Knife vs Hatchet vs Saw

Excellent review. My only issue with carrying a saw is that it only does cutting, no batonning if wet on a saw! For sheer wood processing, it is unrivaled. But if bent, you have a near worthless tool. The little axe is nice....might get one or two.
 
Nice review. I have to second the saw as a single purpose tool, but in combination, it would be nice choice. really like the Estwing since they are practically bulletproof.
 
My only criticism is I've never seen that type of saw carried for hiking or camping. People always seem to take a pruning saw or the saw on a SAK.

A carpentry type saw like that would certainly be fast. But then you'll hear arguments that it weighs too much, as well.

So, I don't know.
 
Exellent review!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

God knows I love knives. Been accumulating and collecting for over 40 years. But as I've gotten older, And I pray smarter, I have found out things change. You get old, or injured, and things change greatly!

When I was younger I loved the big blades. My Randall 14, Western bowie, where part of my woods tramping and camping gear. But life went on and we humans have a habit of moving on with life that is lived in stages.

The big chopper gave way to the small ax in my middle age, then with some injuries along the way, I went to a saw. At each stage, I looked back and wondered at how I had made it harder on myself by not changing earlier. I still love knives, but have come to the relization of keeping them in thier place as cutting tools. The saw was invented back in biblical times for a reason. Ancient man used stone axes for a reason.

In 2000, I had an operation on my right rotator cuff. For a period of time post surgery, I had my right arm out of action, and it was a huge eye opener. I don't thing I'd like to do chopping with my left hand. There may be people out there who can do things as well with thier left hand, but 'm not one of them. Accuracy and safty took a huge hit. If I were injured in the wild, a saw is my first choice of cutting tool if theres a shelter to make, firewood to cut. A saw is safe, easy, uses way less energy, and in an emergency I can trust my wife or granddaughter with a saw. In a survival situation, a serious injury is not something to take lightly. Something like a Sven saw takes down into a tube for ging in a pack. A spare blade is a few onces. Folding saws are so light, that each member of the party can have one in thier day pack. A sliding blade Gerber/Fiskars weighs less than some folding knives. I've been using the same Fiskars since the late 1990's, and it's still going strong. Cuts wood like a crazed beaver.

For the past ten years now, I havn't used a knife with a blade over 3 or 4 inches for anything exept kitchen duty. Outdoors, whatever small knife I have on me, is used as a team mate for the saw in my daypack. At this stage of my life, I want efficiancy more than anything, and theres no way any knife is going to be as good as a saw if you have to make a shelter, splint a leg, or even split damp/wet wood for a fire. Theres plenty of videos showing how to split wood with a folding saw, and it really does work. By the time my granddaughter was 12, she could split wood with a saw like a pro.

I know the current 'in' thing is batoning. Each to thier own. But sooner or later, you will break that knife. You've all seen the photos of knives that have been broken by batoning, it happens. You may get away with it a dozen times, but sooner or later, it's going to happen. Easpcially if it's really a cold day, and that steel may be a bit brittle. If you are in a real survival situation, do you really want to beat on your cutting tool? A tool that is RC56 or above that is way harder than a hatchet head or saw blade?

Like I said, I love knives. But I've come to love folding saws like my Fiskars, Opinel, Sven. They just flat out get the job done better than anything else.

May not be a romantic image, but there it is.
 
Since I'm an old guy, too, I'll weigh in on this.

Big chopper knives may have a romance all their own, and they're fun to play with, but they're not the best tool for the job. Axes and hatchets are fun, too, but like the big chopper blades, they're not the best tool for the job, either.

What job? Safely cutting wood when you need it.

Don't get me wrong, those tools have their place: they're actually better at taking the small to medium branches off of a piece of wood than a saw is. That's where they excel. I don't go out without my bolo machete and a fixed blade knife.

But — as has already been pointed out — a saw is better at, well, sawing through wood. It's faster and safer in my experience than a big blade, and it's pretty versatile, too. It's very good at processing wood, of course, and you can split wood, too. But wait! There's more! Building traps? A saw, in conjunction with a small knife, makes the job of notching easier, not to mention that it's more precise than a big knife for cutting to exact lengths.

Yes, yes, I did read the posts that say "but it only does one thing." Well, obviously, it does more than one thing, but even if it didn't, it does that one thing so well that it's worth carrying. Your knife doesn't bake brownies or fix flat tires, either: it only cuts, just like a saw — it just cuts differently. What's wrong with having the correct tool? Nothing, as far as I can see.

Sure, I take my knives and choppers to the field with me, but I take my Silky saw, too. It does the job that it was designed to do very well indeed.

When I was a young whippersnapper I loved to chop. Now that I'm old, I'll use a saw, and do the job better, with less effort.

YMMV, of course.
 
I have that ESTWING axe and its great, my only complaint of a axe is safety. I was chopping up a stump for fat wood and swung it sideways and the axe deflected off the top of the stump and hit my baseball cap brim!!!!!!!sharpside to!!!!. I am very axe savvy but the swinging got out of control and all it takes is one blow to the face to ruin the day. lol in survival situation I would rather have a good stout knife. batoning is much safer I beleive. nice reveiew by the way:thumbup:
 
It confirms things I knew. Saws are less energy, likely faster, and will get the job done safer. However, I still will prefer a big knife, as to me, it is much more fun. I tried out the axe/hatchets, and I still found myself wanting to use a large knife more. The big knife can do more in my hands then the others as well. It may not be best for everyone, but it is best for me.

Good job doing the test, though. Each person has their own idea of what they like to use in a trip to the woods. I prefer a big knife, others will prefer the saw. Different strokes for different folks. (Of course, if a survival situation arose, I would much prefer the most energy efficient way. Luckily, that hasn't happened to me)
 
Thanks for the expense and effort that went into the test!!!

Yep, a lite wgt saw (i'm going to be getting 'Sawvivor' - i've used and don't like the folders) and a good knife are a great combo for wilderness situtions.

No significant surprises in the test results though TBH. I don't like chopping, but i do like a big, "chopper" sized knife and am OK with the wgt of it.

Honestly i've come full-circle going from big knives/machetes to small-ish minimalistic (read 'bush-craft specific') blades back to something big (i'm anxiously awaiting my Trailmaster).
 
How nice to see someone do an actual test and give us the indisputable numbers. For years I've carried my Sears lightweight saw in the woods. It's all I use anymore for wood shaping (although tent stakes are fun to carve with a knife). Seems like whenever I've mentioned a saw here, I'm totally ignored.

I've got over 60 outdoor knives and pocketknives, and two saws. It's fun and good exercise to whack brush with a big blade, but for serious outdoor living, my first and most used woods tool is the lightweight saw.

My Sears saw is over 30 years old, never broke, and the original blade still cuts. Newer saws have a thinner kerf for even less effort.

It is obvious when a writer focuses on his blade(s) for living and working in the woods, he's never really been there for serious. If he had been, he would be writing about all the use his saw was, not his blades.

Today young people rarely get a chance to get out of town and into the deep woods. I know I don't much any more. No time. But we all love our blades and love to talk about them, and dream about adventures. But I suggest we all learn from the experienced guys' writings above.

A fellow with much more experience than I once wrote a real adventure is uncomfortable and the result of poor planning.
 
Anything I wouldn't be able to get through with half a dozen chops falls victim to a foot of bow saw. I don't like wasting my time.
 
No surprises? Do you people do much chopping?
For the wood you would be cutting for shelter, or anything but a large fire, I'll take the 9" knife, hatchet, or axe every time. Matter of fact I'll generally take the knife because it's faster and easier to use than a hatchet, even if the hatchet is more efficient on the receiving end.
Saws are good for processing thicker wood. I'd take one if I was planning to camp in the same place for several days with friends, and wanted a big fire to play around with.
Things of the size I actually use are rarely as big around as my forearm, will have been cut, and I will have moved on to the next piece before I could even get a groove started for a cut with a saw.
Like everything, "it depends".

canadiantrailman said:
Here's the test - how fast will the chosen tool cut through a piece of wood, in this case a very hard two by four.Cold Steel Trailmaster, time to cut completely through (no break offs allowed) - about 3 minutes, risk of injury 8/10, energy required 9/10. Side bar - I thought this would have dealt a faster blow to the wood but it didn't.
Click to expand...

Since I'd never tried it with a "hard" board, I just went down in the basement and chopped a pressure treated 2x4 in half with my dull Busse Basic 9 that I'm about to send to Busse to have a convex edge put on(so I don't screw it up on a borrowed belt sander), which is about the same size as that Trailmaster. I made my notches too narrow, so didn't feel like I did a very good job. Took twice as long as I thought it would, holding the board on top of a 4x4 landscaping timber with my hand. The hardest part was holding the board still since it wanted to skip off the 4x4.
I don't know how to guage difficulty. I could maintain that pace for long enough to chop more wood than I'll ever need short of a large fire(cut up a downed oak behind our church with the same knife last week, including a section of trunk 7-8" across, and wasn't tired).
About 1min. 10sec. worth of chopping.
 
To each his own-there seems to be alot of growing sentiment against using axes and blades for processing wood. If you want to use an Izula to cut down your four inch tree, I'm not knockin you for it. There's a reason axes, saws and large blades have existed this long, and that's because they all work. Different tools are better in different situations. I've been packing a machete, a tomahawk AND a folding saw as of late, and find myself beginning to really define each of their capabilities and when best to use them. The chances of injury, efficiency and time greatly depend on your technique and maintenance of the tool in question, and I think you could perform this test 10 different times with 10 different people and get at least 3 different results.
 
I bring a collapsible wyoming saw for wood processing, a hatchet for splitting, and a swiss army knife for everything else when I am backpacking. Nothing beats a saw in a wood cutting contest, it takes less time, energy, and is far more precise than an axe. It completely removes the need for a large and expensive knife. This combo outperforms anything else, all for under $100.
 
Different strokes for different folks.

I feel a saw is more efficient and for the minimal weight of a Fiskars sliding saw I don't see a reason to not have it with me most of the time.

Axes are great, but I don't like the weight and I don't consider them backpacking friendly. Hatchets are better, but still heavier than I like. Tomahawks are a decent compromise.

Big knives are great for delimbing downed trees, are great for building shelters in a hurry, etc. and are the most versatile piece of cutlery, in my opinion. Sometimes I take them sometimes I don't. It's often heavier than I want, although a machete is a good compromise, if it's tip heavy.

The best thing to do is get a variety of tools and try them to figure out where they excell and where they lag behind. Seriously look at the situations you go into and then decide which tool works best for that scenario (I'm not talking zombie hordes, maneater grizzlies, etc., but to each their own). I think you'll find that you might want different tool combinations for different situations, so it's nice to have a full quiver to choose from before a trip.

Personally I take along a combo of tools (in addition to what's in my pocket and in my survival kit), as I'm sure most of you do. It's fun to play "what if" with that single ultimate blade (I still haven't found it yet, and I can't afford to keep experimenting until I do, but I do have some good ideas to work towards from the good people here at BladeForums), but it's not too terribly realistic.

My ultralight combo includes: Fiskars sliding saw, Mora 510 and a AG Russell Featherlite One-Hand.

My light combos include:
Fiskars hatchet, Mora 2000, and SAK Farmer or OHT
or a machete, Mora something or another and one of the above mentioned SAKs
or Tomahawk, a Mora and SAK

My heavier duty combo includes: axe or Kershaw Outcast, Spyderco Bushcraft and SAK.

If you look at the combos each still has a saw, no matter what. They're too convenient for traps, etc.
 
Last edited:
canadiantrailman said:
Summary, obviously the saw with a course cut blade won the contest by a mile in all categories. This is really important for wilderness survival. Think about how many trees and branches you may need to cut in order to build a decent shelter to protect you from adverse weather conditions or animal intrusion.
Click to expand...

Having 25 as a carpenter under my belt I am well aware of the virtues of that particular saw. It's great on a construction site. However it's capabilities are much more limited than either of the other three tools used and the wood you would be cutting in a wilderness survival situation would not be kiln dried lumber.
 
mistwalker said:
Having 25 as a carpenter under my belt I am well aware of the virtues of that particular saw. It's great on a construction site. However it's capabilities are much more limited than either of the other three tools used and the wood you would be cutting in a wilderness survival situation would not be kiln dried lumber.
Click to expand...

Too true! It is also much harder to re sharpen a saw than it is to sharpen an axe or a knifeblade. Most hand saws are so cheap that once the teeth become rounded and mushed up or their carbide tips break off, we just buy a new one. In a long term survival situation, you can't just buy a new one, and this presents certain issues of availability in the woods. Saws do alot of cool stuff like notching and making clean cuts, but I can use a machete to drawknife or clear large amounts of leafy green stuff. I can use an axe to shape a log for a cabin wall, or the hull of a dugout canoe. There is more to these three tools than just harvesting wood material, and for that reason I pack all three.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top