This Time, I Brought a Saw...

[stabman]

On Saturday, exactly one week to the day since the saw forgetting debacle, I returned to the woods.

Here, my brother (who also brought a saw ), clears some of the excess ash from the fire pit:

Here it is, ready to go.
Note how there are not leaves close to the pit (some folks remarked about leaves last time ):

Get that fire started!

Saw!!!

View from afar:

My brother carried this cooking tripod with us all the way to the site.
More energy walking out, but big time and energy savings once at camp.
Letting the fire burn away any crud (metal wire brush used as well):

Remember how last week one of my friends brought a box of cheap knives?
Well, now that so much energy was saved due to having a saw, I could afford to expend energy batonning with it simply for the hell of it!
How will Canadian Tire's best ripoff of a cross between an ESEE 5 and ESEE 6 hold up?

 

[stabman]

Pounding it tip-first into wood sections for the hell out of it:

Cross-grain batonning:

Batonning residue stuck to blade coating:

Cooking first set of steaks:

 

[stabman]

Grill burns clean while we get more fire going for next set of steaks to cook.

Note the mighty wood tripod in the background with crosspiece that acts as paper towel dispenser and a handy spot to hang my backpack:

Fire:

Some of the knives we brought, and one of the saws (both identical):

If you look closely at the edge of the machete, you will see several edge rolls.
This is probably from some of the wood remaining frozen despite the day being above freezing by a couple of degrees.
I have never had any edge issues in previous use.
Got the rolls largely fixed back at home. Used shank of drill bit to push the edge back into place as much as possible, then sharpened it.

The handle scales of the Canadian Tire (Outbound brand) knife loosened a bunch from batonning.
They stayed on, and allowed me to test it out on some other cutting and small chopping tests.

Later, I decided to take them off, clean everything up and get a look at the inside of it all:

Overall, the Canadian Tire knife worked surprisingly well.
I think it is stainless steel, but doesn't say on knife or Canadian Tire site for knife info.
The coating is not the most durable, but not the worst I have encountered.
G-10 scales are okay, and the handle fasteners are sufficient, although prone to loosen when bashing it into or through logs for no good reason.
Comes with a typically not the greatest edge, but it held up alright. Will be curious to see how the better edge I put on it now holds up in the future.
Sheath is cheap Nylon, but keeps knife from cutting you. Will make Kydex sheath at some point in the future.

So in conclusion:
Saw: Good
Canadian Tire Knife: Okay
Fire: Good
Steak: Delicious.