Ripsaw

A ripsaw (or rip saw) is a wood saw that is specially designed for making a rip cut, a cut made parallel to the direction of the wood grain.

Design

The cutting edge of each tooth has a flat front edge and it is angled backward by about 8°, in contrast to a crosscut saw, which has teeth angled backward by about 15°.^[1]

With the "rip" tooth pattern, the edges are sharpened at right angles to the cutting plane, forming

, allowing subsequent teeth to perform a more effective cut.

It is possible to see this material removal mechanism in action by analyzing frame by frame footage of the cutting process.^{[citation needed]} Ripsaws typically have 4–10 teeth per inch, making them relatively coarse.^{[citation needed]}

Use

All

. Some sawmills also use crosscut saws to cut boards and planks to length.

Cutting styles

On the vast majority of saws throughout the world, the teeth are designed to cut when the saw is being pushed through the wood (on the push stroke or down stroke). However, some saws (such as Japanese saws and the saws used by Ancient Egyptians) are designed to cut on the pull stroke.

References