Choosing the right jigsaw blade for wood largely determines the performance and accuracy of cutting material. It’s worth clarifying right away that cutting blades for electric jigsaws come in a variety of shapes, types and sizes. That is, each material needs its own file.
Let's try to classify cutting blades and see how, for example, a saw blade for metal differs from a saw blade for wood. How to choose a canvas for a particular wood material will also be discussed in this article.
Features of saw blades for power tools
The thickness and density of each material is different, which immediately imposes some specific requirements on the quality of the 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 should not buy into tricky marketing ploys about "omnivorous" canvases.
Even if you have the best wood jigsaw blades at your disposal, they are unlikely to cut metal properly. Similarly, metal sheets will only partially cope with chipboard or plastic (you will have to cut long and hard).
Next, let's move on to the classificationfiles.
Steel
All cutting blades, including jigsaw blades for wood, differ from each other in the quality of steel. Each model has a marking coating on the shank, where the material of manufacture can be determined by the code.
For example, Makita wood jigsaw blades are always made of high quality carbon steel marked "HC S". This type of canvas is suitable for any wood material, whether it is wood, fiberboard, chipboard, plywood or even plastic. In our case (wood), it is not so much the hardness of the steel that is important, but its elasticity.
Marking "HS S" means that the blade is made of hardened and high speed steel, which is the best option for working with metals of light and medium groups. 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 wood jigsaw files (Bosch, Gross) with this marking, but you will be sawing them for a very long time (and expensive), so it’s better to use the usual “NS S”.
The inscription "HM" means that the blades are made of hard alloys. Files of this kind are used mainly in the ceramic field, where there is a dense work with tiles and similar materials.
Canvas size
Wood materials are usually thicker than the same metals or plastic, so jigsaw files for wood come, as they say, with a margin, that is, long ones. If the material is rough, like ordinary boards, then it is better to use thicker blades, and thin ones for curly cutting. The former are noticeably easier to drive in a straight line, while the latter are easier to turn.
Teeth
Blades 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 cut will be rougher. The same rule works in the opposite direction: fewer teeth - better cuts.
Besides, the width of the fangs layout largely affects the quality of the cut. The smaller it is, the more accurate and accurate the cut will be. But it should be borne in mind that a very small distance significantly increases the time of work, 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 ensure 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, instead of the usual wiring, you can find in stores cutting “waves”, where each next tooth is slightly shifted to the side of the previous one (often found on the shelves of the Makita brand). Such blades are used mainly for clean cuts: countertops, kitchen fronts andsome other small elements of wood and chipboard / fiberboard.
If we summarize the features of the choice of blades by teeth, we will get the following picture:
- rare tooth - soft wood and curly cut (thick and thin file, respectively);
- medium wide tooth - neat cuts in chipboard, plywood and finished wood;
- small frequent tooth - cutting plastic and metal in a straight line;
- medium beveled tooth - clean cut at small radii (tabletops, small chipboard, plastic).
Shank
There are several types of shanks on sale. 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 electric jigsaws.
Some brands produce cutting blades exclusively for their tools with some specific shanks. Therefore, at the time of purchase, be sure to check this point with the seller. The same rule is true for buying a tool of this kind: it is better to look after something universal and not bother with finicky consumables.
