1. Bosch 10-Piece Wood & Metal Set — covers most home jobs
For most people, this is the one that stays in the jigsaw case. Ten blades split between timber and metal cover the jobs a jigsaw gets — cutting a sink hole in a benchtop, a curve in ply, or a slot through some steel angle. The wood blades are HCS (high-carbon steel), which stays sharp in timber, and the metal blades are HSS (high-speed steel), which holds an edge in the heat that metal throws off. The teeth are ground to shape instead of punched out on a press, so they cut a cleaner, straighter line.
It takes the top spot for covering the two materials most home jobs land on without making you buy fifty blades to get there. It’s a smaller spread than the budget kit, so if you cut a lot of one material you’ll work through those blades faster. But for a shed that does a bit of everything, it’s the sensible pick, and it clips into whatever jigsaw is on your bench. If you also run a circular saw, the same logic sits behind our circular saw blade picks — match the teeth to the material and the cut looks after itself.
2. Bestgle 50-Piece T-Shank Kit — the cheap way to cover every job
If you’d rather never be caught without the right blade, fifty of them in a case is a cheap way to get there. The kit spreads across seven types — fast blades for rough timber, finer ones for a clean edge, and metal blades for the odd steel job — so whatever the job turns out to be, there’s a blade for it. TPI is teeth per inch: fewer, bigger teeth cut fast and rough; more, smaller teeth cut slow and clean. Having both on hand is the point of a kit like this.
The trade-off is the steel. The set doesn’t state a steel grade beyond HCS and HSS, and at this price the wood blades go blunt sooner than the Bosch and the finish off a fine blade won’t be quite as crisp. Joel’s take is that for a weekend shed that cuts timber now and then, that barely matters — a blunt blade in a fifty-pack just gets swapped for the next one, and you’re still ahead on price. Matt would still keep a couple of quality blades aside for the cuts that show. For sheer coverage per dollar, nothing here beats it.
3. Diablo DJT141HM Carbide Blade — for fibre cement and abrasive board
Some materials aren’t hard so much as abrasive, and they wear a steel blade out fast. Fibre cement sheet — the HardieFlex and Villaboard used in wet areas and eaves — is the main one, along with plaster and cement backer board. This blade answers it with carbide teeth: tips of tungsten carbide brazed onto the blade, the same wear-proof material that tips a good circular saw blade. Where a steel blade goes blunt in a cut or two, carbide keeps cutting cleanly for far longer. That’s why one carbide blade costs about what a small set of steel blades does — it lasts long enough to be worth it.
It’s a specialist blade. At 6 TPI it’s coarse, built to grind through abrasive board where a fine finish in pine isn’t the point. One thing matters more than the blade here: cutting fibre cement throws off dust that contains crystalline silica, a known lung hazard, so cut outside, wear a P2 mask and follow the work-safety guidance on crystalline silica — our dust mask guide covers what to wear. Buy it when a fibre-cement job lands, and leave it in the drawer until one does.
Which blade for which job
One thing to check before you buy: all three are T-shank, the bayonet-tail fitting on almost every jigsaw sold in the last twenty years. If you’ve inherited an older saw with a U-shank slot — a squared tail with a hole for a grub screw — these won’t clip in, so look at the shank shape on your machine first.
Past that, the material decides the blade, every time. Coarse, low-TPI blades chew through timber fast but leave a rough edge; fine, high-TPI blades go slower and cleaner, and are what you want for metal, laminate and any edge that will show. On abrasive board like fibre cement the tooth count matters less than what the teeth are made of — carbide outlasts steel many times over. Two habits stretch any blade: ease off and let the teeth do the work, since forcing the cut is what snaps blades and burns the edge, and support the offcut close to the line so the blade can’t flex and wander. A blunt blade is fair wear on a consumable, but one that turns up cracked or snaps on a reasonable first cut is a faulty product, and you may have a claim under Australian Consumer Law for a refund, repair or replacement — so hang onto your proof of purchase.
The verdict
You do a bit of everything and want one set to cover it: the Bosch 10-piece wood and metal set. Two materials handled, ground teeth for a clean edge, and no need to buy fifty blades to get there — the pick for most sheds.
You want the most blades for the least money: the Bestgle 50-piece kit. The steel isn’t premium and the wood blades blunt sooner, but seven blade types in a case means you’re never stuck without the right one, and the price per blade is hard to argue with.
You’re cutting fibre cement, plaster or cement backer board: the Diablo carbide blade. Steel blades die fast in abrasive board and carbide keeps cutting long after they’d have quit — just mask up for the dust and save it for the jobs that call for it.
A jigsaw is only ever as good as the blade clipped into it, so spend the few dollars on the right one for the material in front of you.
