Abstract: According to prior art, especially wood workpieces are cut by means of band saws or gate saws, a chipping-type separation of the workpiece (5) being achieved by means of the toothing of the saw blades (2). Proceeding from the prior art, the invention relates to a novel device for separating materials (1) wherein an abrasive saw blade (2) of little blade thickness and having a close-toothed microtoothing (3) is used so that a grinding-type separation of materials is achieved. The resulting kerfs are considerably thinner and the cut edges are treated more gently than known from the prior art. The novel abrasive saw blade (2), however, requires more time-consuming blade guidance and blade cleaning and a different blade production. Treatment of wood and veneers.