This is one of my favourite tools, the hand saw looks like so much fun to use. How deceptive it is! I really struggle with getting the technique of using this tool right.

So what is a hand saw, as is typical with most tools, there are many different styles of hand saws. The most common hand saw used in carpentry is the crosscut hand saw. The hand saw is another ancient tool, the Egyptian hieroglyphics have pictures of hand saws being used by carpenters to cut pieces of wood. The crosscut hand saw is typically made of a steel blade that has saw teeth on one side, these teeth are fashioned using a metal file, and are shaped like the blade of a steak knife, the steel blade is fixed to a wooden handle.

Hand saws are used by many different professions, and come in lots of different shapes and sizes, some saws are used as “push” saws and others “pull” saws, meaning that the cutting action happened as the saw was pulled or pushed. When using them myself, I found the blade to be really flexible and unless applying enough pressure it would buckle and not cut the wood at all.

I was even once in a cross cut competition at our local rural show, where there was two of us in either end of the saw, racing to cut through a large log. It was incredibly hard work!

Adam doesn’t use his hand saw every day, but it is a handy tool for a small job. Hand saws have been somewhat replaced by power saws, thought these are bulky and time consuming to set up, when only needing a small job done.

Do you have a hand saw at home? Have you ever used one? Do you have some tips for me?

Nicole xxx