When you want to saw a round hole out of a wooden panel, you have to proceed differently than when you saw away from the edge. But no fear. This work is not painful either. I’ll explain how it works here.
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Why do you sometimes have to saw a hole?
Well, the use cases are not that rare. Just think about this if you want to install a socket and have to saw the hole for this socket out of the wooden panel behind it.
Or if you want to sink round flower pots into a wooden plate – even then, you have to saw holes out of this wooden plate for better or worse.
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Saw a hole in the wooden board – you have these options.
In my opinion, you have the following options for sawing a hole in a wooden board:
With a handsaw
If you want to use a hand saw for this, you must, in any case, drill a hole in the panel with a drill so that you can use the saw afterward. The saw blade should therefore be very narrow and the hole large enough.
I’ll say it right away: doing this by hand can be real torture and, in my opinion, is cumbersome. So let’s move on to the next option:
Saw a hole with a jigsaw
With a jigsaw, you drive much better in the truest sense of the word. Again, you have to drill a hole in the inner part of the plate to attach the jigsaw blade.
Tips on using the jigsaw
It is best to clamp in a narrow jigsaw blade for wood and start to saw smoothly away from the drilled hole. It is a narrow blade because you can see areas much better with it than with a thicker blade, which is more ideal for straight cuts.
Ensure that you are a few mm away from the edge of the panel when you apply the jigsaw; otherwise, you may edge up. The hole you drill before should be big enough. If you have a 3 mm jigsaw blade, you should at least pre-drill with a size 6 drill bit so that you have 3 mm of clearance.
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Use a hole saw
The third option is to use a hole saw. This is actually a hole in the diameter of the hole saw. It is ideal, for example, to saw out sockets that are usually of a standardized size.
You only need the center point where you can place the hole saw, and you have the advantage of an exactly round and beautiful cut. Take a look at what I think is a good set in detail: a 6-piece hole saw set from Bosch.
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Tips on using the hole saw
First of all, it is important that you only work wood with the hole saw intended for wood. You wouldn’t drill wood with a concrete drill either, or vice versa.
The serrations are designed so that you remove the wood chips and sawdust.
Also important are the thickness of the workpiece that you want to drill through and the wood’s hardness. For example, Oak and Robinia are very hardwoods, while birch or spruce, for example, are rather softwoods.
The thicker the wood, the greater the friction, and the more heat is generated when drilling. You should, therefore, always ensure that the speed is adjusted accordingly. Otherwise, the wood will burn and turn black. The same thing often happens when you saw the wood with a hole saw for metals.
When you start the hole saw, the speed should not be too slow or too high. The reason: If this is too low, the individual wood fibers can fray. If it is too high, the saw will tilt and damage the piece of wood.
It is also important that the hole saw’s drill collar is placed evenly straight and not at an angle. In an emergency, get a second person to look sideways at the hole saw to give you instructions on locking it correctly.
