While we're discussing hand saws ...

First off, what kind of jig saw do you have. My Milwaukee with Bosch blades give my TS a run for its money for smoothness.

Alternatively score your top with a utility knife or sharp chisel, hog out most of the wood with your jig saw and then chisel the rest.

I have a couple, but the better one is a very old Black and Decker. Probably '70s vintage. It has produced smoother cuts than I would have expected on the rare times I have used it. Another experiment to try I guess. Does anyone use a jigsaw with a fence?

Greg Guarino wrote in news:mg1c2c$adi$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

The Crown Tool saws aren't bad. They don't cut nearly as well as a Lie-Nielson Independance saw, but they're also a lot cheaper.

I'm going to guess the Veritas saw is also good, and still cheaper than the L-N - if only it wasn't so god-awful ugly.

John

What, No Festool, Leon? I was shocked at what a difference a decent saw makes. I bought a Bosch several years ago and it's been great (no Festool here either ;-).

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go to the Harbor Freight web site.

Search for "Hand Saw".

Pick one of the flush cut pull saws for less than $10, buy one and practice on your scrap wood.

For $10 max, you could even but two (2) and run your own comparison tests.

You don't identify your jig saw but my Bosch 1587 with Bosch bi-metal blades still cuts a clean cut even after all these years.

Lew

I almost always use a small framers square as a fence for my Bosch, hand held.

Key to a good cut, as usual, is a sharp blade and a well setup tool.

LOL.. No I bought my last jig saw, the Milwaukee, about 15 years ago, before Festool was even on my radar. My Milwaukee was, at that time, built by the German company, AEG. Exactly like this one except red and silver.

Just for fun, I tried to locate a local AEG dealer.

"Enter your street, town or postcode and country below to find your nearest stockist"

I entered my Zip Code followed by USA.

The Store Locator produced a Google map showing a location that is in the middle of our local airport, but an address that appears to be in Taiwan.

King Light Department Co., Ltd. No. 226 Shin Ron Road Tau Jou Village Shin Woo, Taoyuan Phone (0)3 490 31 86

Very Strange!

You might might find their tools here at all. IIRC they were building drills and tools for NASA 15~20 years ago. But they are located in Winnenden, Germany

look at some of the work of paul sellers he does a lot of work by hand it'd be hard not to learn something from him