Bosch Jigsaw application chart?

[ben grossman]

Does anyone know where I can find an "application sheet" for Bosch jigsaw blades? Usually I just use the blades that came with my saw, but I recently bought some new blades and it showed what settings and so forth to use. I tried emailing Bosch, but never heard back. Does anyone know of something like that? I looked in the saw's manual, but didn't see it there, and spent some time on Google as well. Maybe I just need to call Bosch... :confused:

[Brian Kent]

…even though it is not in just one chart"


http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Accessories/Pages/BoschAccessoryDetail.aspx?pid=327

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Accessories/Pages/BoschAccessoryDetail.aspx?pid=329

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Accessories/Pages/BoschAccessoryDetail.aspx?pid=328

[Chris Parks]

The jigsaw I bought came with a plastic holder containing about six blades and on that a pictorial image of uses for each blade. It seems to work ok but I only have used it for steel and wood selection.

[ben grossman]

Thanks Brian! That is very handy, but not quite what I was looking for--though it will come in useful for finding blades in the future (printed for my notebooks).

On the package of one of the new blade sets I bought, it shows the speed setting for the saw. The speed wheel is numbered from 1 through 5 or something, and the package says what number to put them on.

Does it even make that much difference? Most of the time I have been cutting cheap plywood and 2x4's, which I just use the rough-cut hi speed blades.

[John Thompson]

The manual should have a chart on page 2 or 3 showing which orbit and to use for various species and metal. Follow that closely. I will not tell you the speed but common sense tells you to slow down in metal and speed up in wood. I only run one of the wood blades from Bosch. That's all I need! The Extra Clean as once I tried it there is no need for another with solid QSWO oak I work with. The blade leaves a cleaner cut on both sides including entry and exit as I have ever seen on any jig-saw blade in 39 years. With that statement I will add I really had never seen a "real jig-saw" until I purchased a Bosch barrel grip about 8 years ago. The ones I had previously were simply pretenders in a box marked Jig-saw. ;)

[ben grossman]

Thanks for the help John, I too like the extra-clean for wood blade! I have only cut once in metal, for a small fuse/relay panel I made for my truck and it worked awesome. I have had no issues so far with blade speed, but only question as maybe I am not "optimizing" my cutting. I will go and dig through my book, as I must have missed the chart.

Mine is not the barrel-grip, but I have been so happy with this saw. It has been fantastic and chews through everything. In fact, I bought a used Skilsaw that I tried to cut some wet 2x4's with. It wouldn't do it, but the Bosch has cut through everything ever since, and the Skilsaw has sat collecting dust.

[John Thompson]

Thanks for the help John, I too like the extra-clean for wood blade! I have only cut once in metal, for a small fuse/relay panel I made for my truck and it worked awesome. I have had no issues so far with blade speed, but only question as maybe I am not "optimizing" my cutting. I will go and dig through my book, as I must have missed the chart.

Mine is not the barrel-grip, but I have been so happy with this saw. It has been fantastic and chews through everything. In fact, I bought a used Skilsaw that I tried to cut some wet 2x4's with. It wouldn't do it, but the Bosch has cut through everything ever since, and the Skilsaw has sat collecting dust.

Keep in mind that my manual is a number of years old. I do believe it will be in your new manual but.. if not PM me and I will e-mail the simple orbit settings. With oak which is use almost exclusively.. I run at about 5 on the 0-6 scale when making templates at Orbit II. If you are simply cutting wood without need for exact I will run it more aggressivley at 6. Slow it down to about 3-4 on metal depending on how many teeth are on the metal blade and depending on how much accuracy you need.

What I really suggest on speed is to get some wood scrap and just experiment. I have found their reccomendations for Orbit setting very reliable but.. I think they intentionally leave off speed as you can have so many variables on what would be the best. I would not trust the reccomendation totally on a blade package if it were there.

I use scrape first to do tenons on a tenon jig to ensure accuracy before I use the real deal.. I run test cuts on angles on the TS before the fact and I could go on. The way I derived at what the best speed on the jig-saw was for what I am doing at the moment is a test run in scrape after I make a common sense call. I am right at this point most of the time but.. the test cuts on scrap confirm that or tell me how to make a slight adjustment to hit the bulls-eye.

Good luck...

[David Helm]

I agree with John. Nothing beats experience with the tool. I've had my Bosch for nearly 20 years. It was a favorite jobsite tool. Don't use it so much any more since I don't spend time on jobsites these days. I too like the "cut both directions" blade.

[ben grossman]

John, your post helps a lot! I generally turn off the orbit when cutting precision stuff or cutting metal, but really haven't played with speeds much. However, nothing I've cut with it yet really seems to have made any difference. Your ballpark numbers are a big help.

Your suggestion to make test-cuts is a simple one, but makes good sense. I think experimenting, as you suggest, is probably a better answer than a blade chart. I am planning to build a very basic frame for a glass top desk to start out (got a really nice piece of glass cheap), and I think I will buy some extra wood and do exactly as you suggest.