Try not to push to hard and cut to quickly with the jigsaw. Let the blade
cut
through by itself with just a little pressure and guidance from you.
You've now
had two jigsaws burn out and do the same thing, so it's broken. But it
could be
you that is thinking a jigsaw should be a lot faster than a normal handsaw
and
it isn't. A jigsaw is only a labour saving device for lazy buggers that
can't
pull a normal handsaw backwards and forward. It is a lot slower to cut
something as thick as a worktop with a jigsaw than it is with a good
handsaw.

A good workman never blames his tools, because he uses them properly from
the
start. So stop pushing to hard and trying to cut to quickly, and you
might a
tool that will last the length of the cut.

Sorry, but you sound just like my heavy handed brother. He too said that
it was
the jigsaw when all the time it was in to much of a hurry.


This is very good advice, for which thanks, but I really have been
mega-careful and slow. This is a job for myself and I don't care how long it
takes. With the new jigsaw - indeed both - I kept it very gentle. And I
finished the latest cut with a handsaw which as you say was no slower. But I
will try again, this time using proper Bosch blades after another poster's
suggestion.