Veritas gents saw wins hands down

When you buy a horse you look generally at its overall appearance as an initial indication of its condition but then you always look at the teeth. It can be the same with saws.
I have tried in most cases to revue new and used hand tools after a legitimate time of use; around two years in general, because all too often a product fails in some way to live up to its maker’s claims. I have been trying out the new gents saw from Veritas alongside others purported to be higher end saws and found this saw to be the best of all in-line shorter tenon saws.

I like their more conventional pistol-grip saw very much, but playing the gents saw alongside the pistol grip gave me the ability to determine a proper evaluation. The review I want to proffer is their 20-tpi ripcut pattern gents saw. The direct thrust of any gents-style saw is vastly superior to pistol grip in general, but on large toothed saws this is not always the greatest advantage because often you need a downward pressure to progress the saw into the wood with each forward thrust. The gents saw tackles the wood differently, especially a rip cut tooth pattern on small-toothed saws such as a 20 tpi rip saw.

The logic behind the saw's development as always is innovative but always has a sort of nuts and bolts practicality that makes you feel the solidity you need in handling a tool. I recall visiting with the design team at Veritas a few short months ago and seeing the work that went into this saw as they placed it on the board room table in front of me. I immediately felt they had a winner and the price point that this saw comes into the market at is just right.

Ever since the saw came into my shop I have reached for it consistently; a good sign that I like something well. The cuts are the cleanest of any saw I have bought and compare to my own hand filed saws. bove is a hounds tooth pattern in pine. Notice how minimally the breakout is on the outcut. On sapele mahogany and all other hard, dense grained hardwoods I found that there is no breakout at all. For dovetails and other small joinery this saw is perfect choice.

Though the 20 tpi is classed by Veritas as a ripcut saw, it cuts cross grain as well as it rips so it is ideal for dovetailing.

If there is a negative side of the saw it is in the number of teeth per inch. Even with my experience in hand sharpening hand saws, this saw is a little harder to sharpen for two reasons; the thickness (or thinness) of the plate and the size of the teeth. That said; don’t hesitate to buy the saw. It will keep its cutting edges for a long time and if you want a good saw that goes straight of the bat this is the saw for any new or seasoned woodworker. With a 4” XX slim taper saw file the saw will file fine. I would like to see the saw with 16tpi as this still gives a good cut and the saw is so much easier to sharpen.