Saw on SAK?

O

Outdoors

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May 24, 2001
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609
OK,
What are some uses for the saw on the larger SAK's? They're to short to use for cutting large wood, and I usually just break smaller stuff. So what are they useful for, if anything?

I just bought a SAK Picnicker and a Rucksack. One is for me, one is for my nephew. Come on you guys, talk me out of keeping the Picnicker!:p

Patrick
 
They just seem like cheap little hobby saws to me. However, I could see it being a valuable tool in an emergency situation. You'd likely be able to cut through drywall pretty quickly if you needed an escape route. Let's just say it's one step above a squeegy.
 
Don't sell them to short, in High School I got my first Vic' SAK with the saw blade, and just to test it me and my friends cut a 2X4 in wood shop with it. Yeah it took about 15 minutes, and the blade got REALLY hot, but it made it without any damage to the knife.
 
I've never used the saw on a SAK,but this past July i used the saw on my Leatherman Wave to cut the gooseneck on a cars gastank from around a womans finger.Somehow,she managed to get her finger stuck in her gastank.Dont ask me how or why she had her finger in her gastank,none of us have been able to figure that out yet.As it was,the leatherman was the only tool availiable that was small enough to reach between the cars back finder and gastank and free her finger w/out completely destroying the car.Im sure the saw on my SAK could have accomplished the same thing,but the Wave was what i was carrying at the time.Keep in mind that my Fire Dept had a $150,000.00 rescue truck w/another $50,000.00 of rescue tools,Amkus spreaders,cutters,sawzalls,handtools,etc.etc.sitting there on scene,but it was a Leatherman Wave's saw that saved the day.
 
Good story Patriot. You should send it to the "Tool Tales" section at the Leatherman site. Maybe you could win a freebie. As for that Wave saw, believe me, I know how aggressive those teeth can be. I just don't know how well I like it stuffed into a SAK, especially if it doesn't lock.
 
I have used them a couple of times for primitive construction scenarios. They do an excellent job of filling the admittedly tiny niche of cutting notches when whittling would take too long and chopping would be too sloppy. I once built a very servicable and, if I do say so myself, handsome guard gate with a Ka-bar, some 550 cord and an SAK saw.
 
The main use I give to my SuperTool's saw is to make traps during the survival courses I instruct. These saws have tremendous cutting power and can be a very precise on small jobs. So they r ideal to build traps triggers and also improvised furniture for the campsite. :)
 
Making snare triggers
The cut quieter than breaking and hacking in some circumstances ( hunting, amushes)
The make great pumpkin carvers
 
Originally posted by The Patriot
.... used the saw on my Leatherman Wave to cut the gooseneck on a cars gastank from around a womans finger.
Click to expand...

Kinda curious, did you take any anti-sparking precautions?
 
We took the usual precautions we take at any rescue scene martensite.The part i used the saw on was plastic,and not likely to spark,so,no,we didnt take any extraordinary precautions.
 
i have used the sak saw to construct fire sets, make handles for a sheepherder stove, cut grooves into a piece of wood to hold cord, and theses similar types of uses, they are not a chain saw, but will give you a precise cut where you need it, much more easily than a big chopping blade.

the sak large locking blade knife with saw would be one of the cant do without knives, as compared to a big choppping blade or axe. i could get by very nicely with my sak and the attached fire steel for several days in the woods if i needed to. this is one of the things i never venture out into the woods without. the saw is definately considered an integral part of the survival system.

alex
 
One time I was collecting some firewood and found a tree with a bunch of dead branches that were just a little too large to break by hand. I was too lazy to walk back to camp for a hatchet or large saw. About five strokes with the SAK saw put a deep enough cut into the branches so that I could break them by hand.

I've also used it for cutting notches and some of the other applications described above. I like having it available.
 
I agree, don't sell those little saws short. They are very agressive and some say the standard against which other hand-saws for woods work are measured. I've used them for notching, and as noted just above, for cutting enough of a band around a large-ish piece of wood so that I could break it with the foot-stomp technique
 
I have used the tiny saws on my Victorinox SAKs (both large and conventionally-sized models), and on my Leatherman Supertool with good results. Last spring I used the saw on my SAK Huntsman model to clear off several excess branches on my apricot tree that were too big to break off and too crowded with good branches and high up to use an ax or other chopping tool. I removed several limbs up to about 2 to 2.5 inches at the trunk after some work, but it did a neat job. It allowed me to easily cut off such limbs from odd positions on the ladder safely.

I also used the little saw to shorten up a hardwood staff, which it did perfectly, without causing it to split or splinter.

The idea is that you have a saw with you. Most people will not lug a full-sized saw everywhere so you make do with what you have with you. I have heard that in Vietnam combat patrols often used the little saws on their SAKs to clear bushes when chopping would have been dangerous in the dark and loud enough to alert the enemy of their position.
Jim
 
Gatekeeper
I got my first Huntsman in '76. I have cut PVC pipe, black plastic pipe, and of course, wood. That poor saw blade caught H*ll almost every day until early 2000. I saw another Huntsman on sale and told my wife that the saw was dull, and I needed a new knife. The saw has lost about 1/3 of its cutting power. I used it 2 days ago to cut 1" off a new cane that I had bought. If I ever get around to it, I may send it off to Victorinox for a re-do. Until then, it makes a good second line knife to keep around the house. I think that the Huntsman's saw cuts better than the saw on my Wave, but either one is very handy to have around.
Steve L :)
 
I've never used the Vic SAK saw, but if it's anything like the saw on my Leatherman Wave, it's a tough little saw. I've used the saw blade on my Leatherman several times. From cutting tree limbs to retrieve a wildly thrown fishing lure to cutting 1x6 boards. The other day me and some buddies were moving some furniture and while assembling a bed, we realized we had the wrong size 1x6 boards that support the Box Springs (too long). When I pulled out the little Leatherman saw & started cutting, my buddies started laughing. The laughing stopped when after 15 seconds I was over halfway through the board! Impressive little saw!
 
I honestly can't add anything to the above, glowing responses to the SAK saw. It's handy to have around, and will do a lot more than you might think. I carried an Explorer model SAK around for a lot of years, and then got a "hankering" for a new SAK with a saw. Occe I used that saw, I regretted NOT having one all those years. Just too handy to be without, considering the tiny amount of extra weight versus the tremondous utility.
 
I've been carrying Victorinox Huntsman knives for a whole lot of years (I'm on my third one since around 1970), and have always been quite impressed with the saw. No, it's not any competition to a Husqvarna chain saw, but it does work quite well for it's size.
 
The SAK saw is to me one of the best SAK tools of all time. It cuts where a blade just can't. Platic, tubing, rubber, wood and toffee block come to mind. Trap triggers for sure and hard rope is another. Just give it time and it will cut a forest down.

The saw is a big part of the Huntsman's box of tools. I just love them.

When you are up the creek without a paddle; you can make another with your SAK.
 
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