Our clever Japanese friends

From design and use perspectives, I love Japanese tools.

Japanese tools are clever because they mate design to material properties.

Japanese saws are a case in point. Even though my Japanese saws are not 'high end', they still reflect the wisdom of the Japanese toolmaker.

Most of you (?) will probably have some familiarity with the standard Western handsaw. Have you ever noticed which way the teeth face? The saw cuts on the 'push' stroke. Have you ever thought about what this does to the metal in the saw blade? It compresses it. In other words, the steel is put under pressure, and, if you happen to get the stroke wrong, you can bend the blade and even put a kink in it. This means you need a fairly solid blade to avoid the problem.

Japanese saws, on the other hand, cut on the pull stroke; the teeth face backwards. How does this work on the metal? It tensions it. What does this mean for the blade? You can have a super-thin blade because it's under tension, not being compressed.

Smart.

It would be wrong to conclude from this that Japanese tools should be the only way to work. Truth is, I have a mix of Japanese and Western tools and love both for different reasons. But when it comes to mating the inherent properties of a material with the task required of it, the Japanese have creative design talent in spades.