Kitchen Worksurface Cutting

[OG]

I'm trying to cut a blockwood kitchen worksurface using a jigsaw and 3" blade.

Despite clampng a batten as a guiderail I'm finding it's not cutting straight along the rail, but is consistently veering off to the left of the line (towards the guiderail).

If I try and pressure the saw over to the right to get back on line, what happens is that the jigsaw blade moves out of vertical, and although the top of the cut stays near the line, the cut itself is now slanted.

Any ideas? ? I suspect I'm going to be told I should have bought a circular saw instead, but are there any tricks for making the thing cut along a straight line?

Owen

[VisionSet]

Two problems

1/ blade very narrow, so goes side to side easily, as it is supposed to do, jigsaw is an electric coping saw basically. 2/ blade is flexible and will not cut perpendicular to the surface well, so you will also have an untrue surface to the cut.

fine toothed handsaw - can't beat it for bang for buck, the wide blade means you can cut straight, the fact it isn't electric means you have greater control and can feel the stresses and correct immediately, this prevents the untrue cut. As with anything practice makes perfect.

Or get a circular saw - I've still managed without.

Jigsaws are for cutting shapes in thin sheet materials, they can cut nearly straight, and combinded with a hand plane to finish are useful at times.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yup - a jigsaw just isn't the correct tool for this. So saying, an expensive one is likely to work rather better than a 20 quid one. But a cheap circular saw will be better than either.

[Mike]

No - you're going to be told to buy (or hire) a Bosch blue jigsaw together with top quality downcutting blades. I had exactly the same problem 18 months ago and Andy Hall gave me this advice - worked a dream.

[Alex]

What type of cut end cut ,joining cut or cut out for sink,jigsaw or router for cut out and circular saw for all others.

[David Lang]

My Performance Pro 710 w barrel jigsaw simply eats 40mm worktop for breakfast.

Dave

[OG]

Many thanks for the suggestions.

Owen

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'm sure it does. But I'll bet it can't do a straight true cut. No jigsaw can.

[Lurch]

On Mon, 30 May 2005 23:43:47 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" strung together this:

Too true, and it'll be even less straight if you use a straight edge as you need to twist the baseplate to get it anywhere near straight. You can't do this with a straightedge in the way.

[OG]

That's what I found anyway.

[Lurch]

On Tue, 31 May 2005 00:43:29 +0100, "OG" strung together this:

Forgot to add - I only use a circular saw for end cuts, the jigsaw is just for hob and sink holes. You will never get a jigsaw to make as straight and neat a cut as a circular saw no matter what you do.

[Stuart Noble]

Circular saws with a batten are also very good at "straightening" the kind of edge a jigsaw leaves you with i.e. when you only want to take off a couple of mm. Trying to correct this with a handsaw isn't easy/possible

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[Christian McArdle]

However, the best cut of all is with a decent router. Get to within a few mm or so with a circ and then route off with a straight cutter and straight edge. Leave the jigsaw in the toolbox.

Christian.

[Stuart Noble]

If you can see the difference, fine. I'd leave the router in the toolbox as well.

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[Christian McArdle]

As do I as it happens. A circular saw on its own is good enough for me. For those wanting the best cut, though, the router is the best option. A jigsaw just produces a wobbly line, not quite at 90 degrees to the surface, either.

Christian.

[Chris Bacon]

There's quite a lot of technique to using a jigsaw - however, if you're cutting out for an inset sink or hob, for instance, it doesn't really matter if the line's wobbly. Things that cause wobbly cuts are: poor design of saw; damaged blade; the grain in the timber; knots; saw not set up well. These are compounded by excessive feed, wrong blade, poor holding technique; uneven surface under sole plate.

[David Lang]

Hi Dave

True enough. I was just making the point that you don't have to pay Blue Bosch money to get a decent jigsaw for DIY use.

Dave