Japanese vs Western Saws

This is part six in a series on saws and sawing, which I published on my Get Into Woodworking channel. This time a look at some differences to consider between Japanese and Western saws....
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...and a little on sharpening saws.

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More saw info on my website:

In future episodes I shall look at such things as:
Western vs Japanese
Sawing technique and tips
Work holding while sawing
Sharpening saws
Electric saws
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Cheers, Mitch

[BDM_PT]

Hi there from Portugal,
I never try Japanese saws but I will some day, but I restore and sharp my western saws :D
Nice saw info :D
Obrigado(thanks)

[dinosilone]

Great discussion and explanation. One point: Having to make more strokes per cut with a shorter saw probably isn't a great measure of the effort involved. All other things being equal, it's not really more effort to make 10 6-inch strokes than 5 12-inch strokes - The lion's share of the effort occurs when you're removing material, not on the return stroke (which is nearly "free", assuming your saw technique is sound). And all things are NOT equal; the thinner kerf of the Japanese saws makes them require significantly less effort than Western saws, again because of the material removal argument. A kerf half as wide means that you're removing about half the amount of material, which means it requires about half the effort.