Maker builds a finger joint cutter from glued-together jigsaw blades

[Georgia_77]

A clever woodworking hack turns a cheap jigsaw into a dedicated joint cutter. Hackaday reports on a project by a maker called bluesyann, shared on Instructables, that mounts a budget jigsaw as a fixed cutting tool

The trick is an extra wide blade, made by epoxying pieces of three jigsaw blades together, two of which had snapped. That lets the tool cut each notch of a finger joint in a single pass

A 3D printed jig sets the spacing by indexing each new notch on the last one cut, so the joints stay even. The materials are scrap wood, common hardware, epoxy and the printed jig, though some trial and error is needed

Readers in the comments questioned whether the epoxy will survive the heat from cutting, suggesting brazing instead, or pointed out that a stacked dado set on a table saw is the usual method. Both are fair points from experienced woodworkers

Reusing broken blades is a lovely example of thrifty maker thinking. Finger joints look great on boxes and drawers, and a dedicated tool makes them much quicker to cut. Whether the epoxy holds up over time will be the real test

Would you build a tool like this? And what is your favourite woodworking joint to make?

Finger Joint Cutter Uses A Jigsaw Blade, But Not As We Know Ithackaday.com