The Best Tenon Saws

A tenon saw is a backsaw: a stiff, shallow plate with a folded or solid spine along its top edge, sized to cut the two cheeks and two shoulders of a mortise-and-tenon joint accurately and by hand. The spine is the whole idea. It stops the plate flexing, which means the saw goes where you point it instead of where the wood prefers, and it is also the reason a tenon saw can only cut as deep as the distance from its teeth to its back. If you want the mechanism before the shopping, what is a backsaw covers it, and how to cut tenons by hand covers the joint this tool exists for.

This page exists because the hand-saws hub had a roundup for general saws, one for dovetail saws and one for Japanese pull saws, and nothing ranked for the class that the word “tenon saw” actually names. It also exists because researching it turned up something we did not expect, and that finding ended up deciding the order.

How we ranked them

We have not cut a tenon with any of these saws. What we did is what this whole site does: open every maker's and retailer's own product page, write down only what they are willing to publish, and rank on that. The sources are listed at the bottom and quoted in the write-ups. Four things decided the order.

Can the teeth be filed again? This is the first question on a buy-it-for-life site and on a backsaw it is close to the only one, because a backsaw has no replaceable blade — the plate is the tool. Teeth that are hand-filed or cross-ground can be sharpened and reset with a file for as long as there is plate left, which is why nineteenth-century saws are still in working use. Teeth that are hard pointedor impulse-hardened are harder than a file, cut well, and then die. Six of the seven saws here publish that their teeth are resharpenable. One publishes, in its own words, “15 PPI Hard Pointed teeth,” and it is ranked last for that reason alone.

How is the handle fixed on? A detail that sounds cosmetic and is not. To file a saw properly you clamp the plate in a vise, and on most backsaws that means taking the handle off. Crown and Footprint both publish that their handles are held by screws: Footprint says three brass screws, Crown says secured with screws. Spear & Jackson and the Robert Sorby traditional saw publish handles held by three bifurcated rivets, which are meant to be permanent. The Predator's handle is molded polystyrene and is not coming off at all. A screwed handle is a saw designed to be maintained; a riveted one is a saw designed to be used.

What is the back made of, and is it folded or solid? Brass is heavier than steel, and a heavier spine both stiffens the plate and helps the saw fall through the cut on its own weight. There is a second distinction most listings skip: a folded back is wrapped around the plate and holds it under tension, which keeps it dead straight; a solidback is slotted and supports the plate without tensioning it. Thomas Flinn publishes that the Lynx back is folded brass holding the blade under tension. Sorby and Spear & Jackson publish solid brass. Crown publishes “brass back” and leaves it there. The Predator publishes a solid steel back, which is rigid and is not brass.

Are the teeth filed rip, crosscut, or neither?Here is the finding. A tenon's cheeks are cut along the grain, which is rip work, and rip teeth — filed with near-vertical faces so each tooth acts like a tiny chisel — cut long grain far faster and more cleanly than crosscut teeth do. The shoulders are cut across the grain and want crosscut teeth. So the filing matters more on this saw than on any other backsaw, and almost nobody publishes it. Of the seven saws here, exactly one maker states it: Thomas Flinn, whose 10 in Lynx is filed for crosscutting and whose 14 in Lynx is filed for rip. Robert Sorby publishes “universal teeth for cutting along and across the grain,” which is an honest description of a compromise. Spear & Jackson describes a fine cutting action suitable for use along and across the grain. Crown and Footprint publish nothing about the filing at all. Rip vs crosscut teeth is the page for why this is not a small thing.

What is not on this page, and why

The rip-filed Lynx 14 in is, on the published evidence, the correct tenon saw in this whole survey: 14 in and 355 mm of plate, a 3 in depth of cut, 19 in overall, solid brass backing and screws, a lacquered and stained beech handle, made in Sheffield, and filed rip for cutting with the grain. It is not a ranked pick because when we checked the listing it showed six units left, and we do not feature inventory that thin — the same rule that kept a three-unit Clifton off the jointer roundup. If it restocks properly it belongs at the top of this page. It is worth looking for by name.

The Pax 12 in brass-backed tenon saw, also Thomas Flinn, was listed temporarily out of stock. Pax is the older and dearer of Flinn's two lines and would have ranked high. A Taytools-branded Lynx 10 in was showing five units. Both are omissions of availability, not of quality.

Lie-Nielsen and Veritasmake the best tenon saws sold in North America and neither sells through Amazon, so neither can be a ranked pick and we earn nothing if you buy one. Lie-Nielsen's is linked from the top pick's card as a plain reference with what its own page publishes: a 16 in, .032 in thick plate, 21-1/4 in overall, a 3 in depth of cut, a cherry handle, brass fittings and a stout 3/4 x 1/4 in milled brass back, based on a classic Henry Disston model — and every Lie-Nielsen saw precision set, filed and test cut in hardwood before it ships. It is filed rip. At around two hundred and fifty dollars it is more than the Crown and it is a materially better saw.

Japanese pull saws are not here, and for tenons they are a serious alternative rather than an also-ran: a ryoba has rip teeth on one edge and crosscut on the other, which is exactly the two filings this joint needs, in one tool. Japanese vs western saws argues it out and best Japanese saws ranks them. The catch is renewability: most are impulse-hardened and cannot be filed, so you are buying replacement blades instead of a file.

The order, briefly

The Robert Sorby Select is first because it publishes more than anything else here — high carbon steel with a protective lacquer, a solid brass back andbrass fasteners, 13 PPI, and resharpenable precision cross-ground teeth — at 12 in, which is the right length, for roughly half the Crown's money. It is not first on quality; it is first on the combination of the right size, a documented spec sheet, real stock and a sane price. The Crown 195 is second: Sheffield, brass-backed, resharpenable, screw-fixed handle, and the most expensive saw on the page by a distance with the shortest spec sheet. The Lynx 10 in is third and is the best-made saw here, held back because 15 TPI filed for crosscutting makes it a carcass saw doing a tenon saw's job. The Footprint is fourth for its explicit “re-sharpened time and time again” claim and three brass screws, at 10 in. The Spear & Jackson 12 in is fifth and is the value answer on this page by a wide margin; the 10 in version sixth. The Predator is seventh because its teeth cannot be sharpened, which on this site is disqualifying rather than a deduction.