Thousands of woodworking tools dominate the woodworking industry and keep it working- saws, nails, nailers, hammers, varnish finishes, drills and what not. Each one of it classified further into subcategories, making it even more complex for a novice woodworker to select the correct and ideal tool for his workshop.

Well, today we will widen our discussion on the two basic as well as very identical saws the saber saw and the jigsaw. So let’s go ahead and have a brief discussion on Saber saw vs. Jigsaw.

GENERAL OVERVIEW- SABER SAW VS. JIGSAW

Saber Saw vs. Jigsaw – What’s The Real Difference?

Well, both sabers saw as well as the jigsaw refers to an almost similar or the same tool named differently in different countries as well as regions. So, why did two names even come up? Well, this can only be answered by tool history, tracked back to the 1800’s.

When nearly in the same decade two tools came into being in two different regions and were named differently even though referring to the same tool. This distinction in name still continues with certain added distinguishing features later.

A saber saw as well as a Jigsaw are basically handheld, electric saws with thin blades that are used to cut through scrolls as well as other odd and none linearly shaped stock.And some sly competing companies raised the confusion even more by introducing a new term the“Saber jigsaw”.

The Jigsaws come down from an ever modified, revised version of a tool which was basically used for scrolling i.e. it was used for cutting scrolls or nonlinearly shaped stock. These tools were also called as the scroll saws, nowadays these tools are actually and most exclusively named as the “scroll saws” originating from the task of scrolling.

Well, it so happened that in the late 1940’s a Swiss company manufactured a portable, as well as handheld version of the initial “scroll, saw “. Well, this tool was primarily named the Lest jigsaw.

Then the legacy of the compatible structure and the convenient style of the tool popularized and was manufactured and used worldwide and it came to be known as “?Jigsaw?”.

As decades passed the basic jigsaw or the tool initially named as the saber jigsaw, was modified and under one such modification new, bigger and thicker blades could be attached to the saw. These blades were basically designed as such to cut through steel and were named the “saber blade “.

And then it so happened that the basic structure of the saber jigsaw with big and thick blades came to be known as the “saber saw”.Saber saw as discussed above differs from a jigsaw with respect to the handle, along with the approach of usage mentioned.

A saber saw lacks the sole plate in a jigsaw reducing its controllability significantly.

?Advantages Saber Saw vs. Jigsaw

JIGSAW

• Jigsaws can go cordless as well while making those elaborate cuts
• Changing blades in a jigsaw is very easily
• They are lightweight and slim after they went several modifications since they came into being
• Jigsaws are very kid friendly. Kids of various ages can use this with a bit of adult supervision, as it rests on the material being worked on and doesn’t need to be held by a grown up. This tool can also be handled very safely even by kids, and are the first power tools to be introduced to a kid of any age.
• Jigsaws are very easy to use and don’t need to be mastered as such.
• Jigsaws don’t take up much space and can be installed in any workshop.

Saber Saw

• Saber saw finds an advantage over a jigsaw only while cutting tight crevices into a wood stock along with being handy, as most of the saber saw models are cordless.