A surgical sagittal saw for use with a complementary blade assembly that includes a static bar. The saw includes a head over which the blade assembly bar is seated. A clamp rod is able to mounted to the head to move along the longitudinal axis of the rod. The rod has a head that, as result of the longitudinal movement of the rod is moved towards and away from the head. A blade assembly is disposed on the saw head adjacent the rod. The rod can be positioned in a run state so that the rod head abuts the bar of the blade assembly so as to hold the blade assembly to the saw head. Alternatively, the rod can be repositioned in a load state the rod head is spaced from the saw head. This allows the blade assembly to be removed and replaced. A control member mounted to the saw head controls the movement of the rod. When the rod is moved from the load state to the run state, a biasing member places a force on the rod to hold the rod in the run state.
