View Full Version : About your saws....
How many of you have foldable saws and which ones?
Or do you carry the blades and fashion a handle when you need one ?
I have a Silky Fox Pocket Boy 170.
Bigger is better if you have a lot of sawing to do. This is a homebrewed one with a 21" blade. I just used it last week and it works pretty well.
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images6/bucksaw1b.jpg
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images6/bucksaw2b.jpg
ditchfield
13-06-2004, 12:56
I own a Bahco Laplander and an Opinel folder. I don't often carry the opinel as I prefer the large laplander.
i have the bahco 396 xt they are the same as the laplander but smaller and orange and black so they dont get lost in the woods that easy :-D
Carcajou Garou
13-06-2004, 14:45
My wife and I carry different styles of saws depending on the activity we are pursuing. While day tripping (walking) we carry mainly our hunting packs with Gerber folding saws, I also carry a CS Kukri. If we are canoeing even for a few hours we carry our canoe tool roll with a 21" solid frame swede saw plus 3/4 ax, entrenching tool, mattock/pick all in a small compact case. When we are dedicated camping with no canoe I carry a collaspsable tube buck saw, and my wife carries a folding buck saw that you can see in saw trouble post. We always carry either a hatchet or a 3/4 ax as a part of our kits. We consider the hatchet/ax more important than the saws. Saws for us are a newer adition to our pack/kit systems.
just a thought
http://www.abbeypro.co.uk/store/tree-pruning/tree-pruning-hand-saws/silky-fox-pocket-boy-130-170/showitemPOKBOY.aspx
grumit, I have the 396xt and a laplander. They are the same size and the blades are interchangeable.
SquirrelBoy
13-06-2004, 16:39
The 396XT and Laplander are the same size but its the teeth that are different.
On the 396XT they are small, on the Laplander they are bigger.
I have the XT but am considering getting a Laplander from Amazon. Its still £18 and for that you get a whole saw :!: so not much more than a new blade ! :-D
The 396XT and Laplander are the same size but its the teeth that are different.
On the 396XT they are small, on the Laplander they are bigger.
I have the XT but am considering getting a Laplander from Amazon. Its still £18 and for that you get a whole saw :!: so not much more than a new blade ! :-D
£18! Thats alot better than the ridiculous amount woodlore charges. I might consider getting one as they do look very good.
i did not know they are the same size hoodoo we can only get the xt here
and then it took me over a month to get it as the garden store only order monthly next time i will look online for a lapplander doe's the bigger teeth make any difference to the cut or is it just faster ?
Well, I don't know a heck of a lot about the differences. I have used my Sandvik 396 XT {actually it's a JT} for many years now and it still cuts like a demon.
Here is a pic of some different blades. The top is the 396 XT {actually a JT}, the next is the Laplander, the next is the 396 XT7 which is supposed to be for hard wood and seasoned dry wood. The teeth are shallow, have an unusual pattern, and it is called an HP blade, which stands for Hard Point.
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images5/bahcoxtpattern1b.jpg
The bottom blade is a 396 JT blade and its teeth are longer, do not have an unusual pattern, and this blade is used primarily for soft wood.
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images6/bahco_saws1b.jpg
The Laplander has the same tooth pattern as the 396 XT7 and additionally the blade is coated which theoretically reduces friction while sawing. What I don't know about the Laplander is if it is a HP blade as well. My old 396 XT looks like a JT blade with a coating. {BECAUSE IT IS A JT :-D }
So which is best I reckon depends on whether you plan on cutting a lot of green wood or dry wood.
Here is a link that might help.
http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Menu.asp?MID=332
Hmmm, the more I look at my old 396, I think it IS a JT, not an XT. For some reason I thought it was an XT.
MartiniDave
14-06-2004, 08:33
I've got the 396xt too, got it for £15, bundled with a decent pair of secateurs - a nice sweetener for my wife!
Used the laplander on the woolore course, can't really say I noticed much difference, except the laplander is harder to spot if you put it down in the grass (which you shouldn't do. I know!)
I've had others made by people like Yeoman in the past, they are not anything like as good as the Bahco's.
Dave
As a long time fan of japanese saws I was a bit disappointed in the laplander when I saw one in the flesh - it's very different. The teeth are shorter, closer together, and a different shape froma a japanese saw. The blade coating is rough not smooth - it looks and feels like a crinkle coat paint and sure doesn't feel like a low friction coating.
The teeth on the laplander are set (slightly bent left and right to cut a wider kerf and stop the blade binding in the cut. With the blade coat, it needs this.
Japanese blades usually aren't set - they cut a very fine kerf which makes them efficient (good) and leaves a superb finish (irrelevant in bushcraft).
These points put me off the laplander completely and I bought a W/S fiskars model at half to 1/3 the price
BUT
I've read a very good practical review (may have been on the outdoorsmagazine website) that compared the laplander with a japanese toothed saw, and while there wasn't much in it, the laplander came out best overall mainly because it's a tougher blade suited to a wider range of tasks.
Cheers
ChrisKavanaugh
15-06-2004, 16:21
Different styles of teeth evolved for different conditions. Basically you have close set, more robust teeth for hardwoods and frozen softwoods, or more open styles for pulpy softwoods such as pines. In the real world, both will cut fairly efficiently. www.crosscutsaw.com is a USA based company with lots of resources and information. They are geared toward lager saws, but are a fun look.
I spent a huge amount of time testing every imaginable folding saw and hand chainsaws etc and carried one all the time
But I much prefer a proper bow saw if any real cutting needs to be done
they are simply much more efficient with regards to the amount of energy used to the amount of cutting done
however until recently every bow saw I came across was too heavy/large to pack and the folding ones too flimsy
And packing the blades into your Billy can where once knocked they can spring out as you remove the lid is as far as I am concerned complete lunacy
I have now sorted this problem though and have a lovely solid and extremely light weight (its a little over 9oz) folding Bow saw that takes up almost no space and stores the blades safely
http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_get_image.php?image=oldjimbo/survival/sawvcut1.jpg
i got the laplander too and a Aldi "topcraft" folding saw, very cheap saw, but it does it job well. Also got 3 wiresaws somewhere...
been looking at chainsaws and bowsaw, but i'm just to broke...