Some especially old jigsaws take a U shank blade with an additional hole in it, and unless you can modify a new blade to fit, these are becoming much harder to replace. However, U shank blades can still be easily found for the jigsaws that take them, and in fact Ryobi make a set of blades which incorporate both shanks вЂ“ which could be an ideal starting point if youвЂ™ve found an old jigsaw and have no idea what type it takes. T shank blades have become much more common over time and chances are this is what youвЂ™ll need, especially if your machine was manufactured in recent memory. OK, so before you fit anything youвЂ™ll ideally want to have worked out whether your jigsaw takes T shank or U shank blades (which are identified by the shape of the end that goes into the machine and can be seen on the accompanying picture). Shank Type T Shank, U Shank & Ryobi Universal Shank blades. Therefore to make it a bit easier to find the right accessories for your requirements, weвЂ™ve compiled this quick guide to choosing jigsaw blades in which weвЂ™ll go over some of the most commonly required types. However, there are a huge variety of options on the market and this abundance of choice can be a bit bewildering for inexperienced users.

A good machine can be half the battle when it comes to achieving satisfactory cuts with a jigsaw but youвЂ™re still going to be fighting an uphill struggle if you have the wrong blade for the job installed in it.

Jigsaw blade sizes