Flush Cutting

A flush cutting saw, or kugihiki nokogiri, does one job that no other saw can do cleanly: it trims a dowel, plug, peg, wedge or through tenon off level with the surface it is protruding from, leaving nothing behind for a chisel to tidy up. The blade is thin, springy and - crucially - has no set to its teeth, so it can lie flat against the workpiece and cut along it rather than into it.

Like all Japanese saws, these cut on the pull stroke. Pulling puts the blade in tension rather than compression, so it can be made far thinner than a Western saw without buckling. The result is a narrow kerf, very little effort, and a surface straight off the saw that often needs no more than a light sanding. The flexibility that lets the blade follow a curved or uneven surface is a deliberate part of the design, not a compromise.

They are the right tool whenever something needs to finish level:

• Trimming dowels and draw-bored pegs on furniture and framing
• Cutting face grain plugs down after counterboring a screw
• Levelling wedged or through tenons on chairs, benches and doors
• Removing proud edge banding, biscuits and dominoes
• Cutting back nailed or glued blocking flush inside a carcase

Technique matters more than force. Let the blade rest on the surface under its own weight, flex it gently with your free hand so the teeth sit flat, and use long, light pulls. Pressing down is what causes burnishing and scoring - unset teeth are kind to a finished surface, but not indestructible. On anything precious, a sheet of card, thin veneer or a strip of masking tape under the blade removes the risk entirely.

Most modern flush cutting saws use impulse hardened teeth, which stay sharp several times longer than conventionally filed teeth but cannot be resharpened. When the blade eventually dulls and you buy a new one, keep it for clean work and demote the older blade to rougher duties.