How to Quickly Cut Metal Using a Jigsaw

How to cut metal with a Jigsaw is mainly down to the correct choice of machine and your choice of blade.

First things first, if you’re going to cut any sort of metal using a jigsaw you need to make sure you’re using the correct blade. This isn’t hard to do and we’ve produced a guide to choosing the correct type of jigsaw blade.

For the purposes of this guide, however, we’ll be focusing on metal and the fastest way to cut it using a jigsaw. The aim of this guide is to help you decided whether a metal cutting jigsaw is ideal for you. See below for our video demo.

Jigsaws are increasingly being used for cutting harder materials, metal in particular. Obviously, though, cutting metal requires not only the correct blade, but a jigsaw with the power needed to perform the cut accurately and safely.

Bosch are particularly proud of the latest addition to their stable of jigsaws. Click here to watch our overview of Bosch’s jigsaw offerings. When Bosch bring a new jigsaw to market, it’s worth paying attention, if for no other reason than the company invented the concept.

Most jigsaws are designed for cutting multiple materials, however the new Bosch GST25 M is specifically designed for cutting metal. What have Bosch built into it that sets it apart for this function?

Short Stroke Length

The blade in the GST 25M will only travel 24mm, this in turn reduces vibration, one of the key factors that makes cutting metal with a jigsaw so tricky. The last thing you want when cutting metal is the vibration from the blade causing the saw to jump all over the place. Shorter stroke length equates to greater control, less vibration.

Powerful Motor

You’re asking a lot of any jigsaw when cutting through thick metal. The GST25 M is kitted out with a 670W motor that will allow you to cut through pieces of aluminium up to 25mm thick, and steel up to 15mm thick.

Intelligence

Bosch have built in Constant Electronics which motor the perfomance of the motor while you cut, protecting the jigsaw from burning out or jamming.

Pendulum Action

Click here to read our guide to why pendulum action in a jigsaw is so important. However, Bosch have re-imagined this for the GST25 M due to the type of cuts it’s designed to perform. It only has 2 stages of pendulum action; on or off. This insures you’ll always have the option to work fast and with great control while you cut as the pendulum action has been mechanically optimised for metal.

How Does it Perform?

Obviously it’s good to see a tool like the Bosch GST25 M in action, particularly against another jigsaw. For this test we’re comparing the GST25 M with the excellent Bosch GST140 (see it in action here). We fitted the same metal cutting blade in both jigsaws, and set both to pendulum action 1.

The task was to cut through a piece of steel plate of around 3mm thick to find out which jigsaw could do it the fastest.

Click to watch the outcome on Toolstop TV

What are your thoughts on the outcome? Would you agree that if you cut metal regularly with a jigsaw, switching up to the new Bosch GST25 M could be a time and money saver? Let us know in the comments!

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