Irwin Jacksaw 880 Hand Saw 20 Inch

The Irwin Jacksaw 880 is a 20 inch hand saw built for general carpentry and timber cutting on site or in the workshop. As an irwin hand saw, it balances cutting speed with control, making it a go-to tool for joiners, carpenters, and general builders who need a reliable saw that gets through timber without fuss. At this price, it’s the kind of saw that earns its place in every toolbag, even as a backup.

The teeth on the Jacksaw 880 are triple ground, which means each tooth is sharpened on three faces rather than two. This gives a cleaner cut on both the push and pull stroke, and it also means the saw moves through wood more freely than a standard hand saw. The gullets between the teeth are enlarged to clear sawdust faster, which keeps the blade tracking straight and reduces drag during longer cuts. The set pattern is optimised to prevent the blade from binding in the kerf, which is particularly useful when cutting damp or green timber that tends to close up behind the blade.

What the Irwin Jacksaw 880 Is Built For

The Jacksaw 880 is designed for universal cutting across all wood types. Softwood studwork, hardwood trim, sheet materials, and treated timber are all within range. The 20 inch blade length gives enough reach for cutting through wider sections without needing multiple passes, and the tooth geometry handles cross-cutting and rip-cutting without needing to switch saws mid-job.

The handle is a two-component ergonomic design with a moulded finger guide. This sounds like a minor detail, but after a full day’s cutting it makes a noticeable difference. The finger guide keeps your grip consistent and positions your hand correctly relative to the blade, which improves accuracy and reduces the kind of fatigue that comes from gripping too tightly to compensate for an awkward handle angle. Both components of the handle work together to absorb vibration and reduce slippage.

Tooth Specification at a Glance

The Jacksaw 880 uses triple ground teeth with an additional ground edge, an increased gullet size, an optimised set pattern, and a universal cut profile. This combination is what allows the saw to perform across different timber types and grain directions without requiring a specialist blade for each application. It is not a panel saw and it is not a tenon saw. It sits in the practical middle ground: a general-purpose hand saw that cuts quickly, tracks well, and handles the kind of varied work most tradespeople encounter day to day.

The 20 inch blade is hardpoint treated, which means the teeth are hardened beyond what a standard file can resharpen. This is a trade-off: the teeth stay sharper for longer under heavy use, but the saw is replaced rather than resharpened when it eventually dulls. At £6.29, that calculation makes sense.