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How to Use a Jigsaw: Cutting Wood
Jigsaws are ideal for cutting curves and complex shapes in wood. They also work well for making short crosscuts on a board and finishing inside corner cuts that you start with a circular saw. Jigsaws are not good for making fast, long, straight cuts. Use a circular saw instead. When cutting wood, follow these guidelines:
Jigsaws work best for cutting softwood that’s no more than 1-1/2 in. thick and hardwood up to 3/4 in. thick. Jigsaw blades tend to bend when cutting curves in thicker boards, leaving a beveled 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,” that is, 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’s 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. I usually reserve plunge-cutting for rough work so that an errant blade doesn’t slash and mar expensive woods. In fragile material, drill a 1/2-in. 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 painter’s or masking tape on the cutting line path before drawing on the pattern line.
Cutting Countertops
A 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 through a countertop with a jigsaw is slow-going. Choose a special down-cutting laminate blade. Its 5/16-in. wide blade, with eight teeth per inch, minimizes laminate chip-out. Use short relief cuts inside curves to ease the blade through the turn.
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 1/4 in. 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.
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