Japanese Saw Sets

Japanese saws are specialists. A dozuki gives you the fine, dead straight kerf needed for joinery; a ryoba puts rip and crosscut teeth on one blade for breaking down stock; a kataba reaches into cuts a backed saw cannot; and a flush cutting saw trims the results off level. Owning one saw is useful. Owning a complementary group of two, three or four is what actually equips a woodworker's workshop, and that is the thinking behind every saw set on this page.

We put these combinations together ourselves so that the saws overlap as little as possible and cover as many woodworking tasks as possible. The Gyokucho set of 4, our long-standing bestseller, spans everything from carcase joinery to dimensioning to flush trimming, while the 210mm ryoba and 240mm dozuki pairing is the leanest sensible starting point for a beginning woodworker. Buying them together always costs less than buying the same saws individually.

• Gyokucho - the mainstay range, with impulse hardened teeth and replaceable blades. Available with traditional rattan-wrapped handles or the grippier TPE handles, in full size, compact and TRONC 180mm formats.
• Hishika - handmade sets of 2, 3 and 6, including traditional mini saws with turned wooden handles for detail and model work.
• Shogun - a straightforward dozuki and kataba pairing that covers the two cuts most people need first.
• Bundles - saws matched with the accessories that make them perform: a Shinwa clamp, a Z-Saw free angle guide, or our Gyokucho saw roll to keep the teeth protected.

If you are unsure where to begin, start with a ryoba and dozuki set and add a kataba and flush cutting saw as the work demands. The sets are built to grow in that order.