All kinds of plywood and wood crafts made by skilled craftsmen are highly valued all over the world, causing everyone to admire. Undoubtedly, carving is a creativity and an art, but you can certainly master it with an effort and constantly honing your skills. This optimal hobby of wood and plywood will require you not too much a large number free time and equipment, not very expensive. Of course, this is plywood carving with jigsaws!
Openwork carving
It is rapidly gaining its popularity: who doesn’t want to make an excellent piece of decoration with his own hands, decorating his home, furniture, creating an artistic entourage! Cut products of different thicknesses are optimally integrated into many existing decor styles, and we get, for example, frames for photo cards with ornaments, words, individual letters, curly shelves carved with a jigsaw on plywood. In addition, such creativity is an action that is available to everyone who is interested in the process, even a beginner. You just need to get an idea of how it works. And you can start creating!
It's quite easy to work with a hand jigsaw
Video where to start:
Choose this material made of wood for the following reasons:
- moisture resistant;
- temperature drops do not have a negative impact;
- fairly low cost;
- ease of training in cutting with a jigsaw;
- low weight of products.
It is also necessary to choose plywood of the 1st and 2nd grades for crafts. The rest are not suitable for creativity: there are cracks with knots and chips on the surfaces (perhaps they can be used for internal substrates). Birch plywood (3-10 mm thick) is most suitable for cutting.
At the present time, this material is divided into a fairly large number of subspecies - each for specific purposes.
- Specialists and folk craftsmen it is advised to use a sheet made with urea-formaldehyde composition. Such material is marked with "FC". This kind of plywood can be bought "clean" or coated, for example, with varnish. It is most convenient to transfer the drawing to unprocessed plywood sheets for cutting with a jigsaw.
- Plywood marked "FOF" is intended for the production of furniture, and more often it is produced over 12 millimeters in thickness.
- The FB brand was originally developed as a boat material, therefore its cost is high (but if it is possible to use it, then it is suitable for cutting with a jigsaw).
- But "FSF" masters do not recommend buying. Having an attractive appearance purely outwardly, it is toxic, since it is made with the participation of a composition of phenolic resins.
Available grades of working material
Types of plywood carving
It is subdivided into:
- Openwork,
- Patterned, on a painted plywood sheet,
- Sawing,
- combined method.
What additional materials and tools will be needed
- Stencils and drawings with pictures for work. They can be invented by yourself or copied on the web.
- A carbon copy to translate patterns and lines according to the drawing;
- Glass paper and emery paper, a set of files - for grinding parts;
- Joiner's (optionally casein) composition to glue parts;
- Transparent varnish - for covering;
- To make holes inside the material for threading the blade - a drill and an awl.
- Before starting work on sawing with a jigsaw, carefully sand the material with glass paper, and only then translate the patterns according to the drawing.
- Transfer the elongated shapes of the drawings with narrow elements to plywood so that they are located along the fibers of the "face" of the material.
Artistic cutting with a jigsaw: drawing, stencil and work
Get to know the devices
A jigsaw is a toolkit that is designed to work on different contours. The device includes a blade equipped with teeth, small enough to cut the working material, practically without forming burrs and chips.
Manual
The "founder" of the genus, of course, is a hand-held jigsaw. Everything ingenious is simple: a metal U-shaped arc, and a working blade is stretched between the ends, which is fixed with clamps. They hold the saws during work, with the help of them, its tension is also regulated. The handle for comfortable work is located on one side of the frame. The tool clamps can be rotated, thus creating a different plane for work, providing opportunities for carving plywood with a jigsaw of increased complexity.
- When creating with manual device maximum care must be taken: the design is rather fragile, and with intense pressure the blade sometimes breaks and needs to be replaced. Every novice craftsman should stock up on additional working files.
- When working with a jigsaw, it is convenient to use an auxiliary board: it protects the table as well, and solves problems in the convenient location of the plywood blank.
Jigsaws
This device works with electricity. It is a body where the mechanism is located, and the control handle is also located there. The saw element is located at the bottom of the instrument at the front. The blade is protected, and this allows you to cut along the contour very evenly, without deviations. Professional models of equipment have many attachments that greatly facilitate the process of work, for example, leveling the edge of the material. Jigsaw blades can also have teeth that differ in shape and size. They should be selected in accordance with the material for the file, so that damage to the plywood sheets does not come out during operation.
- Electric household jigsaws for non-production purposes, as a rule, low power(from 350 to 500 W). For beginners, this is the most common option when you are just learning to cut crafts and figures from plywood (usually of small thickness). It is quite safe to work with such a device, especially when it is equipped with protection.
- The professional jigsaw is intended for industrial purposes, has a power of more than 700 W, high speed and cutting accuracy. It can cut sheets over 10 cm thick, aluminum, thin steel.
Video: a simple jigsaw:
Fraser
Sometimes this device is used for threading. It is a kind of special hand tool, with the assistance of which in living conditions you can perform different types of woodwork and plywood. However, a certain skill is required to work with it; on the other hand, craftsmen who deftly handle this equipment can create the most real highly artistic masterpieces of folk art.
Cooking a stencil
Drawings for creative works come in different sizes, depending on the scale of the manufactured products. For example, for diagrams of a shelf or a piece of furniture, for a volumetric toy, you should take a sheet of Whatman paper in A1 format, a roll of wallpaper left after repair may also work, and for small figures (such as souvenirs) we take office paper (A4 or A3 format).
On the surface of the paper with a marker or pencil, draw the contours of the future object, adhering to the specified dimensions. The templates are openly available in a wide range, we choose the appropriate one (for beginners, as a rule, not too complicated). Or you can come up with your own options for cutting with a jigsaw and then transfer it to a paper base.
Then we transfer the images to the surface of the working material (plywood, boards). To do this, cut out a shape out of paper, apply it to the plywood and carefully trace around the contour with a pencil. The lines must be precise and straight. Correct if necessary by erasing with an eraser.
The contours are applied "from the rear" of the material, so that the remnants of the drawing are not noticeable on the finished form. Internal areas can also be shaded so as not to cut off an extra piece, thereby denoting an inviolable fragment.
Examples of drawings
Snowflake
How to carve plywood
Working with the device will not be difficult if you properly prepare for the creative process.
- The work area must have good lighting;
- The work plane must be protected from damage. You can, for example, lay a plywood sheet or cover it with film;
- Everything the right tools and spare blades should be prepared in advance. And you can start.
The first step should start by drawing the inner outline of the drawing or drawing. For this, slots should be made into which the blades of the device will be inserted. Usually, when cutting large contours, there is no problem, but in small residues, working with a jigsaw from the inside can cause chips, burrs or dissections. You should act very carefully.
Jigsaw work
How to saw with a hand jigsaw
- Secure the piece of plywood with one hand and hold the cutter by the handle with the other.
- Begin to move along the marked contours, wielding the jigsaw up / down. This should be done around the perimeter of the drawing.
Hand jigsaw
As you can see, there is nothing super complicated in this work. And you will acquire the most real creative hobby, learning how to manage these devices.
How to cut plywood with a jigsaw
Sawing with an electric or hand jigsaw on plywood is undoubtedly a creative process. And you can create with your own hands decorative items different directions: from fairy-tale characters from cartoons for children to decorations for furniture and home.
Photo gallery of examples of work
How to work with a hand jigsaw
In this lesson, we will show you the basics of working with a conventional hand-held jigsaw. Of course, a jigsaw can also be electric, but it costs a lot of money, and working on it is already a pursuit of speed, and not a calm, moderate creation of beauty.
For work, we need: a hand jigsaw, a file, a table stand, a clamp for attaching the table stand, an awl, a pencil, two paper clips, a sheet of tracing paper, a sheet of carbon paper, sandpaper and, of course, a piece of plywood of the required size. We will cut out a Christmas tree, in this work, in addition to the cutting technique, we will also master the technique of assembling plywood parts into a three-dimensional shape of a Christmas tree and the easiest way to finish the finished product using ordinary watercolor paint.
The size of the plywood should correspond to the pattern you have chosen, try to arrange the cut parts more compactly, tighter to each other, since everything that remains after sawing, as a rule, can no longer be used in further work because of its fragility. And so we clean the selected piece of plywood with sandpaper, trying to drive it along the fibers, since the transverse scratches will be strongly visible on the finished product and it is very difficult to remove them later, and the processed plywood looks velvety and soft.
The sandpaper should be of medium grit so that it will scratch the plywood less.
Fasten the tracing paper sheet and the drawing with clamps, then copy the drawing onto the tracing paper with a pencil. This operation is necessary in order not to damage the original drawing when transferring it to plywood.
It should be noted right away that for modern level distribution and availability of a copying machine, with large-scale and complex drawings for cutting it is good to use a copy machine and the necessary drawing just needs to be copied onto a blank sheet of paper and from it the drawing is then transferred to plywood. The advantage of this method is also that it is quite easy to enlarge or reduce the drawing selected for work. We put tracing paper with a drawing on plywood and with a pencil, through a carbon copy we transfer it to the front side of it.
Having transferred the entire drawing to plywood, we carefully check whether all the lines of the drawing are clearly visible on the plywood.
At the next stage, it is very important to check the future nodes of the interconnection of the parts of the herringbone. To do this, a piece of plywood of the same thickness that we are using needs to be attached to the drawn groove of the Christmas tree part and make sure that it fits exactly in the drawn borders. If the dimensions of the groove and the thickness of the plywood do not match, the width of the groove is adjusted - it is drawn equal to the thickness of the plywood used. Otherwise, when assembling finished parts they will dangle or they will simply not fit into each other. This is how all the grooves in all drawings of the parts are checked.
We take the stand and insert its clamp into the central hole.
We attach the stand with a clamp to the edge of the table, windowsill or workbench.
If your file is not inserted into the jigsaw, then we do it in the following sequence. We loosen the lamb of the lower clamp of the jigsaw (after turning the handle down to the working position). Insert the file into the lower clamp.
The direction of the saw teeth should be as shown in figure "b" - this is very important.
Then, having loosened the lamb of the upper clamp, we insert it into it top end saws and putting the jigsaw on a stand, press on it with effort and screw the lamb tightly. The file should be taut. But excessive tension can cause the file to break if curly sawing, the weak tension of the file will also lead to the same. So everything should be in moderation.
The position of the body when cutting should be as shown in the figure.
When cutting with a jigsaw, you need to smoothly move your hand up and down, up and down, observing the position of the saw so that it does not tilt from the vertical position. When cutting in a curved line, turn the plywood rather than the jigsaw while sawing to reduce the chance of the file breaking.
When cutting sharp corners, move the file in place, gradually turning the plywood.
You should have a free space - a hole in which the file will turn, now continue to cut in the desired direction.
Make free space for turning the file on the part of the plywood that will be thrown away and you will have sharp corners without much difficulty.
After the entire contour of the drawing has been cut out, the sawn out part can be freely removed from the plywood.
Now, so as not to break the file, insert it into the cut from which the part began to be cut and smoothly moving the jigsaw up and down, but only pull it out of the plywood with the back of the file.
Saw out the second piece of the Christmas tree in the same way.
Sand the resulting parts with sandpaper.
Now we have two parts of the herringbone ready for assembly.
We collect them into one structure.
Now let's paint the Christmas tree with watercolors or gouache.
All our Christmas tree is ready.
And at the end of the lesson, we will show you the sequence of cutting the inner holes in detail. Let's say we need to cut out a part of the circle.
In the middle of the part to be removed, pierce a hole with an awl. Do not try to make a hole close to the drawn line, as this can cause the plywood to chip off, which will be rather ugly.
Having loosened the upper clamp of the jigsaw, and having released the file, we introduce its upper end from the bottom into the punctured hole.
Clamp the file into the upper clamp of the jigsaw and cut out the part of the picture to be removed.
Then we release the file from the upper clamp again. And we repeat this operation with each inner hole of the pattern.
The herringbone turned out to be stable and quite strong, for greater stability, the abutting parts of the parts can be coated with some kind of glue that does not leave marks on the tree - this is PVA glue, carpentry or casein.
The art of sawing with a jigsaw has been familiar to many since school. Anyone can master such an activity, regardless of artistic ability, and this is probably his main advantage.
In addition, having mastered some skills with a jigsaw, you can create simply magnificent carved decorations that will serve to decorate the interior of the premises or the facade of the house.
Jigsaw sawing: tools
The first thing you need to cut out figures from plywood with your own hands is a jigsaw.
Such a tool on the domestic market is presented quite extensively and in several main forms:
- Manual. A tool familiar to many from the lessons of labor at school. As the name suggests, all sawing work will need to be done manually. The best choice to create small gizmos or teach children the skills of this exciting process;
- Electric. It works much faster than a manual one, but at the same time, it has a significant weight (1-3 kg), and therefore it is rather inconvenient to keep it "on weight". Yes, and it will not be possible to create a thin pattern, since the saw blade is too large for such jewelry work;
Advice. If the choice fell on electric tool, then you need to very carefully perform all the work, otherwise you can get an uneven cut line.
Children should not be trusted at all to work with such a tool, because the probability of injury is high.
- Stationary. The only drawback of such a tool is its price - it is much higher than that of an electric or manual device. Nevertheless, the device is very convenient for the cutter, it does not need to be held on weight, and the cutting line, although it will turn out to be rougher than that of a manual "colleague", but still the speed of work is several times higher.
The choice of one or another tool for creating various designs from wood raw materials depends only on the amount of work and personal preferences of the master himself. If, for example, working with a jigsaw on plywood is just a hobby, then a hand tool will be enough.
Advice: If such an activity brings money and is put on stream, then you simply cannot do without an electric or stationary "assistant".
Preparation of raw materials and stencils
For those people who have skillful hands and extensive experience with the tool, cutting out of plywood with a jigsaw will not be difficult. To begin with, you will need to take a piece of material on which the drawing will be applied, sand it to a smooth surface with fine sandpaper.
After such preparation, it will be enough to apply the desired drawing and start the process itself. 
All that needs to be done after downloading the drawing is to print it, transfer it to the sheet (first you need to prepare it with sandpaper) and start working with the tool along the contour.
Wood sawing process: features
The very process of creating decorative wood pieces is even simpler than drawing a pattern onto a sheet of material. It is enough just to first insert the file into the previously made hole (for this you can use a hand brace or an electric drill) and start working along the drawn contour. 
Moreover, if the work is performed hand tool, then all movements must be smooth, without jerks, otherwise you can simply break the fragile jigsaw file.
If everything is done correctly, then in the end you can get a uniquely beautiful drawing, transferred exactly to the material, a detail that can advantageously decorate any room or building facade.
Additional finishing
To make a product created from a sheet of material using a jigsaw look even more beautiful and original, it can be additionally finished. To begin with, you should sand all surfaces with sandpaper, eliminating all small irregularities and roughness.
After that, you can varnish or stain the entire surface of the plywood product, cover it with paint or other finishing materials. 
It should be noted that cutting with a jigsaw from plywood allows you to get not only solid, but also prefabricated structures. In the latter case final finishing will also be accompanied by the connection of several elements together using special glue or tattered nails.
The main thing in the process of creating a prefabricated product from several parts, even in the process of work, is to pay special attention to the cutting line, it should be located so that the groove is slightly smaller than always.
Tip: Several plywood parts cut with a jigsaw, after completing work with the tool, it is important to "fit" and properly sanded with sandpaper.
Only then can we guarantee high quality surfaces and the most attractive appearance of the finished product.
Output
There is nothing complicated in the process of creating figures from plywood - you just need to pick up a jigsaw, prepare the material and get started. In the video presented in this article, you will find additional information on this topic.
Similar materials
First of all, you should correctly organize the workspace. Despite the seeming formality, this is a very important condition. A properly equipped place provides not only comfort and convenience, which is important for many hours of work with a manual jigsaw, but also directly affects the quality of the project being implemented.
A special table-machine is used as a persistent structure, for which the name "dovetail" is stuck. It is a small rectangular board with a wedge-shaped cut that turns into the working field for sawing. The dovetail is attached to the edge of a table or workbench with a clamp.
They work with a manual jigsaw while sitting or standing, placing the workpiece for cutting at a level of 30-40 cm from the eyes. The light source is placed at the front at an angle to the work plane. Compliance with these rules will allow you to control the cutting line as accurately as possible, thereby improving the quality of the cut project.
Which jigsaw to choose?
Despite the simplicity of their design, modern hand jigsaws differ in a number of features that should be paid attention to when choosing. From models with a frame made of sheet iron it is better to refuse by choosing a jigsaw made of a metal tube. This option provides better blade tension and eliminates skewing, so that the file will not "go away" during operation.
The saw is fixed in the frame by tightening the upper and lower wing nuts. When choosing a jigsaw, pay attention that it is equipped with lambs made of high-quality steel with wide ears. This will significantly increase the usability of the tool in the process.
How to properly prepare the tool for work?
The saw in the jigsaw is fixed strictly vertically, with the teeth down. The canvas must be taut. The degree of tension is adjusted by squeezing the frame: the tool is pressed against the edge of the table or squeezed by hand, after which the lambs are tightened, if necessary, tightening them with pliers. When straightened, the frame will maintain proper blade tension.
Small files with a large number of teeth per inch are used to cut small parts, shapes with sharp contours and complex patterns on wood with a hand jigsaw. They do not jam when cornering, creating a thin, neat cut without chipping. To create large plywood products and long straight cuts, blades with large teeth are used, which saw an order of magnitude faster.
Let's get to the point. How to cut with a jigsaw from plywood and wood?
To get an accurate and accurate cutting line, a number of basic rules should be followed:
- The hand with the jigsaw should only perform vertical movements.
- Movements up and down are performed without sudden jerks and with maximum amplitude in order to use the entire working length of the blade.
- The second hand in the process of sawing smoothly unfolds and moves the workpiece.
- There is no need to press on the workpiece with a file and exert lateral pressure on the blade.
- Sawing only occurs when the saw is moving from top to bottom, so the reverse movement should be carried out freely without pressure.
Working with a hand jigsaw, it is not led along the line of the pattern, but along the inner side of the contour, since even the thinnest blade leaves a cut, the width of which should be taken into account. This is especially important when cutting products with precise fit of elements, for example, or.
When you are finished, remember to loosen one of the clamps so that the jigsaw frame does not lose its elasticity.
What about practicing basic techniques?
The most intricate patterns are always based on a number of basic shapes and elements, having worked out which you will be prepared for execution. complex projects... It is advisable to do this on thin plywood up to 3 mm thick.
Obtuse and right angles : the jigsaw moves smoothly without pressing on the workpiece, as if making an idle run; at this time, the second hand slowly turns the wooden workpiece to the desired angle.
Inner circular contour : for this, a small hole is drilled in the inner part of the figure through which the file is passed. When cutting a circle, the cutting line is drawn along the inner contour of the pattern. The tool stroke should be of medium intensity; the workpiece unfolds in proportion to the movements of the jigsaw.
Oval outline : When sawing such a shape, increase the jigsaw stroke on steep sections, turning the workpiece in this place faster.
Sharp corners: a neat sharp corner without chips or other defects is obtained by converging two cuts.
Advice! When cutting out complex openwork patterns, start work from the center of the wooden blank, evenly shifting to the periphery. This will greatly simplify the cutting process and avoid breaking fragile work at the finishing stage.
You felt the jigsaw well, achieved a smooth ride and kept a neat cutting line, but then the movement of the tool becomes difficult and the file wedges in the workpiece. This is a typical situation when using a hand-held jigsaw to carve on plywood. It happens for the following reasons:
- Overheating of the saw blade - during prolonged use, the blade expands due to heating. To avoid such situations, take short breaks or periodically wipe the canvas with a damp cloth.
- Features of a wooden blank. The movement of the jigsaw can be difficult due to the fact that the file ran into a denser area: a knot, a lump of glue in plywood, etc.
- On long cuts, the saw can be clamped between two nearly separated pieces of plywood. You can continue cutting comfortably by securing the split ends with a clothespin.
What kind of plywood is needed for cutting with a jigsaw?
Practice shows that best material for work with a manual jigsaw - birch plywood with a thickness of 2 to 8 mm. It is affordable, easy to handle and highly durable.
To create fine details or "dense" openwork pattern it is more appropriate to use three-layer plywood up to 3 mm thick. It is easy to cut and is quite sturdy. The likelihood that you ruin the cut curl with the next seizing of the canvas is significantly lower.
When choosing material for crafts, pay attention to the fact that the plywood is even and without a lot of knots. Examine the end face for the presence of air chambers, their presence indicates an uneven application of glue. It is better to refuse such low-grade plywood, otherwise you cannot avoid a large number of chips that will spoil appearance products.
What if you use wood blanks?
For all its practicality, plywood does not have such an expressive texture as a board. When sawing projects from planks, you can use these advantages: play on the difference in colors and shades, the orientation of the wood fibers (as in intarsia), etc. Wood crafts have a more attractive end (without a flaky structure like plywood) and are much easier to process with a finishing compound.
For cutting with a hand jigsaw, workpieces from soft and hard rocks with a thickness of up to 10 mm are used. When choosing material, give preference to tangentially cut boards. It is not recommended to use radial cut blanks, because they have paralleled annual rings that, due to their hardness, will pull the jigsaw away when sawing.
What to do if chips are constantly appearing?
The number and sizes of chips depend on the type of plywood used, the quality of the blade and how correctly the master cuts. Sawing with a manual jigsaw without chips will help a few tips and professional tricks:
- using low-quality plywood that is prone to chips, cut more intensively, setting blades with a fine tooth;
- use a reverse (reverse) tooth file designed to minimize chipping.
- glue the cutting lines on the back with tape or masking tape;
- moisten the back of the workpiece.
How to transfer a diagram to a piece of wood?
There are several convenient options transferring the printed drawing to a wooden base:
- using carbon paper and redrawing the template by hand;
- gluing the sheet onto double-sided tape;
- gluing the picture onto the glue, the remnants of which are rubbed with sandpaper at the stage of finishing.
All photos from the article
Historically, the mass production of plywood dates back to the early nineteenth century. And since this material at that time was produced exclusively for decorating and manufacturing furniture, practically at the same time, such a type of craft appeared as with your own hands.
For more than 2 centuries, this art form has not lost its relevance. It is loved for its simplicity and the end product of decent quality.
By and large, anyone, regardless of gender and age, can practice this art form. A huge plus is the lack of serious financial investments.
Besides the big own desire you only need a sheet of plywood, the jigsaw itself and stencils or, as they are also called by the masters, drawings for artistic cutting with a plywood jigsaw.
Preparation for work
Despite the seeming simplicity of this type of creativity, it should be taken seriously. Success here largely depends on how carefully you prepare. Namely, you will select and process a plywood sheet and select the drawings that are suitable for your product that you can cut out of plywood with a jigsaw.
Choosing a quality sheet
Now plywood is divided into many types, each of them was developed for specific purposes. And strange as it may sound, not every material is safe to work with.
Speaking about artistic cutting, it should be remembered that during work you will inevitably breathe fine dust and fumes from plywood, and on this moment they are not always safe.
- Experienced craftsmen prefer to work with sheets made on the basis of urea-formaldehyde compounds, they can be easily recognized by the first letters of the "FC" marking... Such plywood may already come with decorative coating such as varnish or have a clean "shirt". In the latter case, it is more convenient to apply drawings to the sheet for cutting with a manual jigsaw from plywood;
- Sheets marked "FOF" are focused on furniture production and are often quite safe as well. But they have another drawback, they most often relate to and have a thickness of more than 12 mm;
- The FB brand was developed as plywood for the construction or decoration of all kinds of boats and yachts, therefore the price of such material is too far from democratic, although this plywood is also safe;
- What you definitely shouldn't mess with is FSF plywood... No matter how beautiful it looks, it should be clearly remembered that in its production, compounds with a high content of phenol are used, which in itself is considered one of the serious and rather poisonous carcinogens.
Important: for artwork, especially for cutting with a jigsaw, it is highly discouraged to take sheets on which there are knots in the upper shirt. They will fall out during operation.
Let's move on to the drawings
The easiest way to make, for example, drawings of animals for cutting out of plywood with a hand jigsaw, is to use scrap materials and a simple carbon copy. Everyone in the house has a lot of printed material such as old postcards with birds, fish and other animals.
A pre-prepared carbon copy is superimposed on the prepared and polished sheet, the image or photo of your favorite animal of your choice is superimposed on top of it, and fixed with clerical buttons (now you can use scotch tape for this purpose). After that, you will need to clearly trace the outline of the image.
Important: do not worry that the carbon copy will stain the blank sheet while you push your drawings for artistic cutting out of plywood with a jigsaw. After the workpiece is cut out, in any case it will need to be sanded with emery; in the process of such processing, all contaminants will be removed.