Axe vs. Saw - Which is better?

The Pocket Chainsaw and axe require two hands, a folding saw only one. A saw can limb and cut fire wood. A fixed blade knife can split wood. An axe or hatchet weighs a lot more than a Gerber Sportsman's Saw. I carry the Sportsman's saw in my Camelbak when hiking and in my back pocket when I am using it. It is fast and easy to cut the wood I need and I can do it one-handed.

My vote is for a Leatherman Charge Ti or Wave, a Gerber Sportsman's Saw and a good fixed blade knife. I keep the Charge Ti in my pocket and the others in my Camelbak.
 
Craig_PHX said:
The Pocket Chainsaw and axe require two hands, a folding saw only one. A saw can limb and cut fire wood. A fixed blade knife can split wood. An axe or hatchet weighs a lot more than a Gerber Sportsman's Saw. I carry the Sportsman's saw in my Camelbak when hiking and in my back pocket when I am using it. It is fast and easy to cut the wood I need and I can do it one-handed.

My vote is for a Leatherman Charge Ti or Wave, a Gerber Sportsman's Saw and a good fixed blade knife. I keep the Charge Ti in my pocket and the others in my Camelbak.
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I use my 16" gerber axe one handed, but good point! I hadn't considered the possible advantages of one handed operation.

One thing about the pocket chain saw is all the pivot joints between links - I can just picture one of the rivets snapping, and then that's it, no more firewood! But I have probobly made over 100 cuts with it with no problem yet
 
camping- both
backpacking or wilderness situation where I have to carry everything- a saw and fixed blade get everything done that i need to do and they are a lot lighter. In a life or death situation the calories consumed by any equipment that can't be multi-purposed or extremely light are not justifiable. Remember part of wilderness survival is as much about conserving calories as anything else.
 
Saw: cutting wood to length, neat cuts, light weight, replaceable blades, inexpensive to buy, far less chance of damaging yourself.

Hatchet (how they can call them axes is beyond me): heavier, good for splitting, good for limbing, has self defense properties.

I would go for the saw.

I really want to see how a short machete does-- 12"-13" blade.
 
I think looking at the subject from an "either", "or", perspective is sometimes the wrong way of considering the tool choice here. There are too many variables in the equation or outdoors to say that tool "A" will do all things best. The saw or axe can be a poor compromise or comparison when many outdoor tasks are taken into account. I live in the woods year-round, and find when both axe and saw are used together, my job is made much easier...most of the time. Having said that; if I was going to be tossed into a wilderness survival situation with little equipment, given the choice of either axe or saw, I would choose the axe. When I go wilderness backpacking, the small saw provides everything I require for cutting wood. Too, in a wilderness setting -- miles from a vehicle, a saw is much, much safer to use. If one is going to carry an axe into the wilderness, he better be VERY experienced at using one, for his safety sake.
 
A hatchet is more versatile, but a saw is much lighter, safer and more efficient for cutting wood.


My favorite saw is the Fiskars/Gerber with the blade that slides out of the handle, weighs only 3.6 oz. and cost around $10.




- Frank
 
Truely different tools.

A saw can be used to facilitate splitting wood.

A cut half-way through the diameter of a length of wood at its midpoint creates a stress-riser. Grasping the cut length of wood and striking it against a hard surface/object with the cut facing down usually causes the piece of wood to split lengthways. I have tried this and suceeded with several species of softwood and hardwood. This works best with baseball bat-like pieces than cordwood.

(I met some Norwegian Scouts in 1960. They could not understand the fascination of American Scouts with axes and the little attention paid to saws. They heated their homes with wood.)
 
In a long term survival or wilderness living situation I would definitely opt for an axe rather than a saw. An expert like Mors Kochansky writes that if he had to choose one tool only, he would choose the axe, even before the knife. With a saw you can cut branches and smaller trees, unless it is a large saw. With a good axe you can build a house from logs if necessary, it will last for a long time and you can sharpen it on a natural stone if necessary and you can probably make a new handle if the old one breaks. A saw is more fragile and can break, and then what? I also imagine it might be difficult to sharpen a saw in the field without special tools. The axe is one of the very oldest and most important tools in history.
 
Thomas Linton said:
(I met some Norwegian Scouts in 1960. They could not understand the fascination of American Scouts with axes and the little attention paid to saws. They heated their homes with wood.)
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Saws have been used a lot in this part of the world, there is a reason for the name "swede saw" or the Swedish bow saw, and it is much faster and easier to cut down trees with a saw than with an axe. If given the choice of only one of the two tools though, I would still go for the axe. On the other hand bow saws are quite light and you can easily carry a spare blade or two. I have a Swedish survival book that suggests fitting a full length bow saw blade on the inside of your trouser belt (they are very flexible), so that it can be used with an improvised wooden bow in an emergency.
 
I can not imagine taking a saw over an axe. . I think the big question is do people feel carrying an axe makes them feel there huge chopper is now obsolete and therefor choose a saw?
 
If I'm winter camping, I carry both. A full size bow saw for for cutting tree down to proper size, and a full size axe for splitting them up. One word of caution if you are using the folding bow saws. Make sure the blade is on securely. One time I was cutting a tree up when the blade sprung out and cut some tendons on the back of the left index. Took me 3 days to ski back out, and 10 hrs drive to get to a hospitial.


If I can only have 1, I take an axe, can't split trunks with a saw.
 
I wonder if anyone ever made a hatchet with a folding saw in the handle....

Gerber makes one with a slide-out saw
 
When I am thinking about survival, bushwhacking, or simply backwoods cruising, I often look back and see what the folks who did it "for real" carried. The axe ranks 2nd only to the knife in the minds and hands of these true experts. Often, the axe ranked #1. Why re-invent the wheel? I vote for the axe. Preferably a mid-sized cruiser axe.
 
For me it is definitely the rigid frame saw. In more than 25 years of camping and outdoor living I have never needed nor wanted an axe, or hatchet (and never needed to use a knife to limb trees or split wood). Other than pioneering (which ended 100 years ago, BTW) there is not much use for hatchets and axes, IMO.
A splitting maul works better than an ax if you are trying to heat a home with wood (hydraulic splitters work even better). Chain saws are much less effort, when dropping trees on your own property. Axes are too heavy to carry backpacking and car camping lets you carry a chain saw.
When camping dead wood is normally abundant (if not; the area is over used and you need to leave the park and head for the forest). Cutting live trees is illegal in both parks and national forests (but every year I see that the idiots still do it) (usually wasting good live trees that they can't burn).
A small bow type saw can be used (one handed) to cut dead wood to length or to drop and limb small (8" diameter or less) standing dead trees and weighs less than a hatchet.
Enjoy!
 
MONKEYAZZ said:
I can not imagine taking a saw over an axe. . I think the big question is do people feel carrying an axe makes them feel there huge chopper is now obsolete and therefor choose a saw?
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Careful. If you come here often you will be exposed to other's experiences and opinions. Go back and read both of Nord's posts. He prefers the axe but understands the usefulness of a saw. Situations alter cases.
 
Eyegor said:
When I am thinking about survival, bushwhacking, or simply backwoods cruising, I often look back and see what the folks who did it "for real" carried. The axe ranks 2nd only to the knife in the minds and hands of these true experts. Often, the axe ranked #1. Why re-invent the wheel? I vote for the axe. Preferably a mid-sized cruiser axe.
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As you may know, a couple of centuries ago professional loggers began to uniformly use hand saws to cut down trees and reduce the logs to lengths, rather than felling and bucking with an axe. This is because the saw does the work faster, safer, with less wastage of wood, and with less energy expenditure (all important factors in a survival situation). They also used axes to trim branches and split wood. Each tool has its use. Those loggers were quite "real" and I dare say they could be regarded as "experts." They certainly had more experience with reducing wood from trees to product than any 100 modern "experts" combined.

Files specially made to sharpen saws exist. I own several. It's tedious work to sharpen a saw, but it was commonplace before our current "disposable" society. It is not difficult and no more mindless than most television watching.

Certainly, if the thread author had posed the question of which tool is best for long-term primitive survival situation, the axe gains points as more long-lasting and durable.
 
I love a Victorinox SAK (the Farmer, etc.) that has a saw blade, although they are small and, in my opinion, mostly for emergencies. A larger folding saw and/or a manual chain saw is very useful for cutting small firewood. If I had to choose between a saw and an axe, I'd choose the axe, hatchet, or tomahawk every time because it, unlike a saw, can be used as a weapon if needed. Just a thought...
 
I say an axe beacause it's more dependable and if need be you can fell trees and split wood.But a manual saw is safer and easier to carry.Like most people I'll take both:D
 
Axe for me, if I could only take one thing

- use it as a weapon
- chop/split firewood
- build a log cabin/shelter
- use it like a hammer
- chop bones
- sharpen it relatively easily
- unlikely to break
 
I've used a pocket chain saw before and I don't miss it a bit. I found that using them requires much more than just both arms -- it requires that you use your whole body, swinging back and forth, in order to make each cut. Also, that the log be at a perfect angle to avoid back fatigue. Plus, the nearly 1/4" wide cut requires waaay more effort than the 1/16" cut from a folding saw. YMMV.

In response to the original question, if I had a knife, then I'd choose a folding saw, no question. But as mentioned, I also find it easier to get to the dry center of a tootsie...I mean log, using a knife or axe/hatchet than a saw. :D
 
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