts. It's way enjoyable to see how intricate you can make tiny detail cuts with the saw. I'd use a jig saw for cutting holes for electrical outlets and large pass through holes, or any hole that doesn't require accuracy or maybe a corner rounding, but never for detail work. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Shop-Serie...MI7MHU8o2R2AIVFZ7ACh0MpA64EAQYASABEgJN1fD_BwE <---- as you can see, they don't cost that much and you'll not hate yourself quite as much as you would trying to use a jig saw. The deeper the throat, the larger work piece. I would purchase the deepest throat I could afford.
If you are using a drawn pattern, add depth by cutting the frame and engine on separate pieces then gluing them over the cutout. use your imagination....I can see this being a nice piece of work.
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this ^^^
craigslist (unfortunately) is your friend here. i got mine for 50 bucks off there.
 
MuzzerFuzzer said:
Man...why on earth would an intelligent human being use a jig saw for detail work. They can't be controlled well enough. You need a scroll saw. I spent one whole spring cutting Christmas ornaments from glued on patterns that my sis drew up. Get a scroll saw please sir. You turn the saw on and guide the work piece not wrangle a wrist and finger wild saw that has to have the work piece clamped for cuts. It's way enjoyable to see how intricate you can make tiny detail cuts with the saw. I'd use a jig saw for cutting holes for electrical outlets and large pass through holes, or any hole that doesn't require accuracy or maybe a corner rounding, but never for detail work. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Shop-Serie...MI7MHU8o2R2AIVFZ7ACh0MpA64EAQYASABEgJN1fD_BwE <---- as you can see, they don't cost that much and you'll not hate yourself quite as much as you would trying to use a jig saw. The deeper the throat, the larger work piece. I would purchase the deepest throat I could afford.
If you are using a drawn pattern, add depth by cutting the frame and engine on separate pieces then gluing them over the cutout. use your imagination....I can see this being a nice piece of work.
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He’s talking about cutting 2” thick stock...which brings us back to a bandsaw.

BTW, I have a treadle scroll saw that I need to finish restoring, it is a pretty neat wood nerd toy.
 
JimB said:
He’s talking about cutting 2” thick stock...which brings us back to a bandsaw.

BTW, I have a treadle scroll saw that I need to finish restoring, it is a pretty neat wood nerd toy.
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2" stock? Good grief! Buy a CNC machine. LOL. I'd probably go back to the drawing board. However I wouldn't even try without a band saw. I can see a broken jig saw that got bounced off a wall out of frustration. lol
 
I have some good news. The board has been downsized, it is now a 1x10! (I think it was supposed to be that all along, but I'm not going to press her on that. ;) )
I think that makes the actual size somewhere around 3/4" × 9-1/4"
Hopefully that will make it a little more suitable for a jigsaw. I would still like to have a scroll saw and a band saw one day though.
 
Where I used to work in the days before CNC, we had gigantic scrollsaws. The ones you see commercially have about a 18in throat, that is the working distance behind the blade to the rear of the saw. The ones we used had 60in throats so we could swing a workpiece of about 120in around the blade. Blade also retracted into the table. Table was cast iron about 36in square.
 
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