Recommendations wanted for jigsaw guide

[harryagain]

What you want is a bench circular saw. Cheap enough these days.

[MM]

For years I have cut sheet stock (MDF etc) using a Workmate, numerous clamps, a straightedge and my trusty AEG jigsaw. Needless to say, this takes a while to set up.

What I need, and possibly can afford now, is a flat, machined surface with a sliding straightedge as a permanent fixture that I can adust to the cutting line. Bit like many DIY timber merchants have in their saw mills, though these are industrial quality of course. I need something smaller.

I've reviewed the Incra tool catalogue, but couldn't see anything appropriate.

What would you recommend I look at next?

Thanks!

MM

[A.Lee]

Something like this:

In different sizes and loads of accessories :

[Mike Clarke]

Sawboard?

[The Medway Handyman]

Agreed 100%.

A jigsaw, even a good one, isn't the tool for cutting sheet stock.

Buy a reasonable circular saw & make yourself a sawboard. Whoever devised it was a genius. They cost almost nothing to make and will give stunningly accurate cuts.

[ss]

Sawboard +

I made one out of scrap wood last summer, made a big difference to me making accurate cuts.

[MM]

Very good! And not expensive. Thanks.

MM

[stuart noble]

Every chippy I've ever known has used something similar. An innovative bunch

[MM]

Sorry, but I am afraid of circular saws ever since I saw the results of an accident at a sawmill years ago. I could never use one, let alone own one. I still see bad practice in, say, some DIY YouTube videos where the operator displays a degree of nonchalance when using them. Sure, any sharp tool, especially moving, is potentially dangerous, but since jigsaws are here I might as well use them instead. I've had the same one since the 1970s.

The Journal of Trauma Management and Outcomes states: "Although injuries due to circular saws are very common all over the world.... Most patients had more than ten years experience in using these power tools." So it's definitely a case of familiarity breeding carelessness.

The sawboard idea seems really only an extension of how I do things at the moment -- with a straightedge and clamps. But the Trend device looks better than just a straightedge because it's been designed for the purpose with integral clamps as far as I can tell.

MM

[Mike Clarke]

The big advantage of a sawboard is that you don't have to faff around with allowing for the offset between the blade and the guide - and getting it wrong. Just put the board down with it's edge against the cut line, clamp it and away you go.

[MM]

Ah! I did not know that. I always have to mark another line for the straightedge. 32mm to cut on one side of the cut line, or 34mm on the other (for my particular jigsaw).

MM

[The Other Mike]

Axminster do something similar and a lot cheaper and if a variety of lengths

[MM]

Also useful to know, but one of the comments in the reviews mentions: "The only thing letting these clamps down is when clamped there is movement of the rail making them not suitable for accurte fence work."

This was also mentioned in another comment.

MM

[stuart noble]

In different sizes and loads of accessories :

Very good! And not expensive. Thanks.

I quite often fix a straightedge to the workpiece unless two pinholes are unacceptable

[MM]

I bought the Trend Varijig locally today (36 inch) and I'm very pleased with it. I've already done about a dozen cuts in a third of the time it usually takes with a straightedge and G clamps. It cost £33.78 at Kirby & Wells in Spalding, who are Trend Silver Stockists. Good service. They got one in 24 hours just to let me have a look at it first before committing to purchase.

MM

[David]

I bought a clamp on saw guide a while back, but have never found it rigid enough to guarantee that it won't move during cutting.

I use a straight edge and squeeze up clamps like

which are a lot quicker than G clamps.

Still a bit of a faff to set up, what with allowing the offset for the saw base.

Cheers

Dave R