Pocket Saw VS Chopper

[Bushman5]

Today Munky88 and I met up and started a debris shelter, somewhere undisclosed on the North Shore.

After a few back and forth river crossings D :thumbup we sloshed our way to a good spot and started out building the shelter sides, using an already downed tree as the ridgepole. While gathering the pieces for the walls, it became clear very quickly that the saw was kicking butt (timewise & energy expenditure) in harvesting tree limb pieces. I would not want to have to chop or cut shelter materials with a knife, even a chopper if i was cold and tired.

Took about an hour to get the shelter walls roughed in. Some other time we will return and start piling more limbs and debris onto it.

Debris shelters are great, but here on the Wet Coast the tarp shelter kicks butt, for speed of setting up. 3 - 5 minutes VS 1 - 3 hours for a debris shelter.

EDIT: by Pocket Saw I mean a Sandvik folding saw.....not the pocket chainsaw one

 

[J_Curd]

A saw is definitely the way to go imo. I have an Opinel saw in my smallest off BOBs...you could make a half-decent log cabin with it and a fixed blade.

 

[Munky88]

I think a larger knife than the recon tanto may have faired better, and certainly would have been faster for de-limbing some of the dead trees around. The saw is lighter, and can trim overhanging branches already on the shelter better than a knife.

certainly my choice would be both, but if you had to choose between the two a saw and small knife wouldn't slow you down much.

 

[jca21]

cool. no pics?

 

[Munky88]

None of the shelter. Put bad batterys in the camera and it crapped out.

Did get a picture of a possible mountain lion (could be bear?) territory scratch that I'll get up latter.

 

[stingray4540]

I agree 100%, and I would even go so far to say a saw is more efficient than an axe as well. Personally, I'd rather have a folding saw and a 4" blade, that will cover all my bases.

 

[jca21]

i take it the water level was pretty high today when you guys were crossing? what style of shelter were you fellas building?

 

[jackknife]

A saw allows for construction of shelter with less calories spent, and you can split and quarter wood as well easier with no batoning. Just saw halfway through then wack it against a tree or ground with cut end toward impact, and wood will split along the grain. Way easier than chopping, and can be done if in weakend or injuried condition. Somewhere on here is that guy down under demonstrating it.

I have some of those sliding blade Gerber/Fiskars stashed around. Dick's had them on sale for 9.99. so both the better half and I each have one in our daypacks, and another one in the emergency kit in the car trunk.

Another really good saw is the folding Sven bow saw. Folds down to an aluminum tube in the pack, but goes through wood like a beaver on crack.

Man invented saws for a good reason. They may not be as romantic or macho as chopping, but it's efficiant as all heck.

 

[Munky88]

was a little higher today, but not really. We're just dumb.

basic A-frame over a large fallen tree. I'd be a little concerned about water dripping in to actually sleep in it. the ridgepole is too big.

 

[Bushman5]

nah, we just gotta build up the debris nicely, make it a big mound o earth!

 

[Ankar Sheng]

This was a pain in the ass. An axe would have made much quicker work of something this size.

I think choppers are way over rated even my Busse NMFBM, one of the most bad ass choppers, with a highly polished, fairly acute, hair whittling edge cant bite half as deep as a small axe, weighs almost the same and is way more dangerous to use, which is a real consideration when you're out in the wilderness and not just playing around in your yard.

I also think there's way too much emphasis on splitting and batoning. I've never needed to split wood to make a fire in the woods (have only needed for the bbq when my only fuel is large chunks and no twigs or kindling can be gathered). Regardless of where you are, I somehow doubt that if you were unable to split would making a fire would be impossible. As far as I'm concerned I'm way better off getting more small fuel and having more to burn then spending that time dividing up the fuel I already have.


*edit* I would like to add that the caveat to saws is they are more fragile and can't be maintained the same. Especially when you're fatigued and impatient, if you start to saw harder and it binds you can bend, warp or break the blade.

 

[warrigal]

I have a couple of the Gerber slidey saws. Twice I have loaned them to cadets and they have come back with slightly bowed tips. But I have one in BOB and one beside the wood pile. I have and use a number of Bow saws from small 12inch to a Ex-Swedish army 32incher. I have pocket Chainsaw and it is awsome for dropping limbs from height.
I run a bushcraft course for some Army cadets ( They are limited to foldingblades under 4inches here in OZ) So we do nearly all our shleterbuilding etc with SAK's including cutting a billet of standing dead branch normally shorter than the blade is long with the SAK saw and then battoning it into matchwood and shavings for tinder.

Carl

 

[udtjim]

Given just one of the two, the saw would be my choice every time. A 4 inch knife and a Silky.

 

[jca21]

i'd rather take my gb small forest axe.

 

[dawsonbob]

Silky Super Accel 210 and a medium knife. Where I live, and for my uses, it's all I need. I never go afield without the Silky. Yes, I have axes and machetes — and I love using them when appropriate — but they're more for fun. Short of building a log cabin, I can't think of anything I couldn't do with a good saw and a knife. Come to think about it, I could probably build a log cabin with those two tools if I had to.

 

[hollowdweller]

This was a pain in the ass. An axe would have made much quicker work of something this size.

I think choppers are way over rated even my Busse NMFBM, one of the most bad ass choppers, with a highly polished, fairly acute, hair whittling edge cant bite half as deep as a small axe, weighs almost the same and is way more dangerous to use, which is a real consideration when you're out in the wilderness and not just playing around in your yard.

I also think there's way too much emphasis on splitting and batoning. I've never needed to split wood to make a fire in the woods (have only needed for the bbq when my only fuel is large chunks and no twigs or kindling can be gathered). Regardless of where you are, I somehow doubt that if you were unable to split would making a fire would be impossible. As far as I'm concerned I'm way better off getting more small fuel and having more to burn then spending that time dividing up the fuel I already have.


*edit* I would like to add that the caveat to saws is they are more fragile and can't be maintained the same. Especially when you're fatigued and impatient, if you start to saw harder and it binds you can bend, warp or break the blade.

Wow! Good job on downing that tree with that little saw.:thumbup:

 

[Stormstaff]

recon tanto

Bushman,
How are you liking that knife?

 

[hoopster]

Felco makes some good folding saws. They are a must have tool in my line of work. (Horticulture)

 

[scrumpy jack]

I had a 'chop out' with these three only a few days ago on the log pictured.....the saw won. It cost 3 pounds thats about 4.8 dollars. Cheaper than my NMFBM...

 

[DPris]

Upon due consideration, and after much deliberation, I've gone over to the small folding saw school of thought.
For on-body carry, much lighter than a heavy and bulky chopper, and in a freezing, wet, or exhausted emergency, it uses much less energy, it's generally quicker, less dangerous, and so on.
Realizing I simply didn't need or want the bulk & weight was behind the sale of my one & only Busse a while back. It wouldn't even fit on a belt in the bucket seat of the UTV, was too much for foot excursions (limited nowdays anyway), and the ONLY times I'd ever need a blade that size would be for chopping in shelter-making or digging.

Since I don't need to chop branches or limbs with a lighter & more compact saw that can always be on a belt or in a pocket, and I can count the number of times I've dug with a knife on the hands of one finger, I'm still hauling a hefty Swamp Rat blade along in the Rhino cargo bed, but for absolute use with only what I have on my own personal body, nothing bigger than my old Ka-Bar nowdays.

Denis