As woodworking has certain demands when it comes to the act of shaping a piece of wood, the tools of the trade are somewhat calibrated to coincide in fulfilling those demands.

When it comes to cutting arbitrary curves, the jig saw comes to stage.

Jig saws come to be very useful when it comes to the creation of custom shapes. Usually needed for artistic woodworking excursions, arbitrary curves are no problem for jig saws, which are capable of “tracing over” a stenciled design, aiding in shaping wood to whatever form they should be shaped to.

Usually used on wood, jig saws can also be used on certain light metals, as well as plastics, but are commonly used in wood. They come in two types; motorized and manual. The manual class of jig saws are basically “brute force” powered saws, which actually is the template concept for the motorized ones. With motorized jig saws, the manual aspect of a manual jig saw is replaced by a motor, which actually lessens the work.

The first generation of jig saws consisted of a handle which is connected to a small thin blade. They are manually powered, of course. Their purpose has always been intended to more artistic cuts, different from a regular saw which cuts in a straight line, and is useful only cutting pieces off lengths of wood.

Jig saws, in the sense of their purpose, hold a similar purpose as a chisel or a rasp, but are actually much faster in getting things done.

One beautiful feature with jig saws, powered or not, is that they can be used in making a variety of cuts, not just for making custom shapes. Be they straight cuts, curved cuts, or miter cuts, jig saws can easily cut away.

In the realm of powered jig saws, Bosch is among the more popular brands in the world. The company is officially named Robert Bosch GmbH, and was founded in 1886 in Stuttgart, Germany. A producer of consumer goods, Bosch’s products range from various home appliances to power tools, where powered jig saws stand as the flagship power tool.

Another popular brand is Black & Decker. Founded by S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker in 1910, the brand is known for the invention of portable power tools. The brand’s main highlight would be obtaining a patent for a pistol grip with trigger switch hand-held drill in 1917.

There are more jig saw brands out there too, each with their own advantages and features.

The bottom line is, if shaping wood is what you have to do, a jig saw would be your best tool for the job.