Reply To: Hand Saws

Piotr, there are no stupid questions!

The “optimum” TPI for a dovetail saw is really depending on the thickness of your board. The rule of thumb is to have approx. 10 teeth in the wood at any given time. So for a thin 5mm board you need a really fine pitch saw, and on the other hand dovetailing a chest made from 25mm material is best served by a coarser saw.

That said most dovetail saws I’ve seen are in the 15-20TPI range, but you can go both higher and lower.

So consider the type of work you will do the most and try to choose from that perspective.