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Tool: Joinery Saw Shop Now
Manufacturer: David Jeske
MSRP: $235
If you’ve been around hand tools for any amount of time, David Jeske is probably familiar to you. Dave is the founder of Blue Spruce Toolworks, and has continued to design tools for them for a few years after stepping away from the business. When I got an email from Dave this past summer about testing out a new saw of his, I jumped at it. The Joinery Saw (shown here) is Dave’s newest design through his brand, David Jeske Designer Maker. And let me tell you, it hits all the right notes.
The saw, sharing a similar framework with the Blue Spruce Coping/Fret Saw, uses a pull-saw style blade, but is set up to cut on the push stroke. This ultra-fine tooth blade is designed for precise, lighter-weight joinery work (think of drawers, cabinets and small boxes—not a massive dovetailed case). The perfect combination of weight, design, and tooth style makes this saw a sheer joy to use. It tracks like a laser—I can’t imagine cutting dovetails with light-saber, but this has to be as close as you can get. It cuts very quickly, with minimal effort.
Unlike other joinery or dovetail saws, this saw is not designed to be sharpened. Instead, you can buy inexpensive replacement blades. The blade tension is set via a nut on the front of the saw, similar to a hacksaw blade tensioner. The saw is available with maple or walnut handles (at the Handworks show I was able to snag a limited quantity apple handle for mine, above).
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