How to saw wood

• Clamp the wood on your workbench.
• Use a carpenter’s square to mark straight cutting lines on both sides of the wood.
• Score through these lines with a craft knife to guide the saw.
• Clamp a batten of scrap wood along the cutting line to guide the saw.
• Grip the saw so that your index finger is in line with the blade.
• Make shallow strokes first and then progress to deeper cuts at an angle to the surface.
• Support the section you are cutting off to prevent it from snapping off.
• To cut down the length of a piece of wood, start sawing the end of the wood and insert a wedge to give access to the saw blade.

Always wear goggles to protect your eyes from splinters of wood. If your saw has a guard, this should also be down. To cut wood using a jigsaw, follow the instructions below. See the tools section for advice on using specialist power saws.

• Release the clamp on the saw to remove the old blade.
• Release the clamp on the saw to remove the old blade.
• Load the new blade according to your instructions.
• Rest the front edge of the wood with the blade at right angles to the cutting line.
• Cut slightly to one side of the line – on the waste side.
• Adjust the speed accordingly.

To cut out a hole in the middle of a section of wood:

• Mark out the circle.
• Drill a hole just inside the circle.
• Fit the blade into the hole and cut around the circle.