When cutting wood, follow these guidelines:
Jigsaws work best for cutting softwood that’s no more than 40mm. thick and hardwood up to 20mm thick. Jigsaw blades tend to bend when cutting curves in thicker boards, leaving a bevelled edge rather than a square one. To keep the cut square, use a sharp blade and avoid forcing the saw through the cut.
To “plunge cut,” - to make an entry saw cut into the middle of your wood - tip the jigsaw so that the blade is parallel to the workpiece and the saw weight rests on the front lip of the shoe. Start the saw at maximum speed, tilt the shoe and steadily lower the stabbing blade into the wood. In fragile material, drill a 10mm starter hole to safely position the blade for a cut.
For quick cutting, use a coarser blade. But note that the coarser the blade, the more sanding later.
Most wood-cutting blades for jigsaws are designed so the teeth cut on the upstroke. For fine work demanding less chipping—in wood veneers, for example—choose a “downstroke-cutting” blade. An alternative is to place masking tape on the cutting line path before drawing on the pattern line.
Cutting Countertops
The jigsaw is perfectly suited for making the curved (or short diagonal) cuts at the corners of countertops and for the final long cut parallel to the backsplash. When installing a sink, make the front and two side cuts in the countertop with a circular saw. It’s faster and there’s no blade deflection to deal with. The narrow space between the sink cutting line and the backsplash won’t accommodate the wider circular saw shoe but lets the narrower shoe of most narrow-body jigsaws sneak in perfectly. If you’re not comfortable making countertop cuts with a circular saw, use a jigsaw for the whole job.
Cutting Ceramic Tile
Cutting curves and shapes into tile with tile nippers and ceramic rod saws is slow and results in a lot of tile breakage. If you’re cutting wall tile no more than 6mm thick, try your jigsaw for this task.
Use special toothless, carbidegrit blades for tile cutting. For thin tile, apply water frequently to lubricate the saw-cut. Thicker tile requires lubricating the saw cut with cutting oil.
To minimize tile breakage, it’s imperative that you clamp your tile down tightly and hold the saw firmly on the tile to control saw and blade vibration. Avoid marring the tile by applying masking tape to the saw shoe. Go slow, using short relief cuts to remove waste and ease the blade through the turn.
Cutting Metal
With the proper blade, jigsaws can cut through wood with embedded nails, thin mild steel, no-iron pipe and sheet metal up to 10 gauge thick.
For cutting sheet metal, choose a finer blade specifically for this task. To avoid shredding sheet metal or raising a lot of edge burrs, tightly sandwich the metal between two layers of thin plywood. Cut metal plate and pipe on low speed. For pattern cutting, drill blade starter holes instead of making plunge cuts. Expect it to take a while to cut through the sandwich. When cutting over a workbench or sawhorses, prop the sandwich on rails for adequate blade clearance below.
Features such as higher saw power, long blade stroke, variable speeds and orbital cutting action are all pluses for cutting metals, and are found on more costly jigsaws. Saws that are equipped with vacuum hose connections to keep the pattern cut sightlines free of dust also are a plus. Cutting pipe and mild steel plates wears out blades fast. Keep plenty of blades on hand, select a coarser blade and lubricate the saw cut with cutting oil.
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