G & G Industries Saw-Jaw Blade Tool Review
A blade handling tool with unclear availability. Why blade maintenance matters more than the tool, and what to buy.
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The G & G Industries Saw-Jaw was a tool for handling saw blades — holding and gripping a blade safely during changes and cleaning. It has no reliable retail presence now.
The problem it sat next to is worth more attention than the tool itself.
A gummed blade behaves exactly like a blunt one
This is the single most useful thing to know about saw blades, and most people never act on it.
Cutting resinous softwood, or anything with adhesive in it, deposits pitch on the carbide teeth and on the plate behind them. That deposit does three things: it insulates the tooth so it runs hotter, it increases friction against the kerf walls, and it effectively rounds the cutting edge.
The symptoms are identical to a blunt blade — burning, harder feed, a rougher cut. So people send a perfectly sharp blade for sharpening, or buy a new one, when ten minutes with a cleaner would have restored it.
Hold a used blade up to the light and look at the back face of the teeth. If there is brown varnish on the carbide, that is your problem.
How to clean one safely
Not with oven cleaner. It is widely suggested and it is a bad idea: the caustic soda attacks the brazing that holds the carbide tip to the plate. It works, right up until a tooth leaves the blade at 4000rpm.
Use a dedicated blade and bit cleaner. Lay the blade flat in a shallow tray, cover, leave it to soak, then work the teeth with a brass or nylon brush — never steel, which will scratch the carbide. Rinse, dry immediately and completely, and give the plate a wipe of light oil or a dry lubricant so it does not flash-rust.
Handling blades without cutting yourself
The habit that actually prevents injuries: carry a blade by the plate with two hands, never by the rim, and never let it rest teeth-down on a bench. Keep blades in their card sleeves or on a dowel rack. Most blade injuries happen during storage and handling, not cutting.
A magnetic blade gripper or a stiff glove helps during changes. So does unplugging the saw, which is free.
What to buy
CMT Formula 2050 blade and bit cleaner, linked below, is the straightforward product: water-soluble, safe on carbide and brazing, and it works on router bits and shaper cutters as well as blades.
Clean a blade before you conclude it needs sharpening. You will send far fewer blades away.
What works
- Dissolves pitch and resin without the caustic attack on carbide brazing that oven cleaner causes
- Works on router bits and shaper cutters as well as saw blades, so one tin covers the whole shop
- Water-soluble, so a rinse and a dry is the entire cleanup
What doesn't
- Needs a soak and a brush — it is not a spray-and-wipe product, and a badly gummed blade may need a second pass