Today in the shop (jig saw blades)

[reible]

The first power tool I ever purchased was a drill, the second a jig saw. I was about maybe 9 or 10 years old and I invested about $10 for each one. Yes back then that was a cheap tool but functional. They were on sale in the Montgomery Wards catalog and I expect by the time they added in postage most of the sale price was gone but hey that is how we did things back then at home.

Over the years I have owned several jig saw, and I still have a collection.

But today we are going to talk about blades. I've used many many different manufactures blade over the years. Of late I have been using Spyder a Germany blade and DeWalt precision cut blades which are/were made in Switzerland. Yes I have some other blades in my collection but that is not the point.

What is the point? Well when shopping for blades I would look for things like how many teeth per inch, how long they were, what type of mounting they had, perhaps some special features they might have like what they were made to cut, ie metal, wood, laminate.... And of course costs involved and in a lot of cases what the store had to sell since I needed them like now.

Never once did I think about how thick the blades were. No notification on any of the packages I have either. I did take a caliper out and measure some, all pretty close to .045". Now my Porter Cable jig saw has blade guide adjustments but for the most part I never seem to need to adjust them. One of the other saws has some sort of rollers and again no adjustments seem to be needed.

Now I'm watching these videos on youtube were people are getting these cuts which are much better then I've ever gotten. So how are they doing it?

How in deed. OK they have jig saws that are a lot more expensive then even my most expensive one. But still.

So after some research in to the great cuts I'm seeing these Festool jig saw are doing they are using a blade called a Carvex. After looking them over much thicker, measured one at .065".

20170419_193154_resized.jpg (200.14 KiB) Viewed 13407 times

How did I manage to measure one? By buying a pack of them. About $3 a blade in small quanities, perhaps a bit more as this way pre the price increase. (They were back ordered)

Yes I'm taking a chance that these are going to fit and as soon as my back recovers enough to get the jig saw out I'm looking forward to testing them out. If they don't fit then I'll save them until I get a festool jig saw.

I've got to believe this added thickness will made the blades much stiffer. And if Festool has them then it is likely other companies also have them, just haven't got around to searching them out.

This may not be news to some of you but it to me and I will to guess that it is news to a lot of you. Stay tuned for testing and possible results if they fit my saw.

Ed

[dusty]

Interesting. I have two jig saws. Both work about equally well but not as good as I would like. I would like to get cut quality comparable to what I get on the scroll saw. I too have a collection of blades. Some work better then others. I never gave thought as to why. I have an assortment of baldes that came as a packaged deal. They work better that all the others. I believe they are Bosch.

Now I have to measure them to see if they are thicker than the rest.

Thanks, Ed.

[sehast]

I have several Bosch blades the measure .042 to .062 and since they all fit my Bosch saw I would expect the Carvex will to. I have always been happy with the Bosch blades but very seldom do I make a finish cut with the jig saw.

[reible]

IMG_4059sc.jpg (336.27 KiB) Viewed 13274 times

The blades fit at least two of my saws! No cutting yet but we will see, perhaps today???

I'd like to see the cuts be at 90 degrees to the worksurface when I do the drill the holes at the ends of a slot and then cut out the rest in this fashion:

ScreenHunter_56 Apr. 22 11.12.jpg (28.84 KiB) Viewed 13274 times

I often do this with a router but sometimes the jig saw. The porter cable does pretty well on these cuts, the hitachi, well it was inexpensive and came about because I was 800 miles from home and needed to cut out a 3' diameter circle.........

Anyway a bit more progress today.

Ed

[reible]

Well they did cut better in the porter cable but not as nice as I wished they would. Did not try the other jig saw. Maybe it is skill set that I'm lacking or maybe the Festool jig saw is just plain a much better saw. More green for more green I guess.

Ed

[dusty]

Well they did cut better in the porter cable but not as nice as I wished they would. Did not try the other jig saw. Maybe it is skill set that I'm lacking or maybe the Festool jig saw is just plain a much better saw. More green for more green I guess.

Ed

Given the cost differences I certainly hope the tools from Festool are far superior.

[Hobbyman2]

those look like pretty aggressive blades .
The more aggressive the blade the slower ya got to go?

[ChrisNeilan]

I have an old Craftsman "sabre" saw from the late 70's. Cuts horribly, always did. The blade,however secure in the holder, would always move- more likely wobble- as you cut.
I needed a jig saw last summer and could not find mine, so off to Harbor Freight and for about $20 headed home with one of theirs. I noticed that newer saws have a different type of holder and the ends of the bladess were different. The saw also has a stabalizer of sorts that support the blade as you cut. I did not expect much, but holy crow, it cuts like a dream. I don't expect it to last, but I seldom use a jig saw.

[Hobbyman2]

sounds like the old scroll saw I have from back then , the top knob turns the blade in circles ,,, or you can lock it down,, was supposed to be the best thing since bottled milk ,,

[robinson46176]

Ramble...
I had about a small shoebox of tools when I was a kid that were not really worth using but I had access to the farm shop and my father had a decent for the time general shop. My mistake was that I did not start acquiring tools as a teen. Then one day I met this girl... Over the next about year and a half we dated then got married, rented a house. I had started a fairly low paying job at a local factory and we started with almost nothing. Things were pretty tough in this area and getting tougher when I got that job in 1962 and I felt lucky to find one. I still clearly recall walking into the office of Warner Gear in Muncie IN and asking for a job application and the girl saying "I can give you an application if you want it but we just laid off 600 men this morning"... I also remember sleeping in my car on the street outside of factories around Central Indiana so I could be the first applicant in the morning when they opened their office.
When we got married I only had a hammer, a framing square, a crosscut hand saw and a block plane. My first power tool, like Ed but I was 21, was a drill. It was a quarter inch drill made by McGraw and sold by G. C. Murphy that Diana bought me for Xmas our first year. The second was a "sabre saw" from Western Auto. I had acquired a smallish vice and my first bench was made from salvaged wood from work. They were pretty decent about letting us cart such stuff home as long as we were open about it and didn't sneak it out. The maintenance guys would come around working on stuff and tossed any old nails or screws on the floor and I would pick those up and cart them home for the shop. I spent a number of hours in the basement straightening bent nails for use. I've been a bit of a tool nut ever since.
I mentioned "sabre saw" like Chris because back then all such saws were called sabre saws. I have always been interested in tool names and time and regional variations. Many tools have one name in one trade and the exact same tool will have another name in another trade. Here is a link I found when Googling sabre saw that is exactly how I recall past naming.
https://www.thespruce.com/jigsaws-and-s ... ce-3536880
There is no right or wrong, just different.
These days I grab my Rockwell Sonicrafter for many jobs where I used a sabre saw in the past but I still have 4 or 5 of those sabre saws and still use them.


.