Saws - The Cutting-Edge!!!

This is a tool used for cutting wood or another material, consisting of a serrated blade and worked either by hand or by steam, water, electric or other powers.

Large Band Saws: Timber mills use very large band saws for ripping lumber; they are preferred over circular saws for ripping because of their smaller cut size, resulting in less waste.

Head Saws: These large band saws make the initial cuts in a log. They generally have a two to three inch tooth space on the cutting edge and sliver teeth on the back. Sliver teeth are non-cutting teeth designed to wipe slivers out of the way when the blade needs to back out of a cut.

Resaws: Resaws are small band saws that are optimized for a narrow kerf, and therefore low waste. They usually have about a one and three-quarter tooth space, 32' length and 16ga thickness.

Double Cut Saws: These have cutting teeth on both sides. They are generally very large, similar in size to a head saw.

Chain Saw: This is a portable mechanical, motorized saw. It is most commonly used in forestry and by tree surgeons, to fell trees and to remove branches and foliage, and to harvest firewood.

Circular Saws: A circular saw is a metal disc or blade with saw teeth on the edge as well as the machine that causes the disk to spin. It is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted.

Although today they are almost exclusively powered by electricity, larger ones, such as those in "saw mills", were traditionally powered by water turning a large wheel. Most of these saws are designed to cut wood but may be equipped with blades designed to cut masonry, plastics or metal although there are purpose-made circular saws specially designed for particular materials.

In addition to hand-held circular saws, different saws that use circular saw blades include:

• Miter saws or Chop saw or Cut-off saw
• Radial arm saws saws
• Saw mills
• Table saws
• Panel saws
• Biscuit joiners