PDX Rich

On 3/6/2016 at 10:30 PM, Bill CNC said:

PDX Rich,

The Harbor Freight mats work great but there's a catch, those mat WILL etch the pattern of the mat on a Lacquer finish. It's good to use them them for Polyurethane finishes or raw wood.

Regards

Bill

Good point! I tend to lay down clean white t-shirts over this to manage the imprint issue while a finish is curing (certainly not when still wet though!).

Harbor Freight sells toolbox non-slip mats in rolls for pretty cheap too. Not as cushiony as yoga mats (which I love as a surface), but a bit grippy-er. Good stuff!

Ben gives a nice rundown here:

Exactly. A decent scroll saw certainly is not as inexpensive as a jig saw, but I'd much rather go that route. Then again, it is asking quite a bit to task either saw with cutting through ~1.5-1.78" of 1500+ Janka Scale hardwood!

On clamped down boards and riding a straight edge guide, I am OK with them. They can get squirrely quick though! I liken it to a jumpy upside down scroll saw with only one stable point that can do a bit more flesh damage.

I have a jigsaw that I use only to crosscut long boards, since I have yet to build a proper table saw crosscut sled (which is a bit challenging on a jobsite saw). I just clamp a straight edge perpendicular to the board as a guide for the jigsaw sole. It isn't entirely accurate, but it does fine for making a safe cut in a pinch. Using high-quality blades is a must, as with most tools. Stock blades are garbage in most cases (I use a Ryobi).

Then, there are also those who have relied on jigsaws so are able to compensate for the tool's foibles with skill and superior handling. My brother is a wizard with one! Me, not so much.

Hah! so I popped over here after sending you an email about how I plan on making some workbench improvements in my shop. You were apparently way ahead of me.