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If you can only own one power saw, this is probably the one. A jigsaw cuts curves, straight lines, sheet material and interior holes, it handles wood, metal, laminate and plastic with a blade change, and it is by a distance the most forgiving power saw to learn on.

The short answer

Occasional home use: a corded jigsaw around $112 to $130. More than enough for shelves, boards and the odd cut-out.

Regular DIY or renovation: around $200 to $250 for a better blade guide, orbital action and a tool-free blade change.

You already own batteries: a cordless on your existing platform — the cable genuinely gets in the way on curved cuts.

What a jigsaw is for, and what it is not

Good at: curves and shapes, cutting out a sink or socket hole in the middle of a panel, trimming laminate and ply, cutting thin metal and plastic with the right blade, any cut where the line is not straight.

Not good at: long dead-straight cuts in thick material. The blade is thin and unsupported at the bottom, so it wanders. For ripping sheets down to size, a circular saw is the right tool.

A useful way to think about it: circular saws cut straight and fast, jigsaws cut anywhere.

What actually matters when choosing

• Orbital action — the blade swings slightly forward on the upstroke, cutting faster in wood. Switch it off for metal and for clean finish cuts. If a jigsaw has it, you will use it
• Tool-free blade change — you will change blades constantly. If it needs an allen key, you will put up with the wrong blade instead, and that is where bad cuts come from
• Blade guide / roller support — the single biggest factor in whether your cuts stay square. Cheap saws let the blade lean
• Variable speed — slow for metal and plastic, fast for wood. Running plastic too fast melts it back together behind the blade
• Base plate tilt — for bevel cuts, if you need them

Power in watts matters less here than on most tools. Blade guidance and build quality decide cut quality.

Blades matter more than the saw

More than almost any other tool, the blade is the jigsaw. The right blade in a $112 saw beats the wrong blade in a $400 one.

• Coarse, few teeth — fast rough cuts in timber
• Fine, many teeth — clean cuts in plywood, laminate and anything visible
• Down-cutting teeth — cut on the downstroke so the top face stays splinter-free. Use these on laminate worktops and veneered board
• Metal blades — very fine teeth, used at low speed

T-shank is the near-universal fitting now. Browse jigsaw blades — over 50 types in stock, and they are a few dollars each.

Three to buy

• Cheapest sensible option — Makita M4301B corded, $112.63. Makita's value line. Does household work properly.
• Best all-rounder — Bosch GST 750 Professional, 520W, $122. Bosch are particularly good at jigsaws, and this is a real professional tool at a near-DIY price.
• If you own Makita 18V — Makita DJV186 cordless, from $111.42. Brushless, barrel grip, and no cable snagging on a curved cut.

See all saws in stock, or try them at our Geylang showroom.

Three techniques that fix most bad cuts

Let the saw come up to speed before it touches the work. Starting a jigsaw against the material chips the edge and bends the blade.

Do not push. Guide it and let the blade cut. Forcing a jigsaw makes it wander and cut out of square — the commonest complaint about these saws, and almost always the operator rather than the tool.

Cut on the waste side of the line, and support the work close to the cut. An unsupported panel vibrates, and vibration is what produces a ragged edge.

For a cut-out in the middle of a panel — a sink, a socket — drill a hole in the waste area first and start the blade in that.

Working out what to buy first for a new flat? Our first toolkit guide covers the order to buy things in, and the cordless drill guide covers the tool most people need before this one.