Jigsaw/Blade for Engineered Wood Floor

[RJH]

I bought some of these to cut through 18mm oak flooring:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-t101brf-hardwood-jigsaw-blades-pack-of-5/9298d

Thing is, they 'snag' quite violently, making it difficult to get a
clean, or indeed any, cut. Could this be a technique thing, the jigsaw
(30 year old basic B+D), or the blade? I've never had any problem
getting through softwoods.

--
Cheers, Rob

[The Medway Handyman]

Don't know about the blades as I've only ever used Makita & Bosch.

Probably the jigsaw. A jigsaw is one of those power tools where the
quality increases drastically with price. I've never found a cheap
jigsaw that works properly. You would be looking at £100+ for a decent
machine.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

[Dave Liquorice]

On Sun, 04 Jan 2015 15:21:33 +0000, RJH wrote:

> I bought some of these to cut through 18mm oak flooring:
>
> http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-t101brf-hardwood-jigsaw-blades-
> pack-of-5/9298d
>
> Thing is, they 'snag' quite violently, making it difficult to get a
> clean, or indeed any, cut.

For clean cuts with a jigsaw look for worktop blades. Those
non-specific "hardwood" blades look rather vicious and cut on the
down stroke.

> Could this be a technique thing,

Possibly if you aren't applying a fair amount of down pressure the
saw will tend to bounce on the cutting (down) stroke. You have to be
careful to apply the pressure straight down the blade or it will bend
and/or the will wander.

--
Cheers
Dave.

[Phil L]

"RJH" <patch...@gmx.com> wrote in message
news:m8blp4$8s4$1...@dont-email.me...

I wouldn't attempt to use a jigsaw in this scenario, borrow or hire a table
saw or a handheld circular - 18mm oak isn't cheap and there will probably be
a lot of cuts.

[Andy Dingley]

Erbauer jigsaw blades are a bit rubbish. Buy Bosch (made by Scintilla in Switzerland) or if you can get them (usually in 50s) buy Scintilla.

Also I'd echo the comments about jigsaws working a lot better from £150+ Bosch barrel body or Makita. B+D were always a bit rough.

[Dennis@home]

On 04/01/2015 15:21, RJH wrote:

You want a mitre saw really.
How much flooring are you doing, if its a bit a decent hand saw and a
mitre block.

[Andy Dingley]

On Sunday, 4 January 2015 15:21:36 UTC, RJH wrote:
> I bought some of these to cut through 18mm oak flooring:
>
> http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-t101brf-hardwood-jigsaw-blades-pack-of-5/9298d

Is it those blades in particular? They're BRF, with the "R" meaning that they're reverse cutting (on the downstroke rather than the upstroke)

They're like that to reduce chipping on the top surface, mostly a problem with laminates. It also means that they're forever trying to push the saw upwards and jerking it against you - hard to control, and often giving a worse result overall.

Keep your body weight over the saw and hold the damned thing down.

Don't use reverse cut blade, if you can avoid them. I would very rarely use them on oak. Instead I might just knife mark the cut lines first, which is a better way to reduce splintering in oak. Also use a brand new and sharp blade, from a good maker.

[michael adams]

"RJH" <patch...@gmx.com> wrote in message news:m8blp4$8s4$1...@dont-email.me...

To avoid snagging you need a jigsaw with a pendulum action where the blade moves
backwards and forwards as well as up and down with every stroke.

To cut 18mm oak you probably need a jigsaw with a lot of torque which presumably
doesn't simply equate to the nominal wattage of the motor. And is why you can pay
from £30 to £280 for jigsaws with the same nominal wattage. And using the
best blade for the job.

If you're only need to crosscut the flooring to length then you're probably better off
buying a
cheapo chop saw for around £50 although check first that its a standard blade size
and bore and you can buy replacement blades from the likes of Toolstation or Screwfix.


michael adams

...

[michael adams]

"michael adams" <mjad...@ukonline.co.k> wrote in message
news:m8bsev$6lm$1...@dont-email.me...

Poor form to reply to your own posts but a quick skim of reviews of cheapo
chop saws, shows them to be crap unless the reviewers are particularly
inept at changing blades etc. As, in addition to the saw, the cost covers
the table, clamps etc. the saw clearly won't be up to much. Probably better
to make a jig, one piece of ply and two pieces of softwood - one to run
parallel to the edge of the flooring screwed on the underneath of the ply,
and another at screwed at right angles on top, to run the saw against, and
spend the £50 on a slightly better quality circular saw.


michael adams

...

[Tim Watts]

I just used a Bosch cleancut blade - no issues on 3mm oak engineered
flooring.

[Tim Watts]

I used a combi sliding mitre saw with a medium TCT blade for most of the
cuts.

Jigsaw for longways and shaped cuts.

[JimK]

/For clean cuts with a jigsaw look for worktop blades. Those

non-specific "hardwood" blades look rather vicious and cut on the

down stroke. /q

Er... Worktop blades cut on the downstroke???

Jim K

[Dave Liquorice]

Well spotted that man. B-)

In that case the poor cut is probably due to the saw bouncing on the
work and possibly trying to cut the timber too fast.

--
Cheers
Dave.

[Dave Liquorice]

On Sun, 4 Jan 2015 11:32:30 -0800 (PST), JimK wrote:

--
Cheers
Dave.

[BobH]

On 04/01/2015 15:21, RJH wrote:

My guess would be the TPI of the blade is too much. try blades with a
bigger TPI.

[RJH]

On 04/01/2015 15:21, RJH wrote:

Thanks for all the replies.

I've got about 5m length to cut down, including 2 door openings - it's
the hall floor.

I've now managed the longer run with a (Aldi £15) circular saw. It's an
absolute pig to use, and makes a right racket, hate the thing, but
managed OK. That still leaves the cuts for round the doors, and I'll
have a go with a combination of jig saw and a better Bosch blade, hand
saw and fret saw.

I'd like a decent jig saw - I use it a fair bit. But £100+ - I think not.

--
Cheers, Rob