Lie-Nielsen tenon saws, based on a classic Disston, feature curly Maple handles, fitted using traditional split nut screws. The all-important blades are high quality Swedish steel, hardened and tempered to HRC 52. This allows the blade to retain a keen edge yet remain sharpenable using a standard saw file. The solid brass back completes the ensemble giving you a well-balanced and smooth cutting saw that is a pure joy to use. Lie Nielsen takes great care to make sure their saw blades are sharp, testing each one before it leaves their workshop.When you cut the cheeks of a tenon, you are cutting with the grain. In other words, you are ripping down the grain. It’s not just tenons, cutting dovetails is also a ripping operation. Wherever you need to make a saw cut in the direction of the grain this saw does the job works much better as opposed to other saws, which are generally the crosscut type.