handsaws and backsaws???

[Tom M King]

Why do people call backsaws handsaws? When did this start?

[Zachary Hoyt]

I thought that hand saw is a general term covering any saw that is powered by the operator, and power saw was the equivalent general term for any saw that is motorized, but I may be wrong.

[Mel Fulks]

When electric saws were invented all saws without motors became “hand saws”.

[Edward Weber]

I'm with Zachary,
All backsaws are handsaws but not all handsaws are backsaws.

Hand saw is the starting point before different styles branch off

[Tom M King]

It still makes no sense. Each word has the same number of syllables, so saying one is no harder than saying the other. If it was okay to call a backsaw a handsaw, then everyone would also call a hacksaw a handsaw, or a keyhole saw a handsaw. I think it just comes from ignorance.

A handsaw is one thing. A backsaw is something else. Why make someone stop to think about what you're talking about?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Merge the two and make it hacksaw - covers all cases.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Merge the two and make it hacksaw - covers all cases.

Or for extra confusion one could merge them the other way and call them bandsaws.

[Thomas McCurnin]

By my definition, which might be shared by anyone else, a backsaw is rectangle shaped saw with a folded U shaped piece of metal at the top, the back. Handsaws are a general description of any saw operated by hand, which includes a backsaw.

[Jim Koepke]

A handsaw is one thing. A backsaw is something else. Why make someone stop to think about what you're talking about?

Often times woodworkers talk to people who think of a circular saw when one mentions a saw. So saying something was cut using a handsaw clarifies, for the non-woodworker, how the work was done. To say to an uninformed listener it was cut using a backsaw might confuse them even more.

Even a lot of young carpenters may have never seen a hand operated miter saw.

jtk

[Edward Weber]

It still makes no sense. Each word has the same number of syllables, so saying one is no harder than saying the other. If it was okay to call a backsaw a handsaw, then everyone would also call a hacksaw a handsaw, or a keyhole saw a handsaw. I think it just comes from ignorance.

A handsaw is one thing. A backsaw is something else. Why make someone stop to think about what you're talking about?
A handsaw is the broad general term of the parent group of saws, which includes all of the sub groups.
Any common saw with a handle, manually operated by hand.
Every sub category of handsaw, back, gentleman's, dovetail, panel and so on, falls underneath the parent parameters of a one handed saw, powered only by hand. The only difference is that those in the sub categories, also have a specific use associated with them.

It makes perfect sense to me

[Kent A Bathurst]

Or for extra confusion one could merge them the other way and call them bandsaws.


Nope - I got this - Hold my beer:

reverse it and call it sawhacks, which is Tom M's target team, and includes my miserable efforts.

[David Carroll]

All beagles are dogs, but not all dogs are beagles.

DC

[Mike Allen1010]

Nope - I got this - Hold my beer:

reverse it and call it sawhacks, which is Tom M's target team, and includes my miserable efforts.

Kent-always love your posts!! God bless you- please keep them coming!! Any time you can work “hold my beer” into a post I’m 100% in!
Cheers, Mike

[Kent A Bathurst]

Kent-always love your posts!! God bless you- please keep them coming!! Any time you can work “hold my beer” into a post I’m 100% in!
Cheers, Mike

My prime directive is to provide joy and amusement to the wider time-space continuum.

Meanwhile, youse guys are on the hook for actual woodworking stuff - so far, so good.

Thanks, kind Sir.

[steven c newman]

Trying to keep these old guys gainfully employed...
504236
Disston D8 (no hyphen)
504237
Did I mention it is a RIP Handsaw?
504238
5-1/2 ppi, 28" long...from BEFORE the 1928 Model line revamp.....( it was about 20 years old then)

[Tom M King]

Then there is the difference between hand saw and handsaw. A backsaw is not a handsaw.

[steven c newman]

Then there is the Bow Saw, and the Frame Saw....I do have the 18" Frame saw....

[Eric Brown]

And people wonder why American English is hard for foreigners to learn. Context is everything.

[Mel Fulks]

Some things just have to share nomenclature. Like hack saw ,and hack sawyer .

[Jim Koepke]

And people wonder why American English is hard for foreigners to learn. Context is everything.

We even have more than one word for words that have meanings that are opposites of itself:


A contronym (also called a contranym or an autoantonym) is a word with two meanings that happen to be the opposite of each other.

You can dust something by either brushing off dust or placing dust.

Cleave can be adhere to something or splitting something apart.

A sanction can be a boycott or an approval.

Our language can be very ambiguous, just ask any politician.

jtk