Tensioned frame saw (serra)
Sierra de bastidor tensada (serra)
- Date
- c. 60 CE · confidence low
- Place
- House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Campania, Italy
- Credited to
- Roman carpenters
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A thin steel blade tensioned between the arms of a wooden frame by a cord tourniquet, allowing a narrower blade and a straight cut without buckling. It appears in the Pompeii frescoes of carpenters together with the workbench and other tools.
The date is that of the Pompeii pictorial evidence (before 79); the type is probably earlier and has been credited, without basis, to the mythical Daedalus. It should not be confused with the Egyptian frame saw without a tensioning device.
What it led to
- accurately sawn planks for furniture and construction
- the frame saw of medieval sawmills and European carpenters
- two-man and mason's saws for cutting wood and stone