Word.ws English Dictionary

plain saw

plain saw verb: to cut into boards using parallel cuts that are tangential to the growth rings.

plain saw: to cut into boards using parallel cuts that are tangential to the growth rings
Image: Forest Products Laboratory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

plain saw (third-person singular simple present plain saws, present participle plain sawing, simple past plain sawed, past participle plain sawn)

  1. (transitive) To cut into boards using parallel cuts that are tangential to the growth rings.
    • Note the difference in dimension due to the Figure 2 shrinkage of the semi-dry piece, also the difference in "cut" of the boards; the shrunken board being quarter sawn, while the adjacent boards are plain sawn.1921, Furniture Manufacturer and Artisan - Volume 83, Issue 22, page 178
    • The problem with plain sawing is that the outer planks tend to warp.1999, Peter Oxenham, Integrated Science and Technology: Materials and Processes, →ISBN, page 36

Noun

plain saw (plural plain saws)

  1. A saw in which the blade has teeth with no pitch.
    • Either a dado head or plain saws may be used on the circular saw for this purpose.1930, Herman Hjorth, Principles of Woodworking, page 83
    • There were two plain saws, a bow saw, a wood-chopper, two axes, three scythes, whetstones for sharpening scythes, files for sharpening the saws, tool kits, and a fairly good supply of nails.1974, Evgeniĭ Ryss, Search Behind the Lines, page 26

Forms of plain saw

Verb
third-person singular presentplain saws
present participleplain sawing
pastplain sawed
past participleplain sawn
alternative formplain-saw
Noun
pluralplain saws

Questions about plain saw

What does plain saw mean?
Plain saw means to cut into boards using parallel cuts that are tangential to the growth rings.
What part of speech is plain saw?
Plain saw can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of plain saw?
The past tense of plain saw is plain sawed.

Words near plain saw in the dictionary

  1. plain point
  2. plain points
  3. plain pug
  4. plain radiography
  5. plain sailing
  6. plain saw
  7. plain sawed
  8. plain sawing
  9. plain sawn
  10. plain saws
  11. plain song

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plain saw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “plain saw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plain_saw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.