How to Choose and Use a Jig Saw | Ask This Old House
How to Choose and Use a Jig Saw | Ask This Old House
Ask This Old House general contractor Tom Silva shows the best uses for a jigsaw and how to choose the right one for the job
SUBSCRIBE to This Old House: http://bit.ly/SubscribeThisOldHouse
Time: none
Cost: $30-$400360
Skill Level: Moderate
Tools List for Choosing and Using Jig Saws:
Jigsaws
Drill/Driver
Screwdriver
Lineman’s Pliers
Shopping List:
None
Steps:
1. Choose which type of grip suits you best. There is the barrel-handle jigsaw or the top-handle jigsaw. This is largely a comfort choice, so try out both.
2. This saw is great for curved cuts, circle cuts and scribed cuts on walls.
3. The orbital setting is important when choosing a jigsaw. Jigsaws cut in an upstroke and the orbital setting controls how much the blade moves back and forth. At zero, the blade moves straight up and down like a sewing needle.
4. For fine cuts, keep the orbital setting low. A higher setting is more powerful, but less precise.
5. Also, check the speed setting. The speed of the blade of the blade can impact the power of the blade. The thicker the wood, the more speed you may want. Use slower speeds to cut metals and plastic.
6. Look at the bevel setting. Lay the bevel flat for a zero-angle cut. Move the bevel for a more angled cut like a 45-degree.
7. Choose a blade depending on what type of cut you want to make. If you want to cut something fine, like a veneer, use a blade with the teeth facing down, so the blade cuts down and not up.
8. For a more aggressive cut, use a blade with the teeth facing upward, so the blade cuts on the upswing.
9. There are blades with teeth both up and down for a moderate cut.
10. Be sure to look at how the blade connects to the saw. Some jigsaws accept “T” type shank while others accept a straight shank, so choose the one that matches your saw.
11. When making a cut, make sure the shoe is level on the cutting surface. If it isn’t, it’s possible the blade could jump.
12. Keep a firm grip on the saw to prevent the blade from jumping.
13. Let the saw do the work. Do not push or pull the saw. This could drastically affect the cut.
Resources:
Tom demonstrated best jigsaw practices by showing several examples, including the 561593, Festool Carvex Ps 420 EBQ Jigsaw, manufactured by Festool (http://www.festoolusa.com/) and the JS470E Top-Handle Jigsaw, manufactured by Bosch Power Tools (https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/).
Jigsaw blades can be purchased from home centers and hardware stores.
About Ask This Old House TV:
Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we’re ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O’Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.
Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House:
Facebook: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseFB
Twitter: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTwitter
http://bit.ly/AskTOHTwitter
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHousePinterest
Instagram: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseIG
http://bit.ly/AskTOHIG
Tumblr: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTumblr
For more on This Old House and Ask This Old House, visit us at: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseWebsite
How to Choose and Use a Jig Saw | Ask This Old House
https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse/
"It’s very important to hold onto the sawr"… shew. I almost started trying with no hands. Glad I didn’t.
I saw a sar and sometimes I sar and sometimes I saw it all depends if I’m wearin my dungaries from my dressa dra❗🤓
What is the maximum thickness of the material that a Jigsaw can cut?
What the hell is a sawr?
I almost exited the video due to SARS.
nice sar
LoveU
A SAW,R?
Thanks guys.
Three dollar jigsaw. I do not want to be using that.
These guys are awesome!
Don’t like the barrel grip I like the D handle
I have a craftsman jig saw and the u blade broke inside the holder and I can’t remove the broken part. Any tricks I didn’t think of doing.
What’s a sawr
good lesson from the pros.
what if the jig saw blade is able to move side to side and twist in the saw mount is that normal.
tommys a festool boy
Wish they had gone over what we’re getting when we buy a $200 jigsaw vs a $60 one. Currently shopping on Lowes and Home Depot and even with digging into the specs, all I see is a difference in amperage, and only by 0.5! Surely it is not really worth the extra $60 or so dollars for 0.5 extra amps??? I feel like this may be a case where they are charging more for nothing just to jip people because even in the descriptions of these tools, they are really grasping at straws to define "features" like "easily accessible buttons on the side" and "firm hand grip". Pretty sure all of them have those features if I’m going to be paying over $60 for one. I’d say go with one around $80, but no more.
Love that New England accent. "Sawr".
Thank-you.
Use a jig for rough cuts only and stay out beyond the line. Also you really have to hold on to the thing and bear down to keep it from wandering and minimize vibration!
Hello,i have a jigsaw and the blade clamping system is broken (the clamping sistem has 2 screw , and 1 of them broke the thread) what can i do ?
I have a festool one. That strobe light on the front is FAR more helpful than it looks. Much simpler to control vs the Bosch I had (which is also good).
Wish I had known bought the blades that cut up and down when I was cutting some laminated
I just bought a black and Decker that takes both shanks
Hi there from Portugal,
Nice info 😀
Obrigado(Thanks)
Why is everyone surprised he likes festool? First he is on TV, second he is a carpenter and I believe he does some personal wood working at home and have you used festool? They aren’t bad tools
Sahr Sahr Sahr
Can anyone tell me what the things hanging on the wall behind them are? Specifically the really long ones to the left.
Excellent video. Thanks so much!
The Bosch barrel… the best!
thank you for all those information .
God bless
good tips thanks 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Of course you like the festool
I’m a HUGE fan of the way TOH organizes and presents information but this one is a miss. It’s just too ambitious a subject to give a beginner any amount of information that comes close to helping with a purchase decision. So, in the end it amounted to, "Jigsaws are really complex so go somewhere and learn a whole lot about them before you buy one."
You can pretty much build a house with a decent jig saw, they’ll buzz right thru 2x’s and sheet goods.
we are 16year old twins with our own woodworking business, mainly silhouette type things cut from plywood from life size moose or elk to tiny hummingbirds, we use a jigsaw for 75% of our work, have tryed many brands but the first one we bought from a garage sale 6+years ago for $1. has out lasted all others and is still our #1 saw, as for blades we mainly use only 1 type of blade a Bosch scroll style blade, it leaves ALL edges as smooth as your best sanding. cost is much higher but we save on sandpaper,and power sanders etc. We also us a blade runner style table saw that uses jigsaw blades, that saw works great for all our smaller projects but the motor over heats and burns out quite quickly, that is our #1 issue , do u know of another type of table type saw, [any brand] that works like the rockwell blade runner saw, its good our business is going good cause we go though a blade runner saw motor about every 6 weeks. we already have a pile of 20+ broken down saws, after 5 returns stores won’t exchange the saws.
I just purchased a black and decker jig and it was 25$ to cut my laminate counter top. Did the job perfectly and it has the vacuum attachment. That was nice for a chap saw
Thanks for the info 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
3 dollars? Must have meant 30 dollars.
i have never used a jig saw that has a good line of sight very hard to accurately cut.
Tom is a national treasure
muito bom sou do brazil
if you’re using a jig saw, don’t you want it to veer left or right?
Why does he say sawer and ideaer
YOU DA MAN TOM
I used a jigsaw that was a floor standing unit, basically a heavy-duty version of a scroll saw. I actually made a jigsaw puzzle on it. The handheld model was always known as a saber saw
This Old House
Is stanley jigsaw is a good choice for working long period of time for making decoration & crafts ???
Why would this not be the first saw to buy? It can cut any wood up to 4×4 and it can cut curves. I was thinking of getting tools to do some home projects and I settled on a jigsaw and a orbital sander as I think with those two I could do most woodworking for things like bookcases, bedframes, and planters.
Anyone with more experience know why a jigsaw wouldn’t be a good choice for first saw?
After 3:37 is gold!! I have an orbital jig saw and couldn’t figure out how to see the cutting action.