Abstract: An apparatus for rapidly manufacturing elongate sawblades, such as saber sawblades, from a continuous band of metal. All sequential steps of the manufacturing operation, including tooth-cutting, deburring, tooth-setting and shank-forming are performed prior to the blade being severed from the band of metal so as to avoid the necessity of handling the individual blades separately for any of these operations. All operations are synchronized to the movement of the tooth cutter, the speed of which is maximized by advancing it in a direction perpendicular to the width dimension of the steel band. The outer surface of the tooth portion of each sawblade is heat-treated to provide hardness, but hardening and resultant brittleness of both the core metal of the tooth portion and the entire shank portion of the blade are avoided to preserve their ductility and resistance to breaking.