Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Kings 7:9

"All these were of costly stones, even of hewn stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside unto the great court." — 1 Kings 7:9 (ASV)

The stones were uniform—all cut to certain fixed measures of length, width, and thickness. They were squared not only on the visible face but also on the sides that were within the wall and could not be seen. Saws appear in Assyrian sculptures from the age of Sennacherib, and fragments of an iron saw have been found at Nimrud.