I am in the midst of making new pieces, filling orders so I figured I would give you all some tips on ‘the tools I couldn’t do without’…Ha, and you thought I was going to say nasty things about someone !!

This week it is my Dozuki saw. ……If you browse the aisles of your local home improvement store or tool catalog you will see so many things you think you need, things that will make it ‘easy’, things that are all shiny & cool, things you plug in, things that are noisy & dusty….I call many of these tools ‘gadgets’…..and a waste of money.

This little saw does a pile of work for me, it is made in Japan and is not something new, they have been working wood over there for centuries, using these saws, without power tools and doing a fantastic job.

Japanese Dozuki Saw…Lee Valley Tools

I buy mine from Lee Valley Tools [not a paid supporter]. I  just purchase the replacement blade, I make my own carved wood handle [ it just makes it more special to me] but they do come with this wrapped handle if you don’t want to bother. I am not sure how many blades I have purchased through the years, each has earned its keep, they are not expensive so when you start to notice missing teeth on them..get a new one.

They cut a very fine kerf, they are very sharp and accurate. They cut on the pull stroke unlike traditional saws that cut on the push. This makes it effortless almost, to use, very little pressure and that helps with keeping your angle or your line straight. It isn’t like work at all, just a pleasure, hardly any dust or blade marks to sand off.

I am using it in the photo to cut dovetails for a drawer. When I make drawers I ALWAYS do dovetail joints, front & back, I cut all my dovetails by hand…you practice, lay them out well and it is surprising how quickly you get better at it. A nice quiet job to do at the bench and I would be lost without this saw to help me. If you look at old hand cut dovetails, they are small, of varying sizes and so beautiful, you can’t get that with a machine or a dovetail jig with the router…no Sirree Bob!

Here are the finished drawers that were cut with my Dozuki…and below the dovetails for the frame to hold the drawer in the single stand……

I also use my Dozuki to cut tenons, as on this table below that I built last winter…Oh but the fun doesn’t end there, other uses are cutting the ends off turnings, cutting off dowels, cutting ‘finger biter’ pieces that are too small to safely cut with a table saw, cutting wood to size, leveling chairs, table or stool legs……Really, if a person does any amount of house fix up, furniture repair or redo’s or any DIY work at all you should have one…..If I did not own any kind of power saw, this could do so much for me..safely, quietly. One of my favorite tools that I use daily.

Dozuki’s are also available in a rip saw, larger ones for pruning trees etc…trust me..they are worth every penny. So forget about the ‘gimmicks’ buy a quality tool that will have many uses and does all its jobs well….One that makes you wonder how you EVER lived without it.

You will love it!!

Smiles, Brenda

 Cattails