Basic techniques : jigsaw guide

A jigsaw is very useful for cutting free curves.  However for straight cuts  a guide is very useful.

What can you use as a guide?
A piece of wood (factory cut edge).
A piece of aluminium profile. (Note for long pieces there may be slight curves) the heavier the piece the less it may bend.
A commercially available straight edge. ( I have not found any in India. If anyone knows of them please do add your comments)

Make sure that the  straightness of the guide is checked against something reliable. Walls of a house are usually not perfectly straight. Metal rulers usually are straight along the marked edge. A good straight edge reference is a three foot long metal ruler. It is not useful to use as a guide but can be used reasonably well to check straightness of the guide you are going to use.

Jigsaw guide : A piece of molding. Crude, but serves the purpose. 

Straight cuts are best made with a circular saw (with guide) or with a table saw.

Wooden plaques from babul wood

Here are another set of wooden plaques that I made.
The base is made fro karuvelum wood, bevel cut with a jigsaw.
The lettering from thin pieces of teak wood, cut with a scroll saw.
Small headless nails hold the letters  in addition to glue. The heads of the headless nails have been cut off with a rotary tool.
Finish: Asian Paints PU interior glossy.

Wooden plaques made from karuvelum (babul) wood base and teak wood lettering

The workshop : A family affair

One of the things I enjoy a lot is when the others in the family join me in the workshop. Fortunately for me my children have not been in the habit of taking my tools and screws and other potentially dangerous tools. But for that matter even a sharpened pencil can be extremely dangerous in the hands of a child.
Nina here insisted on vacuuming the workshop. It has been a marathon few days sorting out junk and trying to bring some order into the spare room that I dare to call my workshop.
Somehow I get reminded of Tom Sawyer whitewashing a fence. I suppose whatever the task, if you enjoy (or pretend to enjoy) doing it, it can really be interesting.

Nina vacuuming the workshop