I need a tenon saw.

[Stewie Simpson]

I've come to really like a Gyokucho 240mm ryoba for tenon-saw tasks. It is the cheapest new option, I think, and cuts fast and cleanly. Plus, you get a crosscut/carcass saw at the same time.

For western saws, LN and LV are probably the best options available for reasonable money.

Used tenon saws are cheap and easy to find, usually. If they are nice and straight they are usually not difficult to restore, since they are rip teeth and fairly easy to file.

+1 on Roberts description. Tenon Saws are filed rip tooth. Carcass Saws are filed x cut. Of all the backsaw makers listed within this thread, Lie Nielsen is the only 1 that has a good understanding of this principle.. https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...-rip?node=4150 https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...saw-?node=4146

[Pete Taran]

Stewart,

While it is true that in the prehistory of saw making, in the early and mid 18th century the British did use arcane names for saws depending on the task they were used for (tenon saws were actually called tonond saws), by the time any saw was made that people on this list might run across, they were just called "Backsaws". What you used it for was your business. Attached is a snippet from the "Backsaw" page of each of the big three makers, Disston, Simonds and Atkins (in that order). You will notice that they are all called "Backsaws". Also notice the line in the Disston ad that "Backsaws" filed rip were available upon request, which is the main reason you rarely see them. It is inexplicable to me why, as there were as many reasons to have a rip filed backsaw back then as there are now, but after 20 years of collecting, I have only run across a few.

So, to say that only Lie Nielsen gets the carcass and tenon thing is not accurate. There was no such designation when the vast majority of backsaws were made. I'd further posit that the reason Lie Nielsen uses those names is because of me. When I sold him the saw works back in 1998, I made a Carcass saw, which was loosely modeled after those seen in the Seaton Chest. As it was a British replica, I thought it fitting to use the British designation. If I would have modeled it after an American Backsaw, I would have just called it a Backsaw.

backsaws.jpg