Choosing the right saw for a jigsaw on wood largely determines the performance and accuracy of cutting the material. It’s worth immediately clarifying that cutting blades for jigsaws come in a wide variety of shapes, types and sizes. That is, each material needs its own file.
Let’s try to classify cutting blades and analyze how, for example, a metal file differs from a file for a jigsaw on a tree. How to choose a canvas for a particular wood material will also be discussed in this article.
Features of power tool files
The thickness and density of each material is different, which immediately imposes some specific requirements on the quality of steel sheets. This also includes the size and shape of the files, as well as the angle of inclination of the teeth. There are simply no universal models, so you shouldn’t fall for cunning marketing moves about omnivorous canvases.
Even if you have the highest quality jigsaw files for wood at your disposal, they are unlikely to properly cut the metal. In the same way, metal canvases cope with chipboard or plastic only partially (they will have to cut long and hard).
Next, let's move on to the classification of files.
Steel
All cutting blades, and saws for a jigsaw on wood, including, differ from each other in the quality of steel. Each model has a marking spray on the shank, where the material of manufacture can be determined by the code.
For example, Makita wood saws for a jigsaw are always made of high-quality carbon steel marked “NS S”. This type of canvas is suitable for any wood material, whether it is wood, fiberboard, particleboard, plywood or even plastic. In our case (wood), it is not so much the hardness of steel that matters as its elasticity.
“HS S” marking means that the blade is made of hardened and high-speed steel, which is the best option for working with light and medium metals. The material of such files is noticeably harder, but devoid of elasticity, that is, more fragile.
Marking "BIM" (biferrum) implies the presence of both of the above properties, that is, in one person and hardness, and plasticity with flexibility. Such blades are used for cutting metals of the older group and some complex alloys. On the shelves of some brands you can find jigsaw files for wood (Bosch, Gross) with this marking, but you will cut them for a very long time (and expensive), so it is better to use the usual "NS S".
The inscription "NM" means that the canvas is made of hard alloys. Files of this plan find their application mainly in the ceramic field, where there is a dense work with tiles and similar materials.
Web size
Wood materials have, as a rule, a greater thickness than the same metals or plastic, therefore, jigsaw files on wood go, as they say, with a margin, that is, long ones. If the material is coarse, like ordinary boards, it is better to use thicker canvases, and for figured cutting - thin. The former are noticeably easier to lead in a straight line, while the latter are more convenient to turn.
Teeth
Cloths with large teeth are designed to work with soft wood, and it should be noted separately that the larger the fangs and the distance between them, the wider the cutting step, that is, the saw cut will be rougher. The same rule works in the opposite direction: fewer teeth - a nicer cut.
In addition, the quality of the saw cut is largely affected by the width of the fangs wiring. The smaller it is, the more accurate and accurate the cut will be. But it is worth keeping in mind that a very small distance significantly increases the operating time, making it more time-consuming. It will also be useful to note that files with a small wiring require higher speeds from electrical equipment, so be sure to make sure that neither the tool nor the material burns.
In their shape, the teeth can be either oblique (at an angle to the edge of the blade), or straight, like an isosceles triangle. Moreover, in stores, instead of the usual wiring, you can see cutting “waves”, where each next tooth is slightly shifted to the side from the previous one (they often come across on the shelves of the Makita brand). Such canvases are used mainly for clean cuts: worktops, kitchen facades and some other small elements made of wood and chipboard / fiberboard.
If we generalize the features of the choice of cloths on the teeth, then we get the following picture:
- rare tooth - soft wood and curly cut (thick and thin file, respectively);
- medium frequent tooth - neat cut of chipboard, plywood and treated wood;
- small frequent tooth - cutting plastic and metal in a straight line;
- medium chamfered tooth - clean sawing at small radii (worktops, small chipboard elements, plastic).
Shank
On sale you can find several types of shanks. The most common type is a blade with a semicircular base and two stops closer to the teeth. Such files are universal and will fit most jigsaws.
Some brands produce cutting blades exclusively for their tools with some specific shanks. Therefore, during the purchase, be sure to check with the seller this moment. The same rule is true for buying an instrument of such a plan: it is better to watch something universal and not bother with picky consumables.