If you look up the definition of the verb "saw" in the dictionary you will find that it means to cut or divide with a saw, to produce or shape with a saw or to make a back and forth motion. If you look up the definition of the noun saw in the dictionary you will find that it says that a saw is any of a variety of tools, either hand operated or power driven, having a thin metal blade or disk, with a sharp, usually toothed edge, used for cutting wood, metal or other hard materials.

That about says it. And from these simple definitions we have more saws than rabbits have little rabbits. We're going to take a look at just a few of the types of saws and what they are generally used for.

Just starting off with a simple hack saw, you have more types of these alone than you can possibly imagine.

A hacksaw is your basic hand saw used mostly for cutting metal. Some have pistol grips which make the hacksaw easy to grip. Hacksaws cut in straight lines. They have a fine tooth saw blade that is just perfect for cutting hard materials like metal. These types of saws are very small and easy to use. They are about as basic as a saw gets. Yet, there are many types of hacksaws such as the panel hacksaw which eliminates the frame of the standard hacksaw. This makes it so that you can cut through panels of sheet metal. Your basic types of hacksaws are frame, tubular, junior and junior frame. These saws come in all different shapes, sizes and blade types.

While a hacksaw is a type of hand held saw, there are other types as well.

There is of course the ever popular crosscut saw. The crosscut saw is actually the type of saw that most people think of when they think of a hand held saw. These saws are usually about two feet in length. The teeth of a crosscut saw will always have a negative rake angle. These saws are typically used for cutting through wood. Got a two by four that needs about 6 inches cut off? A crosscut saw will do the job perfectly.

Then you have your panel saw. These are usually smaller versions of crosscut saws. They're usually about a foot and a half long. They typically have more teeth per square inch than a regular crosscut saw. Panel saws are sometimes called box saws because they are good for making boxes and also fit very easily in tool boxes.

Another variation on the crosscut saw is the rip saw. Rip saws have the same basic shape and size as crosscut saws. They usually have much coarser teeth than a crosscut saw and usually have a zero degree rake angle.

Another popular hand saw is the backsaw. This is a square saw with a rigid piece running along the back of the blade. This piece provides extra stiffness to the blade, which allows for nice straight cuts, but also limits the size of the saw. Backsaws are great for cutting joinery.

These are just a few of the saws available to us and we haven't even scratched the surface of the number of handheld saws and haven't even touched power saws.

Yes, there certainly is a sea of saws in the world