Japanese pull saw

How it works

The user holds the long handle, usually with both hands, and cuts as the saw is drawn toward the body. Toshio Odate, who introduced these saws to Western woodworkers in Fine Woodworking in 1993, writes that pulling lets the sawyer cut with both arms and the muscles of the whole body without putting body weight into the stroke. He adds that because the blade is in tension while it cuts, it can be made very thin and of harder steel, so the teeth stay sharp longer and the thin blade removes less wood.

The teeth work on the same principle as Western teeth, according to Odate, with some differences. Rip teeth are graduated, smaller at the heel near the handle and larger toward the toe. Crosscut teeth stay the same size along the blade and carry an extra bevel on top. Tooth angle and top bevel vary with whether the saw is made for hardwood or softwood.

The manufacturer SUIZAN advises beginning the cut with a light groove made with the heel of the blade, then moving the saw back and forth without heavy downward pressure, applying cutting force on the pull stroke and using the whole length of the blade in long strokes.

Anatomy

Blade: Thin hardened steel plate. Disston’s 1916 history describes the older Japanese saw as similar in appearance to a butcher’s cleaver, with the metal much the same as that used in other countries.
Teeth: Rip or crosscut, on one or both edges (see variants). Odate describes graduated rip teeth and crosscut teeth with an extra top bevel.
Spine (back): A reinforcing strip along the upper edge of the dozuki form. SUIZAN says it keeps the blade from flexing; the kataba and ryoba lack it.
Tang and handle: Watanabe’s survey of 17th–19th century architectural saws finds that the structure of the saws fundamentally consisted of a tang and a handle. Disston’s 1916 history describes a long straight handle into which the tang is driven and secured by wrapping with finely split cane.
Replaceable blade: On many modern saws the blade is a separate part that can be exchanged in the handle. Fine Woodworking’s Rogowski describes a thin replaceable blade as a benefit of the dozuki.

Variants

Ryoba: Double-edged. SUIZAN says one edge is cut for ripping and the other for crosscutting, and recommends it for beginners and for dimensioning lumber.
Kataba: Single-edged and without a spine. SUIZAN says the lack of a spine lets it make deep cuts in thick lumber, and that modern kataba use interchangeable blades.
Dozuki: Spined, for joinery. SUIZAN lists dovetails and tenons; Odate’s article calls the form dozuki-nokogiri.
Azebiki and kugihiki: Specialized forms described in Odate’s Fine Woodworking article; named in the synopsis of the article; the text read does not describe their uses.
Ōga, maehiki and kagari (historical): Large and mid-sized ripping saws for lumbering, described in Watanabe’s studies: the two-man ōga, the one-man broad-blade maehiki and the one-man narrow-blade kagari.

Specifications

Teeth per inch · tpi: Kenney recommends a crosscut dozuki of about 20 tpi for flush-cutting pegs; no sourced general typical value.
Stroke · direction: pullOdate: Japanese saws all cut on the pull stroke.

Safety and care

Safety

Hold the work firmly and support long stock, as for any hand saw (CCOHS).
Fine Woodworking’s Kenney warns that a thin dozuki blade can kink (Kenney, 2013).

Care

Gochnour, reviewing dovetail saws in 2006, reports that Japanese saws are more challenging to sharpen than Western saws, that high-end saws are often sent back to Japan for sharpening, and that moderately priced saws are often discarded once dull (Gochnour, 2006).
Kenney recommends a saw with a replaceable blade because the thin blade can kink (Kenney, 2013).

Tips

Start the cut at the heel with a light groove
SUIZAN’s guide tells the user to make a light starting groove with the heel of the blade, the part nearest the handle, then to move the saw without heavy downward pressure. The pull stroke does the cutting and the return stroke is only a return.1
Use the whole blade in long strokes
SUIZAN advises using the full length of the blade from tip to handle in long, smooth strokes, and slowing the strokes near the end of the cut to avoid splintering the far face.1
Identify the rip edge and the crosscut edge of a ryoba
A ryoba carries rip teeth on one edge and crosscut teeth on the other, according to SUIZAN. Odate adds that rip teeth are graduated from small at the heel to larger at the toe, while crosscut teeth keep one size and carry an extra bevel on top.1 2
Choose a spineless kataba for deep cuts
SUIZAN says that because the kataba has no back, it can make deep, unobstructed cuts into thick lumber, which a spined dozuki cannot do beyond the depth of its spine.1
Ride the spine to flush-cut a peg
Kenney recommends a crosscut dozuki of about 20 tpi for cutting pegs flush. He presses down on the spine to keep the teeth away from the surface, then finishes the edge with a chisel or block plane. Where the spine cannot be used, he places a folded piece of sandpaper, abrasive side in, under the blade to keep the teeth from marring the wood.1
Pull saws cut a thinner kerf than push saws
Rogowski presents the dozuki as an alternative to the Western dovetail saw that produces a thinner kerf, and lists a thin replaceable blade among its benefits. Odate gives the reason: a thin blade removes less material and so takes less power.1 2

History

Earliest documented

ancient period (the study covers the 7th to 16th centuries)

Japan

Watanabe’s survey of the major tools of ancient and medieval Japanese building reports that saws used for cutting construction material had the tang of the blade attached to the handle, that in ancient times the saw teeth changed from concave to convex, and that the cutting style involved pulling the saw backward by hand. The abstract does not give a more exact date for the change.1

The pull stroke is the oldest documented cutting action of the saw in Japan. Watanabe’s survey of building tools from the 7th to the 16th centuries reports that construction saws were tang-and-handle saws with convex teeth, cut by pulling the saw backward by hand. Disston’s 1916 history makes the same observation from the other side: it names the Egyptians, Chinese and Japanese as peoples whose saws had teeth inclined toward the handle, and says all modern handsaws except the Japanese cut on the push stroke.

The large saws came first as lumbering tools. According to Watanabe, wedges and chisels were the means of splitting raw lumber until about the 14th century. The two-man ōga and the one-man narrow-blade kagari came into use from about the 15th century, and the one-man broad-blade maehiki came in the late 16th century. His 1999 abstract adds that in the Middle Ages the tools used for lumbering changed from ripping chisels to ripping saws.

By the 17th to 19th centuries the carpenter’s saws were differentiated by size and by function. Watanabe reports that they were named for their size and for tooth differences such as ripping and crosscutting teeth, that they fell into three groups (felling and ripping logs, cutting primary structural timbers, and cutting fittings such as head jambs and nageshi), and that a change in saw shape and in carpenters’ posture is generally believed to have occurred in the latter half of the 18th century. A 1943 labor-science study cited in the same paper counted 12 types of saws in 10 categories in the standard modern carpenter’s set.

Odate offers a reason why the pull saw suited its users. Working in a squatting or sitting position, the traditional craftsman could pull with both arms and the whole body without putting body weight into the stroke. Because the blade is in tension, it can be thin and made of harder steel, so teeth stay sharp longer and less wood is removed. The sources read for this entry do not say whether posture or blade design came first, and Watanabe’s dating of a posture change to the late 18th century is the only dated evidence on posture.

Western interest dates from about 1970. Odate reports that the saws became popular among American woodworkers in the early 1970s, and that many first buyers were disappointed because the saws are so unlike Western saws. By 2007 Fine Woodworking described the dozuki with a thin replaceable blade as a standard alternative to the Western dovetail saw, and SUIZAN, a Japanese manufacturer, describes interchangeable-blade systems as mainstream for the kataba. Gochnour’s 2006 review of dovetail saws gives the other side of that development: he found that Japanese saws are harder to sharpen, and that moderately priced ones are often discarded when dull.

Timeline

ancient to 16th century
Japanese saws for construction timber are tang-and-handle saws; teeth change from concave to convex and the saw is drawn backward by hand (Watanabe, 1999).1
from about the 15th century
The two-man ripping saw (ōga) spreads, and the one-man narrow-blade ripping saw (kagari) comes into use, replacing wedges and chisels for splitting lumber (Watanabe, 2002).1
late 16th century
The one-man broad-blade ripping saw (maehiki) comes into use, and saws are used in logging from about this time (Watanabe, 2002).1
latter half of the 18th century
Watanabe reports a general belief that the shapes of architectural saws, and the working posture of carpenters using them, changed in this period.1
1916
Disston’s The Saw in History states that all modern handsaws except the Japanese cut on the push stroke, and illustrates a Japanese saw cutting on the pull with a long straight handle wrapped with split cane.1
1943
A study by the Institute for the Science of Labor finds that a professional carpenter in Japan uses on average 179 tools, among them 12 types of saws in 10 categories (cited by Watanabe, 1995).1
early 1970s
Japanese saws become popular with Western woodworkers in America, according to Odate; he says many early buyers were disappointed because the saws differ so much from Western saws and little information on their use was available.1
1993
Odate’s article “Choosing and Using Japanese Handsaws” appears in Fine Woodworking issue 101, describing ryoba, kataba, dozuki, azebiki and kugihiki saws and saws with changeable blades.1
2007
Fine Woodworking issue 188 presents the dozuki, with its thin replaceable blade, as an alternative to the Western dovetail saw.1

Gaps in the record (7)

The Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum’s own web pages on the saw (en.dougukan.jp) returned a service error and could not be read; the Watanabe findings here come from J-STAGE abstracts only, not the full papers.
No dated source was reached for the emergence of the ryoba, the dozuki or the replaceable-blade saw; the Meiji-era origin of the double-edged saw that a museum commentary reportedly gives was not verified.
Toshio Odate’s book Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit and Use is on Internet Archive only as a restricted loan, and was not read; the Fine Woodworking article is cited from its synopsis and introduction on the magazine’s site.
The history of impulse-hardened teeth and of the replaceable-blade saw rests on retailer pages in search results that were not fetched, so no claim about the inventor or date is made.
No national or international standard for these saws has been located; standards is empty.
The meanings given for azebiki and kugihiki saws are not sourced.
No independent test of Japanese pull saws against Western saws has been located, so buying is null.