If you’re planning on doing some DIY this weekend or thinking about a larger project it’s really important to make sure you’re using the right tool for the job. Different types of work call for different types of saws – you wouldn’t use a woodsaw for cutting metal just as you wouldn’t use a drill bit designed for drilling wood to drill through metal.
Bow-saws, also known as buck-saws, are course-bladed and have a bow shaped metal frame. These are designed for cutting wood and are ideal for trimming branches or making straight or curved cuts in wood.
Another tool useful for heavy duty or rough work is the panel-saw, best for rough cutting larger pieces of wood. This has a long, hardened blade and a sturdy handle.
Once you have your basic shape you can move on to a tenon-saw, which is a type of back-saw, so named because it is often used for cutting tenons. These a have fine, sharp teeth for cutting against the grain and a pistol grip for good control.
For finer woodwork coping-saws can also be used. These have a much finer blade and a squarer handle to give finer control and they allow you to make tighter curves in the wood. These can be used with a v-board which has a v-shaped area cut out of it.
Clamp your wood over the gap in order to cut more securely. You could also use a pullsaw, shaped a little like a wide bladed chisel but with serrated sides, for finer work.
If you want to cut at an angle, perhaps when working on skirting boards or door frames, try a mitresaw. This is used with a special vice called a mitre box. This tool has a metal guide frame to allow accurate cuts to be made at an angle.
For cutting through floorboards, you can use a floorboard saw rather rather than a circular one. These are similar in design to tenon and back-saws but the blade has a rounded nose to allow you to start cutting in the centre of the floorboard.
If you need to cut into a wall you’ll be needing a drywall or wallboard-saw. These are knife-like with a pointed and serrated blade. You use this by punching the pointed end of the blade into the wall and using the serrated edge to cut.
When cutting metal or plastics the best tool to use is a hack-saw. These vary in size, but the most common ones have blades of around 10-12 inches long. They look a little like a bow saw in that they have a rounded frame and a narrow blade held under tension.
Various blades can be used depending on the type of work you are doing. Because of the tension and brittleness of the blade it is important to be careful when working with a hack-saw, as they can snap quite easily.
Screwfix is the UK’s largest direct and online supplier of trade tools, accessories and hardware products. Click here to view the full range of saws from Screwfix.com.