Why Japanese saws? author: Dieter Schmid

Japanese saws are finding favour more and more in every sort of manual woodworking because of their superb cutting performance. As European saws require pressure to achieve a cut, the blade (of a crosscut saw, for instance) has to be fairly thick to withstand the pressure exerted on it. Japanese saws, however, cut on the pull stroke. Thus the strain on them is much less, and the blade can be made much thinner. A thin blade produces less sawdust than a thick blade and consequently cuts faster with less effort on the user's part. The top of the market product comes with a blade 0.3 mm thick, or less. Even in Japan there is now a tendency for people to go for the disposable, exchangeable blade, as sharpening these fine blades is too difficult for anyone untrained for it.