Frame saw sometimes refers to a woodworker's bow saw

Bow saw

A modern bow saw is a metal-framed saw in the shape of a bow with a coarse wide blade. This type of saw is also known as a swede saw or a buck saw. It is a rough tool that can be used for cross-cutting branches down to size.Traditionally, a bow saw is a woodworking tool used for straight or...

.

A frame saw is a type of rip saw

Rip saw

In woodworking, a cut made parallel to the direction of the grain of the workpiece is known as a rip cut. If one were to cut a tree trunk in half from top to bottom, this would be a rip cut — but the term also applies to cutting free lumber....

. It consists of a relatively narrow and flexible blade held under tension within a (generally wooden) rectangular frame. The blade is held perpendicular to the plane of the frame, so that the wood being cut passes through the center of the frame.

The frame saw was the mainstay of resawing before stiff, unframed two-man saws, circular saw

Circular saw

The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...

s, and band saw

Band saw

A bandsaw is a power tool which uses a blade consisting of a continuous band of metal with teeth along one edge to cut various workpieces. The band usually rides on two wheels rotating in the same plane, although some small bandsaws have three wheels. Bandsawing produces uniform cutting action as a...

s took over. In some early sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

s a frame saw was powered from a water wheel

Water wheel

A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...

 or other rotary motion through a crankshaft

Crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...

and connecting rod. It is now largely obsolete, though woodworkers who eschew power tools still make them for personal use.