I've searched the forum and haven't found anyone mentioning this... I found a Bosch T313AW jigsaw blade at Menards that cuts smooth through Homasote and barely leaves any dust! I had to buy a 3 pack but I'm really impressed with these blades.
Don
Disclaimer: I do not have a financial stake in either Menards or Bosch.
I've used a set and can confirm that they do, indeed, make a nice smooth cut and raise little dust.
I have used a jigsaw knife blade that I purchased at Sears many years ago. It has no teeth and no dust. It was not a Sears blade (orange blister pack as I recall). I think I could track down the part number if someone needed it
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
SAFDChief2I found a Bosch T313AW jigsaw blade at Menards that cuts smooth through Homasote and barely leaves any dust! I had to buy a 3 pack but I'm really impressed with these blades.
Hi Don:
Same experience here with our club's new layout using the Bosch blades. We used the same blades to cut 3/4" plywood and they worked great there too.
I think the cautions about how messy Homasote is to cut come from the era before we had 'hollow ground' or 'taper ground' saw blades. The older blades had a set to the teeth which naturally tore at the material. In other words, the teeth were bent to the outside thereby exposing the pointy end of the teeth. The newer taper ground blades are essentially smooth on the sides so there is almost no tearing, hence little dust. They slice instead of tear the wood fiber.
My favourite radial arm saw blade is also hollow ground. It cuts so smoothly that in some cases I had to rough up the surface in order to glue it properly. However, beware of taking a hollow ground blade to a blade sharpener who doesn't know what they are dealing with. If they try to put a set to the teeth they will ruin the blade.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
PEDI have used a jigsaw knife blade that I purchased at Sears many years ago.
Hi Paul:
I looked for literally weeks before I could find the knife edged blades. I finally found one package of NOS blades in the orange blister pack on eBay. Our club's President had used those exact blades to do his Homasote and they did an incredible job, except that they were slow and they kept breaking. The club decided to try the Bosch blades that the OP mentions and they worked almost as well in terms of the smoothness of the cuts, but they were much faster and did not break.