The best jigsaw blade for plywood

I know that for any woodworker it is impossible to have every tool in the book but there are some things that one just cannot do without, such is the jigsaw. Invented 60 years ago by a Swiss man who converted his wife's sewing machine to cut wood by grinding down and installing a piece of hacksaw blade into the machine the jigsaw has gone on to be one of the most popular power tools in the average workshop, domestic or professional. I have a couple which I use a lot especially when cutting curved components such as sheet ply which is too large to work on the band-saw but it is very important to use the correct blade for the job. The picture shows some cuts that I made in half inch thick marine ply and as you can see they are perfect straight from the saw. The blades that I use for this type of cut is the Bosch 101AO, which have needle teeth not too dissimilar to those found on Japanese pull saws. With the pendulum action turned off they really are the nuts with almost no tear out even when cutting against the grain on the face laminate. A quick trawl of the internet shows these blades can be had for around $8 for a pack of five which considering how little cleaning up you have to do once you have cut out the component is money well spent.

Incidentally history does not record what the Swiss mans wife said when she found out what he had done to her sewing machine.

Comments

[Mike]

What jig saw blade use on 1/8" baltic birch plywood?

[mark]

Mike

These blades will work great on Baltic birch. If you have the pedulum action on your saw turn this down to 1 or off and all will be well.

[Adam smith]

Very handy guide, thanks, Serena! I didn’t know there was even a term for TPI, hah. 😀 All of my cuts look rough and awful because I haven’t gotten a fine toothed blade yet, ugh! I’ve got a little cheapie jigsaw (it was like $20) and, aside from having to put my blade back in after every cut because it falls out (ugh), it works really well. I’m so glad you included “Always keep the base of the jigsaw flat against your workpiece.” because while cutting a big piece of plywood, the jigsaw will vibrate and jiggle right away from it, so you’ve got to use a seriously firm arm to keep it flat against the wood!

[gardenley]

The first saw you showed is actually the same as my jigsaw!

[Phillip Reid]

Hi Mark--unless memory fails me badly, you published some things of mine in BoatWorks close to 20 years ago. I've been away from sailing for too long, and I'm in the thick of planning to build a Goat Island Skiff, so I was happy that this was my search result hit! ("Regular" wood jigsaw blades make more splinters in plywood than will be ok for stuff that's worth its weight in gold...) --Phillip