I have a BK9 and I need more... what's your suggestion?

[ocnLogan]

that's a smart idea. do you know of any Saw that's super long and folds also? i currently take bow saws with me but i hate having to run into the store n buying new baldes lol.

What size wood are you looking to process?

For the hiking/camping that I've done, I've never had to/wanted to cut anything bigger than ~7-8in diameter. I use a Corona folding saw. I think the biggest they make is 10in. Silky is another well known (perhaps the best known) folding saw manufacturer, while Bahco's "laplander" is another popular model, with I believe a 9in blade. As far as I understand though, these don't have replaceable blades. But they're relatively cheap, make quick work of wood that is in their size range, and are easy to carry.

There are folding bow saws, in the 21 and 24in lengths, and those work well from what I hear, although I've not tried one myself. Look at the Sven Saw, and the Bob Destrude Quick Buck Saw.

You can also just buy a bow saw blade, and make your own frame. I hear this is the preferred method for Mors Kochanski. He keeps a ~36in bow saw blade under his belt, and constructs the saw from materials around him when he gets into a situation where he needs the saw. I've only tried this once so far (while I was car camping), and I used a 21in blade, but it worked just fine. Took me about 15-20 minutes to craft the saw, and then used it for the rest of the trip. Then I just took it apart, and took home the saw blade (which cost ~$8 if I remember correctly). I'll be trying this again .

 

[22-rimfire]

If you are processing much wood at a camp site, a saw of some sort is invaluable. I like to chop stuff, but I would like to get it to a size I can deal with first with the saw if I need to.

 

[collim1]

I have a Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet. It is amazingly sharp and well balanced. Carves as well as it chops. Very high Quality. Cant recommend it enough.

When space is not an issue, like truck camping, It accompanies my BK9.

 

[Rammy]

I have a Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet. It is amazingly sharp and well balanced. Carves as well as it chops. Very high Quality. Cant recommend it enough.

When space is not an issue, like truck camping, It accompanies my BK9.

i'd love to get a Gransfors Bruk! on my list!

 

[upnorth]

A lot of us go through fazes. The Mora faze, the machete faze, the big chopper faze, the axe/hatchet faze, on and on.

 

[22-rimfire]

that's a smart idea. do you know of any Saw that's super long and folds also? i'm thinking of the Bob Dustrude Quick Buck Saw! and keep my BK9. since the handle has been dipped in white camo! sexy! this way i won't even have to spend much cause to be honest that BK9 is a freaking CHAMP!

I would go the saw route myself and continue to use the BK-9 which you like. I don't know why you need such a long saw blade for camping. Car camping, I have been known to bring a cross cut saw simply because the chain saw makes too much noise. I like the small folding Silky saws which get you up to about 6" diameter wood.

Yes, to GB wildlife hatchet. If you want a kukri type blade, HI is where I go and I don't fool around with the cheaper stuff. But if I simply want to try one out to see if I like it, Condor. Often that is where I stop as I like Condor stuff. Love the two short machetes I mentioned earlier and they are major choppers and kindling splitters.

As was said, it seems a lot of us go through phases in our blade/cutting tool acquisitions. I am probably in a machete phase now and have been for a couple years now.

 

[Larcivs Lepidvs]

a good old billhook like this

or a hard working blade like this

 

[Steve6387]

If you are using a BK9 to chop and split and you want more.... It's because you are using the wrong tool. You hinted at it in the original post. Get a hatchet. I just spent $30 on a Fiskars x11 and it's ridiculous how much more productive it is than a Kuk or large knife. It's also a great hammer and yes you can baton with it..... But it splits so much more efficiently than a knife, you won't need to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpEjpqKg3Yg

 

[ocnLogan]

I did a chop-off between my BK9, and my hatchet (admittedly, a crappy no-name one from lowes that I was gifted 15 years ago), and the BK9 won by a large margin. Part of that was accuracy (I was much more accurate with the BK9), and I'm sure my technique could be better. But my 14in 1.25lb hatchet took over twice as many strokes to chop through the piece of wood than the BK9.

I really feel that Hatchets and knives of similar sizes and weights perform very similarly, with the advantage going to the tool that the wielder carries more skill with.

The Fiskars you mention will likely outchop the BK9 though, as its a 17in "hatchet", which IMO is already out of the hatchet size range (~12-15in, imo), and is on its way to a hunters axe or small forest axe size. And either of those genres of axes will totally out chop a knife, as they out weigh them by a fair margin, and typically have 4-6in of OAL advantage. So if serious chopping/splitting is called for, forget the knives and the hatchets, and grab a Small forest axe (or larger), and carry that instead.

In my experience so far sawing is still the best fastest/least effort way of cutting wood to length. An axe or maul will be the best for splitting, but it gets fuzzier on which is best when you're out camping, since typically you're not doing much volume of wood. Personally, I usually only need to split one wrist/forearm sized piece of wood when I go camping (if I need to) to get the kindling I need.

If it were me, I'd grab the folding saw, then I'd downsize on the BK9 (get something like say... a BK10/12/7 since now you're not using the knife for chopping, you only need something large/sturdy enough to baton when/if needed), and then make sure you have a folder or Mora handy for everything else. That should weigh close to what you have now, while being much more efficient at cutting, and about the same at splitting.