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In 1947, an employee of Bosch Power Tools and Accessories invented the Jigsaw by replacing a needle in his wife’s sewing machine with a makeshift saw blade. The rest, as they say, is history.

Move forward 60 years and the company is coming up on a milestone. Bosch is about to produce its 4 billionth jigsaw blade. If laid end-to-end, that’s enough blades to circle the earth not once, but 10 times. That’s a lot of blades.

More important, along the way Bosch has introduced a number of innovations to jigsaw blades. One such innovation is the Progressor�® blade. It has a patented design where the number of teeth per inch increases as you move up the blades toward the saw. The larger teeth near the bottom end of the blade are more aggressive for cutting thick stock, while teeth at the center of the blade are ground for speed of cut and to produce a clean cut. The teeth nearest the saw are finer for cutting thin stock.

I’ve used these blades for years and never recognized the design. One blade, multiple uses. That’s a money-saving use of blades.

In addition, Bosch introduced the first 7″-long jigsaw blade for cutting sandwiched , think laminated veneer lumber , or thick stock. There have been times when I looked for something to cut a piece of 16/4 stock for roughing out bedpost material. I used a circular saw and had to flip the stock and make two cuts. I should have had a T744D blade around the shop.

Another development from Bosch centers on packaging — not how the blades are put into  individual packs, but the color-coding system for selecting jigsaw blades. Choose blue for metal, white for all-purpose, black for specialty blades and gray for wood.

To celebrate its 4-billionth blade, Bosch Power Tools and Accessories is introducing a limited edition 12-piece woodworkers jigsaw blade set (shown at left). This anniversary set includes the most popular blades and comes in a one-of-a-kind aluminum case with magnetic blade storage (the top photo is the view when opened). If you’re a jigsaw aficionado or a collector of saw blades, you’ll want to get this set. Look for it at Amazon.com. (Click here)

As I wrote earlier, I was amazed as I read about the Progressor blades. I’m sure there are other facts that will amaze us as well. Know any interesting tidbits about jigsaw blades? If so, post a comment and tell us.

, Glen D. Huey


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Showing 9 comments
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  • Chris C.

    Anyone have any experience with how a 7" long
    blade will actually cut? For a small tool, that puts
    a great deal of the blade far away from the support
    that prevents the blade from flopping around.

    Also, the variable teeth idea must be of interest
    to other vendors: porter cable has a 10" circular
    saw blade that uses the same idea. I have not tried
    it out, but maybe somebody else who has can report on it. ??
    It is a thin kerf blad, which I hate, buy maybe it works
    well.

    Chris

  • End Mill Holders

    Pretty interesting the part about the creation of the jigsaw using a sewing machine. I bet after reading that a lot of guys went and tried the same thing! Nice jigsaw blades though!

  • Val Ingraham

    Very interesting. Who woulda thunk??? I have also wished I had one of the long blades in my shop on many occassions. Perhaps now I’ll get one, and not just the big ones you see so often.

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