Western 932

T

The Kidd

Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
65
The vast majority of my knife use and purchases center around what many would call “hard use”. I do farm and maintenance work, as well as commonly using whatever knife I happen to have with me for dressing duties when hunting. I am fortunate enough to get to hunt somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-100 days per year and fish another 50-70.
Large trappers and Jacks have been my standard for as long as I can remember.

Recently I saw a Western 932 online and thought that it could be a fantastic knife to have in my pack when hunting large game like elk and moose. I’ve rarely been left wanting more than my usual jumbo trapper, but every now and again a small saw is very nice to have.

Does anyone have experience with this model? If so what steel were the blades made of? How secure did you find the liner lock? Was the saw good quality, I’ve encountered saw blades in folding saws and multi tools that were only good at looking like a saw and useless for actually sawing anything.

I’d just like to hear from someone who’s actually handled one before I dive in and pay the going rate and am disappointed. Thanks in advance
 
I have one, and it's a nice knife. The main blade locks up well. The saw is typical of what saws are on a pocketknife, more of a novelty than a useful saw. It will cut through a green limb an inch or two across, but it's a lot of work. It'll do one hell of a number on your knuckels...

I won't disparage the Western in any way, but for serious use I'd be more inclined to pack a small fixed blade knife and a small bow saw or pack saw.
 
afishhunter said:
Are you including the VIC/Wenger SAK saws?
They can handle Elk/Moose quartering.
Click to expand...

The saw on the Western is fairly thick on the cutting edge, and there's no tooth offset. That's typical of most knife saws, They cut by gnawing rather than by sawing.

Obviously I haven't seen all the saws included in knives. I don't have any experience with recent Swiss Army Knife saws. Going back 40 or so years they weren't much to be excited about.
 
Thanks for the insight on the saw. Sadly I kind of expected that.

The saw included with the Case swap blade that was similar to a Buck 110 is offset and quite good. But it isn’t attached to a neat vintage knife that nobody else in my circle has.
 
My experience with sawing bone with a wood saw is that it dulled the saw pretty quickly. Bone saws are made differently than wood saw for a reason I suppose.

afishhunter said:
They can handle Elk/Moose quartering.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity how many elk and moose have you used a Victorinox wood saw on?
 
I got over having saw on a pocketknife fairly early. Even the SAK saws. While the SAK saw's are great cutters and have offset enough for sawing, they simply are too short for much good on much beyond and inch or maybe two. I'd rather have a Vic pioneer combined with a real folding saw in my daypack, like the sliding blade Fiskars I've been using for the past few decades.

Sometimes you can try to combine too much into one tool.
 
Thats the Western version of the SMGM-4052 US Navy Pilot Survival Knife made by Colonial during WW2. Its a big heavy knife, just don't rely too much on the linerlock mechanism. Not sure about the saw, the ones I have seen didn't look real promising.

​

 
I’ve quartered a bunch of elk and some moose with no saw at all. It’s really no problem.

Sometimes it’s handy to window out a couple ribs to somewhat cleanly retrieve the heart without doing a full gut job. Or maybe cut a 1 1/2 stick to make a peg or whittle a spoon. The aforementioned Case saw will go through two elk ribs in seconds.

I just thought the big Western looked like it might be a neat addition to my kit.
 
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