The Saw

The Saw

A saw is a row of tiny chisels, each taking a small bite.

Bronze Age. Copper and bronze saws in Egypt; teeth that cut on the pull.

Rip and crosscut. Chisel-shaped teeth split wood along the grain; knife-shaped teeth sever it across.

Around 1813. Tabitha Babbitt, a Shaker in Harvard, Massachusetts, is credited with an early circular saw for a sawmill.

The sawmill. Water, then steam, drives circular and band saws; lumber becomes cheap and standard.

1924. Edmond Michel's portable electric circular saw, the Skilsaw. "Skilsaw" becomes a verb on job sites.

Today. Table saws, miter saws, track saws, cordless everything, and saw-stop technology that halts a blade on contact with skin in milliseconds.

Try it. Rip and crosscut the same board with a handsaw. Which is harder, and why?

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