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Bad Axe 18" Large Tenon Back Saw
The Roubo Beastmaster Timber Framing Back Saw
Bad Axe 'One Sawyer Roubo' Finished Frame Saw & Finished Kerfing Plane
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Bad Axe Saw Sharpening Seminars
Friederich Dick Saw Sharpening Files & Lutz File Handles

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Bad Axe Tool Works D8 Panel Saws and Handsaws
— aka 'The Henry Disston'
$395 (Delivery: 20-24 weeks*)
Philadelphia, Spring 1840: A thin, determined youth of 21 carted a heaping pile of coal from the Delaware River docks along the mile-long trek to the basement hovel of his tenement on 21 Bread Street, his strong jaw set and jutting forward in the breeze like Captain Ahab seeking a whale. The crimson flush of blood pulsating beneath the white pallor of his skin powered a wiry physique, tempered by hand-planing boards flat, lifting and storing metal blanks and lumber throughout the day, hammering metal into proper tension on a live anvil. He wiped his grime-smudged face with the sleeve of a well-worn linen shirt, promising himself—God willing—that for the first time in two weeks, he would actually bathe that night.
He was a sawmaker. He was a very young and very determined sawmaker on a mission that would see him either flourish in his chosen trade, or seeking employment laying track for the new railroad out west. He paused at the thought, breathing heavily, sweat pouring into his eyes. Pondering. Then he shook his head with a snort and continued powering the mountain of coal on his wheelbarrow through the offal-littered streets.
British by birth and American citizen by destiny, seven years previously, a 14-year-old Henry DIsston stared in horror as his father...
* * *
Quicklinks
Welcome to a line of hand and panel saws long in demand from those who frequent the hand tool world! The Bad Axe Team now introduces our new Bad Axe D8, aka, the 'Henry Disston,' so named in honor of the greatest Sawmaker of them all. We're pretty proud of what has taken us several years to get the taper-grind right without compromising the metal during the grinding process such that it results in a floppy, ill-tempered plate prone to kinking, or a poorly executed handle ranging well-outside the main body of the plate. For such a simple tool, there's quite a bit going on with the entire cocktail of design considerations: a deeply embedded handle sized to fit your hand with the kind of hang angle that gets you behind the cut for maximum cutting leverage; a stable plate where even the bottom of the handle secures the lower third of real estate firmly; a stiff plate guaranteed to plow through the toughest of American hardwoods; and finally, the kind of visual aesthetic one may customize to suit his or her individual taste.
We explain all of these design imperatives below and how to size a handle guaranteed to fit your hand, so here are some quick-links designed to navigate to the chunk of information most interesting to you.
Design Specifications:
Bottom line up front: We designed 26", 24" and 22" taper-ground hand and panel saws, patterned closely after the venerable Disston D8 and Simonds skewbacked handsaws. While our saw's overall plate and handsaw pattern resembles that of the Disston D8, we incorporated the pre-1928 Simonds handsaw let-in mounting pattern for the handle, available in both standard and thumbhole-grip versions.
- Traditional 1887-1896 Disston-pattern closed handle, the most elegant pattern Disston ever produced at the apogee of handsaw manufacturing. Available in standard quartersawn white oak, or optional QS cherry, QS walnut, & QS hard maple. three sizes available in Small (S), Regular (R), and Large (L). These handles are available in both standard and thumb-hole grip, the latter also available for southpaws. Read more about how we make and finish our handles.
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Read more at Why Choose a Bad Axe
- Taper-Ground Sawplate: We grind our plates from .04 at the toothline up to .025 at the spine on the heel end, and .034 at the toe end, such that the deeper you plunge the saw into the cut, the more metal gets out of the way as you're pushing the saw through the inside the kerf. (22" panel saws tapers from .035 to .018 at the heel, and from .035 to .028 at the toe).
- Stiff and hammer-tensioned. Great care is exercised to wet-grind the plate evenly, so the plate becomes neither s-rolled or too floppy due to loss in temper from careless grinding, which generates heat. You'll find that our taper-ground plates are hammer-tensioned and quite stiff—one of the most important assets of a hand or panel saw when making big cuts with confidence.
- Fasteners available in standard brass or optional black-oxided, niter-blued, bright nickel-plated steel.
- Plate Depth:
26" plate: 7 1/4" at the heel, skewing to 25/8" at the toe.
24" plate: 7" at the heel, skewing to 2 5/8" at the toe.
22" plate: 6 3/8" at the heel, skewing to 2 7/16" at the toe. - US 1095 Spring steel Hammer-Tensioned sawplate, with a Rockwell hardness range of 49-52. Toothline is hammer-set & sharpened in configurations optimized for hardwood requirements. We will add more set for customers working predominantly in softwood. Read more about Bad Axe's hammer-setting technique and obsessive dedication to sharpening excellence here.
Protect your Toothline
Your toothline will remain sharp for 3-4 years if you're not running it acrosse any nails, or letting the teeth bang around on metal surfaces—but why leave that sort of thing to chance?
Check out our hardwood toothguards, kerfed just right to slip on and off your toothline for your new Bad Axe hand or panel saw. Available in 22", 24" and 26" lengths.
Just click the 'yes' option upon ordering your saw above.
Want more than one? Go to our accessories page and order as many as you want for your other saws.
And be sure to watch the 10-second video to see how to slip them on and off so they'll remain in place without having to secure the toothguard with a strap.
Sizing Handles that Fit Your Hand
Here's my hand: it measures about 3 3/4" across. That's what I'm calling regular, and it will work with a range from 3 5/8" and start getting tight at 3 7/8." Bigger hands just under 4" up to 4 1/8" spans will require the size Large handle. Going the opposite direction, if the span of your hand measures in the 3 ¼ up to 3 1/2" range, then we're looking at a size small handle.Bad Axe D8 Handle Types
Our D8 handles are patterned quite closely after the vintage Disston D8 handles, the only exception being that we let in the sawplates by kerfing through the top of the handle common with Simonds hand and panel saws, rather than milling a covertop common in Disston saws where the upper edge of the sawplate is hidden from view. I've always found the covertop too easily splintered when removing the plate for maintenance, and would invite undue expense to the handle milling process.
Pictured on the left is a grouping of our two types of Disston-pattern D8 handles. Moving clockwise starting with the maple standard handle on the upper left, we have the thumbhole-grip handle in hickory on the upper right, followed by thumbhole-grip in walnut lower right, and the standard handle in cherry on the lower left. All Bad Axe D8 handles, whether standard or thumbhole-grip are are available in all four species, or in the species of your choosing for customer-supplied wood. Though the thumbhole-grip variant is intended for rip-filed saws, many people enjoy seeing it on their crosscut-filed saws. It's all about personal preference, and Bad Axe is happy to trick out your saw with the look, species and allow of your choosing.
See the Bad Axe D8 in action
We test-cut all Bad Axe saws in hardwoods native to North America, because frankly—anyone can blow through pine. We subject our saws to an array of hardwoods, such as white and red oak, maple, walnut, even black locust on occasion. If our saws pass the test—that is to say—they'll fly through the kind of woods YOU use in your projects—then you're getting a saw that works with no chatter, no drift, no snags. Only smooth, productive action that cuts to the line every time. Here's a look at our new Bad Axe D8 line in action, plowing through some 4/4 walnut.
"My God. Mark. Why-oh-why did you not make panel saws before now?"
— (and other reviews from our customers)
Vic Tesolin, Lee Valley/Veritas Lead Technical Advisor and author, The Minimalist Woodworker
"The most critical cut I make when breaking out lumber for any project is the crosscut. My Bad Axe D8 sings through anything I put in front of it and tracks dead-straight. I have used many panel saws but this one has a bit of magic built in it."— Visit Vic's blog,
'the Minimalist Woodworker.'
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"My God. Mark. Why-oh-why did you not make panel saws before now? Mark, I am telling you that I nearly was sent into ecstasy. This saw tracks a line like it’s on rails. It cuts with such ease that I did a double take . . . did I pick up the oak or the poplar? It inspires such confidence, and I don’t dread long crosscuts anymore, or feel i have to spend a whole lot of time warming up and “holding my mouth just right” . . . you know that feeling. It was just simply too easy. You’ve really, really outdone yourself."
— Jim Burton
Sr. Lecturer, Drawing & Painting
College of Visual Art and Design
University of North Texas
Feedback about our new 22" D8 Panel Saw
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". . . it's fantastic. It's a little more nimble than the 24" and 26" but it retains just the right amount of spring and stiffness. Even though I'm a big guy, I've tended to use smaller saws for cabinetmaking because I'm usually dealing with shorter cuts in 4/4 stock. If I have a really long rip in 8/4 I reach for the big guns (5ppi D23) but for most things, this 22" length is just right. It's also more maneuverable at the bench. I could honestly put my D20 out to pasture and that has been one of my favorite fine tooth crosscut saws. The cut is effortlessly fast."
— James McConnell
The Daily Skep
james_son_of_james
Here's what Richard Spry of Orepass: Woodworking for Sanity blogged as one of our earliest users shortly we released the the D8 in August:
"Wow! Grabbing an Oak board, a line was struck and with saw in hand I sliced off a few inches, next I found a piece of Cherry, that too became smaller, leaning against the wall some Sapele left over from my tool chest, then Walnut. Looking around I noticed a longer piece of Oak and “don’t tell anyone” ripped it in half with my new crosscut! At 9PPI I anticipated a rougher cut, but was surprised with a relatively clean cut, the saw started easily and the cuts were quick and smooth. Mark Harrell obviously put a little magic in the saw sharpening. I’m very impressed with the saw and know that it will give years of great service."
— (Read Richard's full review here).
"Mark—I've been using your D8 hand saw for about a month, and you've hit a homer! It cuts as good as it looks, which is high praise. I've never used a big saw that starts as easily as the D8. It tracks like a dream and cuts like a daemon—thanks for developing such a great tool.."
— Byron Williams, Hamilton, MT
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"My Bad Axe Custom Made D8 cuts through hardwood nearly as fast and smooth as I can empty my 1911! (That’s very fast and very smooth)!"
— Bob Hickock, Oct 2017

All Bad Axe Tool Works Saws are highly customizable, and Feature the Following:
- Highly-figured 19th-century patterned white oak handles, also available in cherry, walnut and hard maple.
- Three handle sizes available: Small, Regular & Large.
- Flush-face slotted sawbolts/nuts in brass or carbon steel finished in optional black-oxide or niter-blue with 13/16" deep-dish decorative medallion.
- Traditional Folded Carbon Steel sawback.
- Standard black-oxided or optional titanium-nitrided (TiN)-plated finish on saw backs.
- Premium-grade Swedish Spring Steel Sawplates, RC50-52.
- Traditional hammer-set toothline, sharpened to joint.
- Bad Axe saw re-sharpening rate $25 nominal fee.
- Lifetime guarantee against all material defects.
Learn more about our material choices and saw design rationale.
Other Top Selling Bad Axe Saws and Accessories:
- Bad Axe 10" Half-Blind Dovetail Back Saw
- Bad Axe 10" Luthier Back Saw
- Bad Axe American Kid Back Saw
- Bad Axe 12" 'Stiletto' Dovetail Back Saw
- Bad Axe 12" Hybrid Back Saw
- Bad Axe 14" 'Bayonet' Precision Carcase Saw
- Bad Axe 14" No. 9 Precision Tenon Saw
- Bad Axe 16" Tenon Back Saw
- Bad Axe 18" Large Tenon Back Saw
- Bad Axe 20" Miter Box Saw
- Bad Axe 'Roubo Beastmaster X-Large Timber-Framing Back Saw
- Bad Axe D8 Hand and Panel Saws
- Bad Axe 'One Sawyer Roubo' Finished Frame Saw & Kerfing Plane
- Bad Axe Frame Saw & Kerfing Plane Kits
- Bad Axe Bench Hook Sets
- Bad Axe Saw Sharpening Seminars
- Friedrich Dick Saw Files and Lutz File Handles
- Bad Axe Tool Care
- Bad Axe Accessories
- Bad Axe 14" Sash Saw (discontinued)