Career
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood
Run saws that cut wood.
$42,770
Median pay
-1.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
4,500
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Inspect and measure workpieces to mark for cuts and to verify the accuracy of cuts, using rulers, squares, or caliper rules.
- Adjust saw blades, using wrenches and rulers, or by turning handwheels or pressing pedals, levers, or panel buttons.
- Mount and bolt sawing blades or attachments to machine shafts.
- Set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines.
- Inspect stock for imperfections or to estimate grades or qualities of stock or workpieces.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Inspect and measure workpieces to mark for cuts and to verify the accuracy of cuts, using rulers, squares, or caliper rules.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Quality Control Analysis.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $42,770 a year and 4,500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Cabinetmaking and MillworkCIP 48.0703
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing$43,380 · -2.5%
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$46,570 · -0.9%
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand$42,660 · -19.2%
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand$38,020 · -18.9%
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,550 · -10.8%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.