Japanese saw with interchangeable blade | Wide selection

Interchangeable blade saws

Japan has a millennia-old wooden building culture. Simple houses and temples, even fortresses, were almost exclusively built from wood. Many of these masterpieces, crafted using only hand saws and other traditional woodworking tools, are now considered World Heritage Sites. Over the centuries, a vast repository of knowledge developed, which, combined with the highly developed art of blacksmithing, led to the creation of unique woodworking tools. Among Japanese tools, saws are paramount.

In the past, these saws were crafted by hand in small workshops. Today, industrially manufactured saws with disposable replacement blades have become prevalent in Japan for three reasons:

1. For someone not specially trained, it is too difficult to sharpen these saws with their sometimes complex saw geometry.
2. Conventional files fail on these laser-hardened saw teeth – they are harder than the file.
3. The replacement saw blade is cheaper than the labor cost required for sharpening.

The three most important types of saws are:

- the Dozuki – a single-edged saw with a spine that stiffens the blade and allows very precise cuts.
- the Ryoba – a double-edged saw for both rip and crosscuts.
- the Kataba – a single-edged saw without a spine. Traditionally used mainly for crosscuts, but it is also available for rip cuts.

In terms of teeth design, Japan differentiates between whether the saw is primarily for rip cuts, such as slotting, or mainly for cross cuts, such as cutting off or trimming. The trapezoidal tooth design, as the name suggests, shows a shifted trapezoid when magnified. The teeth are alternately sharpened. This tooth design is mainly suitable for crosscuts.

We offer all three types of Japanese saws with replaceable blades from renowned manufacturers in our range.