In Brief.

A Jigsaw is generally used for cutting tight curves & custom shapes out of timber, plastics, steel & many other materials. It performs its cutting action by moving the blade in an up & down motion. The cut is generally performed on the up stroke & the blade is then pushed back down, partially clearing cut debris on the way & into position ready to perform the next cut. All of the jigsaws reviewed come standard with an oscillating cutting action. This is also sometimes referred to as a ‘swing’, ‘orbital’ or a ‘pendulum’ action. Each jigsaw provided the option of using a low, medium, or high degree of blade oscillation. This action can greatly reduce the cutting time as explained later in this article.

What We Did.

The tests were conducted on a sheet of 14mm thick ‘B’ grade plywood The plywood produced little sawdust, consequently dust extraction equipment was not required. The tests were performed using a general purpose timber jigsaw blade with a tooth count of 7 teeth per inch [Referred to in the trade as ‘7 TPI’]. In reviewing each tool, our tester first made a trial cut to gain a ‘feel’ for the machine. He then ran two timed cuts. The first cut was made at full speed without an oscillation blade action. The second cut was made at full speed using maximum oscillation action.

What We Found.

The Festool PS300EQ deserves an honourable mention for its stand-out cutting performance. Throughout our testing process, we generally find that the timed cuts provide relatively close results for each machine. However when it came to the Festool PS300EQ, this machine performed both cuts 25% faster than the time taken by its closest rival. Using maximum blade oscillation consistently reduced the cutting time by half, or sometimes more. It made so much of a difference that our tester commented “you wouldn’t consider buying a jigsaw without this oscillation feature”. Surprisingly, some machines are still offered without a blade oscillation option. Speed of cutting does sometimes come at a price though. Set it too fast & you will often see a loss of accuracy, plus the cut edges may end up needing further preparation work.