ripsaw

Pluralripsaws

Formsripsaws, ripsawing, ripsawed

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A saw built to cut wood along the grain, performing a lengthwise rip cut.

   It works with the wood's natural lines, much like splitting a log along its grain rather than chopping across it.

   A carpenter reaches for a ripsaw when splitting a plank along the grain.

   The teeth on this ripsaw are filed for fast cutting parallel to the fibers.

   Oppositecrosscut

   Note

   A compound that explains itself: rip, the woodworker's word for a cut along the grain, joined to saw. The tool works well in one direction only. Percival Everett's Erasure (2001) notes that a ripsaw slices smoothly along the grain but chews up the wood against it. Its teeth are filed nearly square across, so each one acts like a tiny chisel. The tool also gives its name to the verb for cutting with it.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To saw wood lengthwise along the grain with a ripsaw.

   Carpenters ripsaw rough boards to width before joining them.

   He decided to ripsaw the oak along its length for the tabletop.

   Similarrip

   Oppositecrosscut

3. 3
   nounCaribbeanuncountable

   A style of music in which a handsaw is scraped as a percussion instrument along with other instruments, originally linked mainly with the Turks and Caicos Islands.

   The band closed the set with a lively ripsaw that filled the dance floor.

   Visitors to the islands often hear ripsaw performed at local celebrations.

   Note

   Here the tool becomes the music. In the Turks and Caicos Islands a carpenter's handsaw, scraped with a metal object, supplies a rasping rhythmic line beneath instruments such as the accordion and drums. As the name of a style it is a Caribbean usage and usually takes no article: people play ripsaw or dance to ripsaw. Outside that setting, most readers will hear the word as the woodworking tool.

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