17-10-2012, 11:24 AM
Doesn't a reciprocating saw have a pair of blades working 180 degrees out of phase? I'm sure I've seen those used for demolition purposes and very rough jobs. I don't have one myself.
I use a regular jigsaw, and learnt a while back that for timber, a fast blade speed is essential. Not feeding the tool too quickly is the other side of that coin. A fast speed enables the material to be ejected, and this seems to help keep the temperature of the blade down. Also, it cuts a much more accurate line that way.
With the right blade, jigsaws are very good for cutting metal, especially aluminium. I use a much slower blade speed, and a touch of oil.
In terms of blade life, I've found them to be very good. Obviously cutting chipboard is the fastest way to make a wood blade go blunt.
I use Bosch blades, and they are very good. I use the cheapest ones for chipboard, and regard them as disposable...
For hand-saws, I like the Spear and Jackson Predator: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+Too...d70/p15287 - I bought one of these some 6 years back and found it was much, much better than the Stanley ones - I replaced it earlier this year with the best one I could find in the local DIY shed - Stanley one - which led to a cycling-related incident that I won't go into here. After that, I bought another Predator (via mail order!), and found that again, it's still the one to go for. But, I will try the Bacho - thanks for the recommendation Lawrence
When I bought the Predator back then, I realised that I could cut wood after all! For years, I assumed that the poor results were down to my technique, or lack of it. All this talk of "bad workman blaming his tools" is post-war austerity propaganda!
You can't beat a good mitre saw - I treated myself to one of these a few years back, and it's my most-used tool: http://www.axminster.co.uk/bosch-bosch-g...prod32409/ - I put an 80-tooth blade on it, and use it for all sorts of materials.Glad to hear that you scribe the internal mitres, Lawrence - whenever you see mitred internal joints, they always look horrible after a couple of months when the wood has shrunk back. Of course, one should scribe the shortest length, so that it hopefully shrinks the least. My picture rail joints have opened up slightly but when I do the back room I'm hoping this won't happen as I bought enough to do both rooms, and the rail has been sitting in the house for 6 years now!
When scribing, I make a 45 degree cut in the wood, use a pencil to mark the cut edge, then follow that with a coping saw at 90 degree to the piece. This works really well - but are there any other techniques I should try?
When doing external mitres, do you pin and glue them? I find that quite tricky, but normally get there - but since I last tried, I've bought a biscuit jointer, and I'm hoping this will make the external mitres stick together accurately. There's only one to do in the back bedroom, but that'll be happening some time in the next few months, so I'll report back...
I use a regular jigsaw, and learnt a while back that for timber, a fast blade speed is essential. Not feeding the tool too quickly is the other side of that coin. A fast speed enables the material to be ejected, and this seems to help keep the temperature of the blade down. Also, it cuts a much more accurate line that way.
With the right blade, jigsaws are very good for cutting metal, especially aluminium. I use a much slower blade speed, and a touch of oil.
In terms of blade life, I've found them to be very good. Obviously cutting chipboard is the fastest way to make a wood blade go blunt.
I use Bosch blades, and they are very good. I use the cheapest ones for chipboard, and regard them as disposable...
For hand-saws, I like the Spear and Jackson Predator: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+Too...d70/p15287 - I bought one of these some 6 years back and found it was much, much better than the Stanley ones - I replaced it earlier this year with the best one I could find in the local DIY shed - Stanley one - which led to a cycling-related incident that I won't go into here. After that, I bought another Predator (via mail order!), and found that again, it's still the one to go for. But, I will try the Bacho - thanks for the recommendation Lawrence
When I bought the Predator back then, I realised that I could cut wood after all! For years, I assumed that the poor results were down to my technique, or lack of it. All this talk of "bad workman blaming his tools" is post-war austerity propaganda!
You can't beat a good mitre saw - I treated myself to one of these a few years back, and it's my most-used tool: http://www.axminster.co.uk/bosch-bosch-g...prod32409/ - I put an 80-tooth blade on it, and use it for all sorts of materials.Glad to hear that you scribe the internal mitres, Lawrence - whenever you see mitred internal joints, they always look horrible after a couple of months when the wood has shrunk back. Of course, one should scribe the shortest length, so that it hopefully shrinks the least. My picture rail joints have opened up slightly but when I do the back room I'm hoping this won't happen as I bought enough to do both rooms, and the rail has been sitting in the house for 6 years now!
When scribing, I make a 45 degree cut in the wood, use a pencil to mark the cut edge, then follow that with a coping saw at 90 degree to the piece. This works really well - but are there any other techniques I should try?
When doing external mitres, do you pin and glue them? I find that quite tricky, but normally get there - but since I last tried, I've bought a biscuit jointer, and I'm hoping this will make the external mitres stick together accurately. There's only one to do in the back bedroom, but that'll be happening some time in the next few months, so I'll report back...
