If you sharpen saws — or you're thinking about starting — you need a saw set. A saw set is a small but essential tool that bends every other tooth of a handsaw outward, widening the kerf so the saw plate doesn't bind in the cut.
Between 1810 and 1925, somewhere around 900 different saw sets were patented in the United States and Britain. The variety is staggering, and most of those designs are now collector curiosities — interesting objects from the patent boom, but not practical tools. For someone who actually wants to file and set a working saw today, the field narrows down to a handful of designs.
The deep reference for saw set identification is the Saw Set Collector's Resource, a long-running site that catalogs hundreds of patented designs by type, maker, and patent date. If you're trying to identify something unusual you found at an estate sale, that's the place to look. If you'd prefer a hard copy, Patented American Saw Sets by Todd Friberg is the book you need. This guide is something different. It tells you which saw sets to actually buy if you want to use them, what to skip, how to spot a worn-out one before you pay for it, and where the practical choices really lie.
For the step-by-step technique of using the much-hyped Stanley 42X, see How to Use a Stanley 42X to Set a Saw.
What set is and why it matters
When a saw is made, the teeth are in line with the rest of the plate. A saw in this state — with "no set" or "zero set" — will bind in the cut almost immediately, because the kerf it makes is exactly as wide as the plate behind it. There's nowhere for the plate to go.
Set fixes this by bending every other tooth slightly outward, alternating sides. The result is a kerf that's slightly wider than the plate, leaving clearance for the body of the saw to pass through the wood without sticking. Too little set and the saw binds. Too much and the cut gets ragged, the saw becomes harder to steer, and you waste effort on every stroke.
Setting is one of the operations involved in sharpening a saw: jointing (filing the tops of the teeth level), shaping (making the teeth the same size and shape), setting (bending every other tooth outward), and filing (sharpening the teeth themselves). They go in that order. Set wears down slowly with use, and a saw can go through several filings before the set needs to be restored. When it does, you need a saw set.
The four families of saw sets
Despite the hundreds of patented variations, the saw sets you'll come across generally fall into four broad mechanical families. Each works differently, but each does the same thing.
Hammer and anvil
This is the oldest practical mechanism — the saw is placed on an anvil with a slanted edge and a hammer is driven against each tooth to bend it. Skilled saw makers hit the teeth freehand with a specially designed hammer. Later hammer-setting devices were invented so a saw owner could use a regular hammer or mallet to hammer-set a saw. Herrick Aiken patented the most influential design in 1830, and variations of the hammer-type saw set were made for more than a century.
These are beautiful tools, often substantial pieces of cast iron and steel. Some were designed to be driven into a stump for outdoor use on logging saws; others were small bench-mounted affairs. They're slow to use and getting consistent results requires real practice.
Some saw experts extol the virtues of hammer-setting a saw with logical-sounding arguments, but I've never seen any experimental evidence that it actually results in a saw that cuts better. I've done both and find setting with a plier or pistol-grip type saw set faster and easier. Plus, hammer-type saw sets are harder to find and more expensive.
Plier type
The 19th-century patent boom produced an enormous variety of plier-style saw sets — tools held and squeezed like a pair of pliers, with a hammer and anvil built into the jaws. Names you'll see at flea markets and on eBay include Morrill, Taintor, Stearns, and the English Eclipse models.
Charles Morrill's 1880 patent is the parent design for nearly every pistol-grip set that followed. The Morrill #1 — the original under-lever design — works well enough that examples are still sold and used today. The over-lever variations, the various copyists, and the dozens of competing patents that followed all trace back to the same basic idea: clamp a saw between two jaws, squeeze, bend a tooth.
Quality varies wildly across the plier type. Some are excellent and would still be in regular use if their successors hadn't been even better. Others were made cheap, sold cheap, and don't hold up. The English Eclipse models in particular are widely available and generally well-made; they remain in production.
Wrest, lever, and plate type
The wrest is the simplest mechanism of all — a notched plate, sometimes with adjustable stops, that fits over a single tooth and is levered to bend the tooth to the desired angle. The notch determines which tooth gets engaged.
The wrest tradition is older than the plier tradition and more common in 19th-century European tool kits than American ones. Workable in skilled hands, but harder to get consistent results than the better plier or pistol-grip designs. If you find a clean one and want to learn its rhythm, fine. As a first saw set, look elsewhere.
Pistol grip
The pistol grip is the modern evolution of the plier design — the same basic mechanism (hammer drives tooth against anvil), but with handles repositioned parallel to the saw plate rather than perpendicular. The result is an ergonomic improvement that became the dominant 20th-century design.
This family includes the Stanley 42 series (42, 42X, 42W, 42SS), the E.C. Stearns pistol grip, and several others. The Stanley 42X tends to be the most sought-after of the bunch.
If you've never used a saw set before and you want one that works, this is the family to buy from.
Which saw set should you actually buy
The honest recommendation is short.
First choice: Stanley 42X. The 42X is the best-engineered of the pistol-grip designs. A spring-loaded plunger presses the saw plate firmly against the anvil before the hammer strikes, which produces a consistent bend tooth after tooth. The anvil itself is adjustable vertically, which controls how much of the tooth gets bent — the only adjustment that actually matters in normal use.
Stanley made the 42X from 1935 to 1948 before replacing it with the 42W. Examples are plentiful on eBay, at estate sales, and in dealer cases. Realistic pricing as of 2026 runs $30 to $60 for a clean working example. Versions with the original box and instruction sheet command a small premium and are nice to have but not necessary for use.
Second choice: plain Stanley 42, Stanley 42W, Stanley 42SS. The plain 42 looks like the 42X but lacks the spring-loaded plunger that pre-loads the saw against the anvil. The 42W and 42SS use a different anvil arrangement with a marked dial and no plunger. All three are good.
A plier-type saw set is handy to have as a backup. Pistol-grip saw sets often hit the handle of the saw when you're trying to set the teeth near the handle. You have two choices — remove the handle or use a plier-type saw set. The Eclipse 77 has the same plunger mechanism as a Stanley 42X.
For backsaws specifically: the 42X works well down to about 12 PPI. Above that — fine dovetail saws at higher PPI — the 42X reaches its limit. Some sharpeners buy a second 42X and file the hammer down to work better with smaller teeth. There used to be a saw set sold under the Somax brand that came with a smaller hammer specifically for setting saws with smaller teeth. I currently use one of these — the blue version.
The new player in the market. Veritas recently released a pistol-grip saw set that claims to set teeth up to 28 TPI. I don't have one yet, but I'm a big fan of Veritas tools and I'm sure one will make its way into the shop sooner rather than later.
This guide focuses on practical user-grade saw sets. If you're assembling a collection of patented saw set designs as historical objects, the Saw Set Collector's Resource is the catalog you want, along with the Friberg book.
How to evaluate a saw set before you buy
A 42X on the table at an estate sale or in a listing photo on eBay is not necessarily a working tool. Most have spent decades in a drawer or on a shelf. Here's what to check.
Anvil wear. The angled face of the anvil is where set actually happens — every tooth gets bent against that small piece of hardened steel. Over thousands of teeth, the face can round over, develop grooves where individual teeth hit repeatedly, or get dented from misuse. A worn anvil sets unevenly, sometimes not at all. Look at the anvil face from the side — it should be a clean angled edge, not rounded. Wear here is usually a deal-breaker; the anvil can sometimes be replaced or refaced but it's specialty work.
Plunger and hammer wear. On a 42X, the small piston (Stanley called it a "bushing") that pre-loads the saw against the anvil should move smoothly under spring pressure. If you squeeze the lever and the plunger doesn't return, or if it sticks part-way, the plunger assembly is gummed up or worn. Gum is usually fixable. Wear is not.
Seized adjuster. The knurled nut on the front of a 42X locks the anvil at its current height. The screw on the bottom raises and lowers the anvil. After decades of oxidation, both can seize up. This is the most common issue with flea-market 42Xs and it's usually fixable with penetrating oil and patience. Don't pay full price for a seized one, but don't walk away either — they almost always come free.
Missing parts. The anvil, the hammer, the plunger, the springs, and the locking knob all need to be present. Small parts can sometimes be improvised or sourced from a parts donor. Structural castings cannot be replaced.
Casting damage. Hairline cracks in the cast iron body are unfixable. Look closely at the body and the handle attachment points.
Original adjuster screw and original spring. Nice to have, not deal-breakers. Replacements work fine.
Box and instruction sheet. Collector premium, not user value. Don't pay an extra $30 for the box unless you specifically want it.
A note on saw jointers
A saw jointer is a different tool than a saw set, but the two operations belong together. A jointer holds a file flat and square to the toothline so you can level the tops of the teeth before setting and filing. Jointing is the first step in sharpening a saw: it makes every tooth the same height, which gives you a uniform starting point for shaping, setting, and filing.
You joint every time you sharpen, lightly — usually just a stroke or two to level off the points. You joint more aggressively when the teeth are uneven from wear or previous bad filing.
You'll find cast-iron versions of various designs, some with patent dates. You can make one from a hardwood block with a saw kerf for the file, or use two pieces of aluminum angle, one on either side of the saw plate. Any of them work. I don't use a jointer myself. I hold the file in my hands and run my fingertips along the side of the saw to keep it flat.
When you don't need to set a saw
Most saws that show up at flea markets don't need to be re-set. They need to be cleaned, possibly re-filed, and put back to work — but the set that's already on them is usually fine.
A saw that cuts straight, doesn't bind in the kerf, and doesn't track off-line during the cut probably doesn't need setting. Set wears slowly. A handsaw can go through several filings before the set noticeably drops below what it should be. Over-setting is a much more common mistake than under-setting, and over-setting causes more problems than it solves — ragged cuts, wasted material, harder steering on a line.
The right answer to "should I re-set this saw?" is often "leave it alone." Filing it sharp is enough.
That said, if a saw is genuinely tired — set worn down from heavy use, teeth uneven from years of careless filing, the whole tooth line a mess — a full jointing, shaping, setting, and filing cycle is what it needs. That's also exactly what the Bench & Chisel sharpening service is for. Doing it yourself is a satisfying skill to develop, and the tools to do it are cheap. But if you have a saw you care about and you're not confident in your filing yet, send it out. There's no shame in that.
Where to start
If you want a saw set of your own, I usually have some in stock. The companion piece, How to Use a Stanley 42X to Set a Saw, walks through the actual technique end to end. And if you'd rather have the work done than learn to do it yourself, the sharpening service is always an option.
Aaron, Shopkeeper and Saw Doctor, Bench & Chisel
References
The Saw Set Collector's Resource (archived). Comprehensive catalog of patented saw set designs from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Patented American Saw Sets, Todd Friberg. The hard-copy reference for collectors and identification.
DATAMP patent database. Patented saw set designs catalogued from primary patent records.
Stanley Pistol Grip Saw Set No. 42 Directions. Stanley Rule & Level Plant's original instruction manual, scanned and hosted at the Internet Archive.
Vintage Saws' Saw Filing Treatise, Pete Taran. The canonical practical reference for sharpening Western handsaws.
Wikipedia: Saw set. Useful overview of the mechanical families and history.
A Practical Guide to Buying Antique Handsaws — for general handsaw evaluation criteria.
Vintage Saw Glossary — terms used throughout this guide are defined here.
How to Use a Stanley 42X to Set a Saw — companion piece, step-by-step technique.