# What the heck happened to Jigsaws?



## MikeInOr (Jan 27, 2021)

I confess, I have been using the same jigsaw all my life... my fathers old Craftsman's jig saw.  I was probably around 8yo or so the first time I was allowed to use it and it is the saw I have used ever since.  It finally died on me last year (it was at least 50 years old) and I received a nice Dewalt 20v jigsaw for Christmas.  

I went to use the Dewalt today and WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!  I am laying some engineered flooring and I needed to cut out for a floor vent that was only an inch or so from the wall.  No problem I will just twist the blade 90 degrees so I can cut close to the wall then twist the blade 180 degrees so I can cut from the wall back into the flooring plank.  HUH!??!?  There is no lever on top to allow me to rotate the blades orientation to the saw???  REALLY???  I can't figure out how to adjust the quick change blade holder to mount the blade at a 90 degree angle... am I missing something?

So I start looking around a little online for a "proper" jigsaw... WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!  Am I missing something or is there no longer such a thing as a jigsaw that you can mount the blade at 90 and 180 degree angles?  There is a little blade support wheel behind the blade of the Dewalt... is it acceptable to at least mount the blade 180 degrees (backwards)?  It doesn't look like this is an acceptable practice.

I never had ANY idea of what a sheltered life I have lived up to this point!  Simply astounding!


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## brino (Jan 27, 2021)

My Dad also has a Craftsman jig saw that he's had for a lot of years, and it too has a knob on the top that you can use to actually steer the blade.
You could also lock it in the straight ahead position......don't remember if it lock at +/-90 and 180-degrees.

When I bought my own Delta jig saw about 30 years ago, I do not remember seeing that option.
Mine also has that little support wheel behind the blade.

One real nice feature is the tool-less blade changes.

-brino


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## matthewsx (Jan 27, 2021)

I have my dad's old Craftsman which operates like your old one, nice but sometimes that rotating thing has a mind of it's own. I also have a nice Hitachi battery powered one that works well, haven't ever needed to rotate the blade so I'd have to go look at it to even know if it rotates.

But, I think I can answer your question:






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Basically with this thing you can make plunge cuts in just about any material you like with better precision and much less frustration than using a Jig (Sabre) Saw. No need to even drill a pilot hole for the blade to go through, just draw your line and go.

Yeah, we used to have a phone that attached to the wall and a bookshelf with the World Book Encyclopedia too but those are long gone....


John


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## Bi11Hudson (Jan 27, 2021)

50 years old means ca. 1970 and feels like yesterday to me. There are varying "grades" of jigsaws, meaning what "features" are available. I have several, a couple as old as you speak of. The one I use most is a B&D "Industrial" model that may well be the same as a DeWalt with a black frame. It has a swivel head that allows the blade to be rotated. It's there, but I don't use it.

The swivel head seems to be a big marketing issue. I don't understand, nor do I much care. The curves I cut are fairly wide, 28 inch radius, and done on horses. The most applicable hand tool for what you are describing would probably be the vibrating tool noted above. Wife has one from when she was laying hardwood floors. I've never used it, never had a need.

If there is close work of that nature, I use a wood chisel. The big issue using a wood chisel is to have a sharp edge. Razor sharp is optimal, but shaving my arm is usually as close as I bother with. My chisels are working tools, not heirloom producing. I prefer manual solutions to machines in most cases. But then, I build models. An Xacto knife serves me well.

I suppose my comment is not much help. The first paragraph about covers the issue. It may be possible to repair the old saw. A switch failing, or brushes worn out would be my first guess. A jig saw is a useful tool, *within its' limitations*. Where to make the transition from a jig saw to a "SawzAll" to a SkilSaw to a chain saw is a matter of personal skills and taste.

.


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## Aaron_W (Jan 28, 2021)

matthewsx said:


> I have my dad's old Craftsman which operates like your old one, nice but sometimes that rotating thing has a mind of it's own. I also have a nice Hitachi battery powered one that works well, haven't ever needed to rotate the blade so I'd have to go look at it to even know if it rotates.
> 
> But, I think I can answer your question:
> 
> ...



Yep, when we were redoing the kitchen on our first house many years ago, my wife got a Roto-zip, used it on the tile in the kitchen, for cutting holes in sheet rock and cabinets, cutting flooring. I think you are right they probably sucked up a lot of the market from the jig saw. About the only thing a jig saw would do better is cutting a straight line.

https://www.rotozip.com/en_US/


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## MikeInOr (Jan 28, 2021)

Good to know I am not the only one familiar with the blade rotating Craftsman jigsaws.  Mine / my fathers had stops at 90 degrees that the lock would snap into.  It was tight enough that I never had a problem with it wondering.  I distinctly remember asking my father about unlocking it and steering it through the wood... and him telling my that it wasn't safe to do so (I was ~8yo at the time).  I guess I never reconsidered that function.

I don't use my jigsaw a lot but when it is the right tool for the job it does its job really well!  Running the blade perpendicular to the direction of the jig saw body isn't something I do every day... but on occasion it is just REALLY darned useful.  I have used other jigsaws on occasion, I just never needed a closer cut or reverse cut when using those other saws.  I remember my father using the Craftsman jigsaw to cut rebar WAY back when... long before he owned a Sawzall.  I also remember him using a diamond grit blade on some tile at one time.

I have owned a Harbor Freight multispeed oscillating tool for close to 20 years now.  It is EXTREMELY handy for its assigned tasks!  Trimming the bottom of door jambs to make clearance for engineered wood flooring is one of its great talents that I just employed yesterday!  I remember getting a pretty good work out with the manual flush cut saw by the time I hit the third door jamb and the manual flush cut saw was starting to dull quite a bit.  It is also fabulous for reworking old PVC plumbing without tearing out all the surrounding pipe like a Sawzall can do on occasion.  I haven't found a need to upgrade to a fancy high priced one yet.  The oscillating tool would have work for cutting the hole for the floor vent, a jig saw just feels much faster to me.

I had a roto-zip and never quite clicked with it.  Most of its functionality I accomplish with a trim router which to me is pretty much the same thing.  Most holes in drywall are straight and the oscillating tool does a nicer job on straight cuts with considerably less mess.  For tile I have always used a diamond blade wet tile saw and diamond tipped hole saws.  I will trim out the vent hole with a trim router and a flush cut bit, I guess the Rotozip would do the same.  Everyone has their favorite tools, which is great!  The Rotozip and I just never seemed to hit it off.


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## 7milesup (Jan 28, 2021)

My father in law had one of those rotating jigsaws.  I pretty much hated it.

As others have pointed out, for close in trimming of flooring or whatever, do yourself a favor and get an oscillating tool.  You will use it more than you think.  I bought a Rockwell Sonicrafter mostly because my friend had one and he was happy with it.  I am a Bosch guy, so if I was going to do it over that is probably what I would buy.
Rockwell Sonicrafter at Menards


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## 7milesup (Jan 28, 2021)

Oh, also to note Mike is that laminate flooring has something in it (I'm guessing silica) that is hazardous to breath, BUT, it also dulls blades very quickly.  Doesn't matter what kind of blade other than carbide, and even at that, it still destroys blades.  I have installed a fair amount of laminate flooring in our new house (about 3000 square feet of it) and it was a challenge to keep up with blades.
I do use Bosch blades and they work well.
Bosch Oscillating Tool Blade


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## pdentrem (Jan 28, 2021)

I have a love hate view of jigsaws. Great for many things. My dad’s Craftsman jigsaw did not have the rotating blade just fixed though reversible. All metal construction and +50 years old. My Hitachi is variable speed and stroke but still fixed. The one peeve is on both the power cord is so stiff that it can deflect my cuts.
Pierre


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## MikeInOr (Jan 28, 2021)

7milesup said:


> Oh, also to note Mike is that laminate flooring has something in it (I'm guessing silica) that is hazardous to breath, BUT, it also dulls blades very quickly.  Doesn't matter what kind of blade other than carbide, and even at that, it still destroys blades.  I have installed a fair amount of laminate flooring in our new house (about 3000 square feet of it) and it was a challenge to keep up with blades.
> I do use Bosch blades and they work well.
> Bosch Oscillating Tool Blade



The flooring is engineered wood flooring.  So the top layer is real wood.  It does have the blade killing silica wear layer on it though.  I bought a cheap HF 10" fine cut blade for my miter saw since I knew I was going to pretty much ruin the blade.  I must say I am quite impressed with the HF blade!  It gives a cut quality very close to the Freud blades that I use for woodworking!  It also seems to have held up quite well with not a lot of noticeable dulling after the 100 or so cuts needed for the one room.

I do have an oscillating tool that I use a lot... it takes a long time to go through the engineered flooring and the oscillating blade dulls REALLY quick on the silicone layer.  The jig saw cuts through the flooring MUCH quicker and the blades are cheaper and seem to last quite a bit longer in this use.  Maybe it is because the jigsaw cuts on the up stroke so it does not pull the silicone layer down into the cut like a down cutting blade would????  The biggest reason I chose the jigsaw though was because the jigsaw is new and I hadn't used it yet.  I ended up having to take several moon shaped cuts out of the vent hole with the jigsaw to get to where I needed to be.

Other than not being able to change the blade orientation, just like every other jigsaw on the market I guess, the Dewalt jigsaw DID do a very nice job, was easy to handle and felt good and solid when cutting.  A jigsaw might not be the universal tool it once was, but I sure would not want to be without one, even if it isn't a high use tool like some others.

Now that I think about it I think my father's saw was actually a saber saw and not a jig saw... maybe that is why I can't find a new one that will do what I want!    LOL!


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