Crosscut saw

A crosscut saw (thwart saw) is any saw designed for cutting wood perpendicular to (against) the wood grain. Crosscut saws may be small or large, with small teeth close together for fine work like woodworking or large for coarse work like log bucking, and can be a hand tool or power tool.

The cutting edge of each tooth is angled in an alternating pattern. This design allows each tooth to act like a knife edge and slice through the wood in contrast to a rip saw, which tears along the grain, acting like a miniature chisel. Some crosscut saws use special teeth called "rakers" designed to clean out the cut strips of wood from the kerf. Crosscut saws generally have larger teeth than rip saws.

Some saws, such as Japanese saws and those used by the ancient Egyptians, are designed to cut only on the pull stroke. Western saws, on the other hand, are designed to cut on the push stroke.

Common features

Many crosscut saws have a wooden handle with the return edge at right angles to the un-toothed edge of the saw blade, allowing the saw to serve as a square for marking material to be cut at a right angle.

Crosscut Saw (song)

"Crosscut Saw", or "Cross Cut Saw Blues" as it was first called, is a bawdy blues song "that must have belonged to the general repertoire of the Delta blues". The song was first released in 1941 by Mississippi bluesman Tommy McClennan and has since been interpreted by many blues artists. "Crosscut Saw" became an early R&B chart hit for Albert King, "who made it one of the necessary pieces of modern blues".

Original song

Tommy McClennan's "Cross Cut Saw Blues" is a Delta-style blues, which McClennan sings and plays acoustic guitar with an unknown player providing imitation bass accompaniment. The lyrics are rife with double-entendre:

Now I'm a cross cut saw, drag me 'cross yo' log
I'm a cross cut saw, and drag me across yo' log
Babe, I'll cut yo' wood so easy, you can't help say "hot dog"

The song follows the classic twelve-bar blues progression, contrary to Big Bill Broonzy's characterization of McClennan's timing as "change from E to A to B when you feel like changing. Any time will do. Just close your eyes."