Handsaw

How it works

Each tooth is a small cutter. Disston’s 1926 handbook distinguishes two classes: the crosscut saw, whose teeth cut across the grain with an action like a number of small knife blades, and the rip saw, whose teeth cut along the grain with an action like many chisels. The rip tooth is filed with a straight front and the crosscut tooth with a slight rake.

The teeth are bent alternately to each side, so that the kerf is wider than the blade. Moxon described the practice in 1703: the teeth are set with a saw wrest so that the kerf is wide enough for the back to follow the edge, and set wider for soft, coarse wood than for hard, costly wood, since a wider set wastes more wood in the kerf.

An open handsaw has no frame to hold the blade in tension, so the blade itself must resist bending under the thrust. Moxon advised choosing a blade that bends into a regular bow and is stiff. Disston’s 1874 patent reshaped the back of the blade for the same reason, to make a saw lighter, stronger for its weight and freer from jarring under end thrust.

Anatomy

Blade (plate): Steel, tapered in width from heel to toe. Moxon distinguished steel saws, ground bright and smooth, from iron saws, which were only hammer-hardened.
Teeth: Counted in points to the inch, which Disston notes are one more than the teeth in the same inch. Rip saws are often graduated, one point finer at the toe to ease starting the cut.
Back: Straight or skew-back. Disston says the skew-back is slightly lighter and a straight back gives the blade more stiffness.
Handle: Wood, fixed to the blade with screws; Disston’s D-8 used an applewood handle fitted with five brass screws.
Nib: A small projection on the back near the toe. Its origin and purpose are disputed (see disputed).

Variants

Crosscut handsaw: Teeth filed with rake, for cutting across the grain.
Rip saw: Teeth filed with a straight front, for cutting along the grain. The Science Museum Group holds a London rip saw of 3 points to the inch, 1830–1880.
Skew-back handsaw: Back cut on a curve, convex near the handle and concave toward the toe, patented by Henry Disston in 1874.
Panel saw: A shorter handsaw. Disston’s 1926 handbook notes that 24-inch saws, which fit a standard tool chest, were becoming increasingly popular.

Specifications

Blade length · in: 26Disston’s 1916 history says the hardware trade generally understood handsaws to be 26 inches and rip saws 28 inches or longer, though many rip saws were made shorter; its 1926 handbook recommends a 26-inch, 8-point saw for general use.
Points per inch · ppi: 8Disston’s 1926 handbook calls 8 points to the inch a medium point for general use.

Made to

BS 3159

Safety and care

Safety

Wear safety glasses or goggles, or a face shield over safety glasses or goggles (CCOHS).
Check the stock for nails, knots and other objects that may damage or buckle the saw (CCOHS).
Start the cut slowly with the thumb upright against the blade beside the mark, to keep the blade from jumping (CCOHS).
Hold the stock firmly, and support long stock with a helper, bench or vise (CCOHS).

Care

Keep the teeth properly set (CCOHS).
Protect the teeth when the saw is not in use, and keep the blade clean (CCOHS).

Tips

Read the points per inch
Disston’s 1926 catalog explains that “points to the inch” counts tooth points, and that a saw always has one more point per inch than complete teeth. Few points per inch cut fast and rough and are used for construction work and green, wet wood. Many points, 9 to 11, cut smooth and are used for interior finishing and furniture.1
Choose rip or crosscut by the grain
The manual states that the ripsaw is designed to cut with the grain of the wood and the crosscut saw against it. Disston adds that its rip saws have finer teeth at the point than at the butt, which lets the user start the cut easily.1 2
Start with short draws at the heel
To start a crosscut, the manual says to draw back a few inches of teeth at the heel of the saw a few times, then to saw at about a 45 degree angle on the downward stroke with even pressure.1
Check the blade against a try square
During the cut the saw position is checked occasionally with a try square to keep the blade at a right angle to the work surface.1
Support the waste at the end of the cut
Near the end of a cut the waste side of the wood should be held, so that the board does not break off unevenly. The work is placed at a level just below the knees, with a sawhorse or bench fairly close to the line of cut.1

History

Earliest documented

beginning of the First Dynasty (Egypt)

Egypt

Petrie argues that the saw is at least as early as the beginning of the First Dynasty, because the many wooden coffins of that age must have been sawn, and one shows saw marks in varying directions. The oldest saw found was a model of early in the Third Dynasty, and a piece of a roughly notched copper saw was found at Meidum in a Third Dynasty context. These early saws had no distinction in the direction of the teeth.1

The saw began as an abrading tool. Petrie, surveying the Egyptian collection at University College London, found that the earliest copper and bronze saws had no distinction in the direction of their teeth: they scraped out a groove by pushing and pulling equally. A true cutting saw, with every tooth raked one way, appears in his evidence around 900 BCE in the Bologna bronze hoard, and the raked iron saws of the Assyrian armorer’s group at Thebes, about 666 BCE, were pull-saws. Petrie found no clear evidence of a push-saw in Roman times.

The frame solved the same problem in another way. Petrie records that the framed saw is often shown on Roman sculpture and identifies a Roman framed form as the ancestor of the bow saw. A frame holds a thin blade taut so that it can be pushed. The Science Museum Group’s frame saw of 1650–1700 belongs to that tradition, and Moxon in 1703 still described the frame or bow saw beside the hand-saw as single-man saws that cut forward, the frame tensioned by a twisted cord and tongue.

The open handsaw needed a blade stiff enough to be pushed without a frame. Moxon’s advice of 1703 is about exactly that: buy saws of steel rather than iron, since iron saws were only hammer-hardened, and choose a blade that bends evenly and is stiff, because a saw that bows often will eventually break. He also describes the setting of the teeth to widen the kerf so the back can follow the edge. Petrie found no trace of set in any ancient saw, which places set teeth among the developments that separate the modern handsaw from its ancient predecessors.

In the nineteenth century the handsaw became a factory product. The Philadelphia Historical Commission says that by the Civil War Disston was the largest saw manufacturer in the United States, and Disston’s own 1926 handbook says the founder faced a strong prejudice against American-made tools and built his own steel mill to control quality. Henry Disston’s 1874 patent changed the outline of the blade itself: removing metal from the back on a compound curve made the saw lighter and, he wrote, freer from the jars that afflicted straight-backed saws under end thrust.

Disston’s 1916 history noted that all modern handsaws except the Japanese cut on the push stroke, while the Egyptians and Japanese used teeth inclined toward the handle. The question of push or pull, which Petrie traced back to the earliest raked teeth, remains open among users and is treated in this archive as an argument.

Timeline

First Dynasty
Wooden coffins and boards in Egypt show saw marks, the first evidence Petrie accepts for the saw.1
Third Dynasty
The oldest saw found is a model; a roughly notched copper saw piece is found at Meidum.1
Fifth and Sixth Dynasties
Egyptian tomb scenes show sawing with two types of saw, one with the handle in one piece with the blade and one with an added handle.1
c. 900 BCE
The true cutting saw, with all teeth raked one way, appears in the bronze hoard (fonderia) of Bologna, according to Petrie; he dates the raked pull-saw to about this time.1
666 BCE
Iron saws in the Assyrian armorer’s group found at Thebes include two raked pull-saws.1
Roman period
The framed saw is often shown on Roman sculpture; Petrie identifies a Roman framed form as the ancestor of the modern bow saw.1
1650–1700
A frame saw of 18 points to the inch, now in the Science Museum Group collection, is made.1
1703
Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises describes the joiner’s hand-saw, frame saw and tenon saw, the choice between steel and iron saws, and the setting of teeth with a saw wrest.1
1750–1770
A Sheffield tenon saw of 12 points to the inch is used by Samuel Crompton; it is now in the Science Museum Group collection.1
1840–1849
Henry Disston, who came to Philadelphia from England in 1833, begins making saws in 1840 and starts his own company in 1849 (see disputed).1 2
c. 1864
A Disston crosscut saw of 16 points to the inch, beech handle and cast-steel blade, 710 mm overall, is made; it is now in the Science Museum Group collection.1
1871–1872
Disston begins moving the saw works from the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia to Tacony.1 2
1874
Henry Disston is granted US Patent 152,347 for a handsaw blade with a curved (skew) back, convex near the butt and concave for the rest of its length.1
1926
Disston’s handbook describes the D-8 as the original skew-back saw, patented in 1874, and recommends a 26-inch, 8-point saw for general use.1

Where the sources disagree

Did Roman saws cut on the push or the pull stroke?

The saws excavated at Pompeii and preserved in the museum there cut on the thrust, like European and American saws of 1916.1
Henry Disston & Sons, The Saw in History
The teeth of the Pompeian saw show it was pushed only if its lower end is the handle, and it may be one end of a framed saw; there is no evidence of a push-saw in Roman times.1
W. M. Flinders Petrie, Tools and Weapons

When did Henry Disston start his saw business?

He began making saws in 1840 and started his own company in 1849.1
Penn Libraries finding aid, Historical Society of Tacony collection
He began making saws in the 1840s.1
City of Philadelphia, Historical Commission announcement
He founded the Disston Saw Works “over eighty years ago” as of 1926.1
Henry Disston & Sons, Disston Saw, Tool and File Book

What is the nib on the back of a handsaw for?

It is of no practical use and is ornamentation only.1
Henry Disston & Sons, The Saw in History
It survives from an earlier tapering of the blade interrupted by a projection with a hole for hanging the saw, seen on a Dutch saw of 1694; in modern saws it has no meaning.1
W. M. Flinders Petrie, Tools and Weapons

Gaps in the record (5)

The Met’s model saw from the tomb of Meketre and other museum records of Egyptian copper saws were not reached (the Met site refused automated access); the Egyptian evidence here rests on Petrie’s 1917 catalog.
No source has been located that dates the general change from framed to open, unframed steel saws in Europe, or the start of rolled saw-steel plate.
Moxon is cited from the 1703 edition; the date of the first issue of the joinery section has not been checked.
No independent test data on handsaw performance has been located, so buying is null.
The standard slug is a guess at a British handsaw standard and has not been read.