Butcher's meat saw

A reciprocating saw, comprising a housing;

• a guide element secured to said housing and having an edge defining a direction;
• an elongated blade element having a longitudinal succession of cutting teeth, a rear end, and an edge extending along and slidable on said edge of said guide element, one of said edges being V-shaped;
• a first plurality of tabs and a second plurality of tabs transversely spaced from one another on another of said edges so as to define a V-shaped groove therebetween in which said one V-shaped edge is slidably received, said tabs of each of said first and second pluralities being longitudinally spaced from one another so as to define a first plurality of notches and a second plurality of notches therebetween, respectively, the tabs of said first plurality being longitudinally offset relative to the tabs of said second plurality so that said first plurality of notches is longitudinally offset relative to said second plurality of notches, and said notches alternatingly communicate with said V-shaped groove on respective lateral sides thereof, whereby successive longitudinal increments of said one edge are fully exposed on one and on the other lateral side of said other edges, respectively, so that said one edge is laterally accessible over its entire length;
• and drive means in said housing connected to said rear end for reciprocating said blade element in said direction wherein said tabs have faces defining said grooves and lying at an angle of between 30.degree. and 90.degree. to each other, and said faces overlap transversely of said direction.