Worktop nightmare

[IanDB]

Been helping my son fit out his kitchen with some new units. He was a bit unsure how things were done so I went along to give him some of the benefit of my knowledge (!)

All went well until we came to cut the main worktop to length. I marked it out, clamped a guide strip to it and proceeded to cut a line with my jigsaw. After about 6" something didn't feel right. Stopped the saw and checked the cut.

The line had wandered off by about 1/4" into the worktop.

Thankfully he had two sections delivered and we were only going to use a small section of the second piece so we could do it again.

This time I used the circular saw and the cut was absolutely spot on. The stress level went up a bit though when I started the second time round!

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo iandb

jigsaws are notorious for going off line

causes for this can be blade at an angle compared to the base thus cutting at an angle

using a blunt or incorrect blade

or forcing the blade to cut quicker than it can

if you need an acurate cut in anything other than thin material use a circular saw or router

if you have to use a jigsaws and you have no other tools avalable the blades tend to wander to the same side every time so cut with this in mind cut slowly with pendulum on max retrace every couple off inches to check its still on line and give it a chance to reseat on line
although if the blade has gone off line by as little as a mm youll have a job getting it back on line
and most of all use a brand new blade on wortops and replace every mtr or so
these blades can be used for other lighter non crucial work

 

[IanDB]

Hi big-all,

Good advice!

Out of interest, what blade would you recommend for worktops? I was using a standard wood blade (brand new).

Regards

Ian

 

[big-all]

personaly i use bosch101d or 101b but these are not suitable as they will chip the worktop i use these for cutting up to 5mm from the line then router to finnish you can use a down cut blade but not my cup of tea

you can also get reasonable results by clamping a bit of 2by2 smooth timber along the cut line and use this to cut along using a sharp handsaw making shure it makes continuous contact with the bit of wood without cutting the batton[light scratch marks on the batton no cutting ]

 

[IanDB]

Interesting. I'll put the router on my christmas list.

Cheers

 

[big-all]

aaaaahhhhh dont forget you need a half inch router and lllooonnnggg worktop cutters like this one complete with cutter
be nice to your missus and xmas might come early

http://www.powertoolsuk.co.uk/webcat/details.asp?ProductCode=DW625EK&ID=122

happy routering

 

[petewood]

If the jigsaw was the only power tool available I would do it like this. Mark a line 1 or 2 mm away from where you want to finish, use a downcutting blade to follow this line as closely as you can (practice 1st), if the blade has wandered outwards from the cut below the line, handplane off the worktop below the surface til it has reduced enough, then use a couple of passes of the plane to straighten up the top edge.
Not ideal but it works if you take plenty of care.

 

[fido]

I recently had to cut my kitchen worktop and I bought one of those cheapo circular saws with lazer beam from B&Q. I had not used the machine before so decided it would be best to make a trial cut before doing the worktop to the final size. The trial cut was perfect but on the actual size cut I managed to get 2 chips fly off the edge of the laminate. I used the screw on type edging but the flange part of that does not completely cover the largest chip.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Errrr, or one of these:

 

[big-all]

Errrr, or one of these:

that will do nicely as long as the teeth arnt ofset tooo much

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

that will do nicely as long as the teeth arnt ofset tooo much

Dwaaaaaane Dibley! What the hell's wrong with my teeth!

(Red Dwarf)