From reciprocating to mitre , jig to circular , a good saw comes in handy now and again . Not surprisingly , they date back a few years – paintings depict the early Egyptians using saws made from copper with no handle . Chinese legend attributes the invention of the saw to structural engineer Lu Ban after he cut his hand on a leaf with a spiny texture , while according to Greek mythology Talos created the saw blade after seeing the spine of a fish .

Nevertheless , it was the good old Romans – apparently – who came up with the idea of adding a wooden handle . Smart .

While saws were around in the early days , they really took off in the 1600s after the advent of rolled steel – and over the following couple of centuries the saw became a household staple , however it was pretty much limited to cutting wood .

Since then , technology and innovation has spawned all

manner of saws – hundreds of them . We ’ re all familiar with some of the more obvious ones , but saws are used for loads of different things . Sternal saws , for example , are used for cutting through a patient ’ s sternum during surgery , while a felloe saw was used to cut out the felloes of wooden cart wheels .

MUSICAL SAWS Not only are they mighty fine tools , saws can also be , erm , interesting musical instruments . Popular in Russian and rural American folk music , a musical saw is a handsaw that ’ s played while seated , with the handle between the legs and the far end held with one hand . To create music , simply bend the blade into an S curve and use a bow across the back edge of the saw . In 2009 , the Guinness World Record for the largest musical saw ensemble was set at the annual New York City Saw

Festival , in which 53 musical saw players performed together .

SAW MOVIES A ‘ splatter film ’ franchise ( that ’ s a horror subgenre that focuses on particularly graphic violence ), the Saw series of movies now numbers nine after the release of Spiral earlier this year – and it ’ s Aussies we have to thank . Or blame . You decide . James Wan and Leigh Whannell are the ( somewhat warped ) masterminds behind the franchise that ’ s

THE SAW DOCTORS This Irish rock band has cult followings in Ireland , the UK , the US and here in Australia , and are one of the best live bands around . After touring Australia in 1993 , they returned in 2010 for a 10-date national tour – their full gig at Sydney ’ s Metro Theatre is on YouTube and is well worth a watch with a beer in hand . In 1993 , the band ’ s keyboard and accordion player , Tony Lambert , won the lottery – scooping the equivalent of around $ 1.5m . He was living in a converted bus at the time , and promptly quit the band to move to Galway , restore an old house and build his own recording studio ! n