Precision Woodworking: How to Get Clean Cuts Using a Japanese Pull Saw

This video from Appalachian Wood features Angel demonstrating how to make perfectly straight flush cuts using a Japanese pull saw. This video covers layout, line-tracking, blade control, and the differences between crosscut and rip-cut teeth—showing carpenters how to get clean, tear-free results on everything from framing stock to fine woodworking projects.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey guys, I'm Angel, and today I'm going to show you how to make straight flush cuts with this Ruy Tool Japanese pull saw.

So, what you need to draw your line is going to be some sort of square, whether it be a speed square or a big carpenter square. Set your square up onto the edge and strike your line. So, you're going to want to do it on three faces.

And then when you turn it over to the last face, don't just hold it square to the edge. Actually connect the two lines. So in this case it ends up being square but in some cases it may not be— they may not line up. So make sure those lines actually do line up.

Crosscut vs. rip cut teeth

Now I'm going to start my cut on this face right here to show you guys. Now, what we're going to be doing here is a cross-cut. And so these Japanese saws are famous for having two types of saw teeth. One of them is a crosscut, and the other is a ripcut.

So the rip teeth are bigger, and they don't have that three-pointed angle to them. Whereas the crosscut teeth are angled, and they're much smaller. They're much finer.

The reason is that they're having to tear through the material, so all that sawdust has to be filtered out. Whereas the rip teeth can work with the fibers of the wood, and they're almost like little chisels.

Establish the kerf, focusing only on visible lines

So we drew our line all the way around. But I can only see these two faces. This one and this one. So, that's literally all I'm going to cut. So, I'm going to take care. I'm going to use the crosscut teeth, which are the smaller teeth, and I'm going to get started right on my line.

I'm going to put my hand over here, and I'm not going to pull immediately. I'm going to start by pushing the blade very gently on that line, establishing a curve. It may take one, two, maybe even three tries to get the curve deep enough.

Now, I'm going to give it a small pull. No, not deep enough yet. A little bit. There we go. And just make sure that the blade does not skip on you.

Tracking the line

So now, as you can see, I'm looking over the edge to make sure that that saw blade is tracking on that line. And that's about as deep as I'm going to go on this face for now. Now, my goal is to get this saw and drop it down this line and cut this face right here. So, from back here, I can stand back now.

All right. So, I'm going to continue to take this curve down this line right here. And then this saw is going to start to fall down like this. And all the while, I'm going to make sure that these teeth don't come out of the wood. And don't penetrate any deeper on this face because I can't see that line. I can't tell whether the saw is going one way or the other. So, I'm only cutting the lines that I can see and that I can control.

Following the curve on the first side

And you can see on this face, I'm tracking exactly where that line is. So, I want to take a minute to show you how you make that cut. You're essentially establishing a diagonal from this point to here. This doesn't make much sense on a small piece like this, but if you imagine cutting this timber in the middle, this technique prevents any blowout or tearout.

So, if you've cut things like this before and you've cut perfectly vertical all the way down, whenever you get to this bottom part over here, the wood is going to start to hinge and then that causes this section down here to completely break off and maybe even break off into the piece that you were meaning to keep.

Doing it this way prevents any tearout. If it does tear out, it'll tear out right here in the middle, not on a show face.

Cutting the opposite side

So now we're going to cut the other side. So I flipped my timber twice, and the same situation. I can see two lines over here, and I have the curves already established from when I cut it on the other side.

I already have a kerf established on the other side. So I don't have to worry about the blade tracking downward without me seeing it. So, I could just put my blade right there where that curve is, push it forward just a little bit, and start my cut.

On the perimeter, this face is cut exactly on that line.