scary and not so scary and i think that's why a lot of people new to diy gravitate toward the jigsaw it's quieter looks easy to use and doesn't seem quite as scary as some of those other teeth-bearing power tools having said that though i remember when i first bought my jigsaw which was many many years ago from memory i think jesus may have been a second year apprentice so we're going back a bit i found it difficult to cut a straight line let alone a curve or god forbid a circle and blade selection was a little confusing as well so just letting you know that if you've had the same experience well i've been there and done that but i promise you after watching this video you'll be using a jigsaw like a pro g'day folks uncle knackers here and in today's video we're going to have a look at the humble jigsaw check out some of its features and then go over the basics of how to use it let's go now just before we kick off a quick tip regarding power tools and that is whenever you're using them make sure you're wearing some hearing and some eye protection now i have to say that the jigsaw is a pretty basic tool without too many bells and whistles the obvious part of the saw is its straight blade which makes it the ideal and the go-to tool for curved and flush cuts which i'll talk about later to change the blade on most jigsaw models that use a t-shanked blade which i'll also talk about later it couldn't be any easier now most jigsaws either down the side here or across the front will have a lever or a mechanism that if you open you can then remove that blade how cool is that and then to install the blade just simply reopen that lever or mechanism place the blade in until it can't go any further release the lever or mechanism and you're good to go too easy now just a quick safety tip whenever you are installing or removing blades make sure the power isn't connected and if your machine is battery operated make sure the battery isn't clicked in now this part of the jigsaw is known as the base plate and it can be tilted if you need to make a beveled cut and to adjust the angle or the tilt of the base plate if we check out the back of my machine here which may vary from model to model but on mine i have zero degrees up top all the way down to 45 degrees over here and it's the same for both sides now to adjust the angle there's a screw on the bottom of that base plate now if we use the allen key that comes with most machines there he is loosen that screw and then alter the base plate to your desired angle lining that up with that notch up there and bang you're in business and to start the machine it's pretty straightforward all we have is a trigger down here and a locking button up there pull the trigger up and away you go release it and the machine stops and for a long continuous cut where you may not want to hold that trigger in position for a long period of time just simply engage it and then click in this locking button here that will hold the trigger in place until you've finished your cut and then just simply pull that trigger up again that releases that locking button the trigger comes down and the machine stops now this feature here is one that a lot of newbies don't know about and i have to say a lot of not say newbies as well which is a real shame because it's a very handy option to utilize so basically most jigsaws can be operated with either an orbital or a straight up and down cutting action now the orbital action as opposed to the straight up and down cutting action which is adjusted via this lever here thrusts the blade forward on the cutting stroke which greatly increases the cutting speed now as a general guide select the large orbit cutting action for fast cutting in wood and plywood currently my machine is set on zero which means absolutely no orbital cutting actually whatsoever and the blade is just going straight up and down now if we move our lever across to the three position that'll be the fastest cutting action for this machine and we're good to go now the downside to that setting is that the finish may not be as neat as you often get a lot of splintering also known as tear out personally i nearly always have mine set to no orbital action at all which is the zero setting on your machine that way you'll finish up with a cleaner cut the only drawback is that the cut will take longer but for me that's no big deal now just to demonstrate the difference in cutting speed we'll do a little test i'll set the machine to three which is the maximum orbital cutting speed that's hard to say and then i'll set it to zero and we'll see which one's fastest [Music] [Music] so as you can see from that demonstration when i had the machine set to number three the cut was so much faster than when i had it set to zero but when it was set to zero the cut was much cleaner and here's another handy feature to make your life a little easier and that is most jigsaws will come with the option to fit a cutting guide which is what this little fella here is for performing long continuous cuts at a certain defined measurement so all you need to do is to slide the guide in and then tighten the nut at your desired measurement which will be from the face of the guide to the face of the blade and away you go it's that easy speaking of tour related things how's this i was talking to a good mate of mine the other day and out of the blue he asked me out of interest what tool do you think would best deal with a traumatic event i had a bit of a think about it and then i thought obviously it's got to be the coping saw because you know it's just just good at coping it copes so yeah [Music] i'll get my coat now when it comes to jigsaw blades and then selecting the type of jigsaw that you want to buy it's really important to remember that certain types of jigsaws will only take a certain type of jigsaw blade and there are two styles to choose from and they are the t-shank blade and the u-shank blade the t-shank blade has lugs there and there and you can also see how the top tape is in now on a u-shank blade there's a u-shape cut into the top and sometimes there's even a hole in the center to accommodate for older machines now this particular blade here is a universal type blade which means it's suitable for all types of jigsaws so on a typical u-shank blade those lugs won't be there so when it comes time to buying your brand spanky new jigsaw do yourself a favor make life easy on yourself and select one that takes a t-shanked blade they're far more common so you've got a lot more choice and the blades are so much easier to change in fact more often than not as you saw earlier in the video you don't even need a tool to change it now just in relation to the teeth configuration of a jigsaw blade you'll notice that all the teeth face in an upward direction that's because the saw cuts in an upward stroke which is good because that then keeps the wood hard up against the base of the saw now you'll also notice
