Backpacking Saws

[ljcsov]

Anyone carry a folding saw or anything similar? I was thinking about getting one as long as its not too heavy/bulky. I figured it would be good for trail maintenance. A lot of the folding ones I find tend to be pretty bulky and made of cheap plastic.

Should I not even bother?

[jlb2012]

IMO if one is long distance hiking then a saw is not worth its weight - if one is doing trail maintenance then its good to have a saw

in other words decide ahead of time if the hike is going long distance or doing trail maintenance - pick one and stick with it

[Rasty]

Try the Sven camp saws. Used one in boy scouts and it worked well. Weighs about a pound.

[Northern Lights]

I don't know that I would ever carry one, but someone had one at Cold Spring Shelter and we sure appreciated it since it was a cold night. He cut up a lot of wood with that thing. It was definately not a light weight saw though.

[hunter121]

Hmmmm ... I'm going to have to think about that one

[peakbagger]

For long distance hiking, no need for a saw and odds are it would get left in a hiker box. If wood is dry enouhg to burn, its dry enough to break by hand. Anything that is not breakable by hand is generally not good for a campfire as it is still burning in the morning.

I usually carry a a Sawvivor in my daypack in the spring/early summer or after unusual weather events for cutting any small blowdowns I encounter. It wont handle the big stuff but usually I can cut off the stubs and branches to make the big trees a lot easier to get around.

[Pedaling Fool]

I always carry a saw http://www.svensaw.com/ as you can see in the pic it folds up to a very managable size, i.e. no bulk; I usually carry it either in my side pocket or in the fold of my foam mat. As for weight, I don't know, I don't weigh stuff, but I'd estimate it about 12-16 oz. IMO, practically nothing, but seeing that this is hiking, to many it's an elephant...I don't get that mentality, so no comment...

[Toolshed]

Ditto on HOI, Peakbagger and John Gault. I carry a sven saw on shorter, more luxurious weekend trips in Late-Fall-Winter-Early-Spring or trips with the boy scouts. Otherwise it is an unneeded item if I am simply LD hiking.

[PAHiker]

Corona and Stihl both manufacture quality folding saws that work well and are pretty light. It is nice to be able to cut some proper size firewood instead of buring kindling all night.

[Tinker]

IMO if one is long distance hiking then a saw is not worth its weight - if one is doing trail maintenance then its good to have a saw

in other words decide ahead of time if the hike is going long distance or doing trail maintenance - pick one and stick with it

Good answer.

A large folding knife is more useful for hiking. I have never (in 30+ years of hiking) needed a saw. I carry a large knife (many would say too large) which is good for many uses. It's a Swiss Army Adventurer with a locking mechanism. When wood is wet I can use the blade to scrape off the wet bark and then split larger pieces of kindling.

If you are strictly out there to do trail maintenance, carry whatever tools are necessary. I like to carry my little Echo chainsaw to maintain my section of North-South Trail near my house, but I'm only out there for half a day, usually, and only cover three miles or so, due to the work.

[Papa D]

You do not need a saw (or a big knife or a gun) for appalachian trail backpacking - none of these things are necessary - they add weight that you have to carry. A campfire is also (usually) unnecessary --- if it is super cold, or you would just like a small warming fire in an established campfire pit / ring, it is very easy to collect small tender and small, medium, and even a few large dead and downed limbs for this purpose without a saw -- I probably actually only make 5-6 fires a year (and visit a few more). In an average year, I'm out at least 40 nights so that means I camp with a campfire only about 15% of the time. -- if more people would practice a frequency such as this, we'd have healthier natural areas around our campsites and shelters (not picked clean and bare) and would suffer less much less visual pollution of hundreds of used black rock circles often full of unburned foil and trash. ( I do happen to own a Fiskars folding saw that I have used in bona-fide trail work and for maintenance but it never goes "backpacking")

[Pedaling Fool]

No one said anything about, NEED

[DaveSail]

Somebody makes a bow - saw that is just two rods , a blade ans a tube . All fit in the tube . I couldn't find it .
These are interesting :

http://www.orchardsedge.com/tools/all/bowsaws

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Wyomi...h-All+Products

http://www.rei.com/product/800462/ge...uble-joint-saw

[coach lou]

Old native american proverb... "red man gets warm from wood fire.... white man gets warm from chopping wood"

[ljcsov]

thanks for the info guys!

after reading some of your posts about saws/knives/etc. I think I am going to cut back on what I carry. I have a full sized Ka-bar which is a monster but can split wood and even chop. However, maybe I don't really need it all that badly and I can just stick to a smaller knife like a CRKT M16, Gerber blackout, or my swiss army knife.

[Jim Adams]

you will be too tired to saw...leave it home.

geek

[tridavis]

You need to get this. It is small weighs about 8oz and really works well. We used it everynight on a week long hike and it is still very sharp. Everyone at the shelters were glad I had it.
http://www.amazon.com/Unbelievable-P.../dp/B000CP3CFI

[Mike2012]

I love my folding pruning saws but I'll be leaving them home this time on account of weight and focus. I can always pick one up if I found that I missed it.

[Slo-go'en]

Well, there were so many blow downs across the trail in the south last spring from all the thunderstorms and near miss tornatos, I got tired of fighting my way through them. At the outfitters in Hot Springs I bought a little Gerber saw, has a retractable blade, weights 8 or 9 oz and cuts really quickly. I cleared on average one tree a day off the trail all the way from Hot Springs to Damascus. At times all I could do was clear some limbs so you could get around the tree without going off trail much, but it was a big improvement over what I had found.

The 10 or 15 minutes it took to clear the tree and open up the path was a good excuse to take a break from hiking and at the end had the satisfaction of a job well done. Not sure I'd carry it all the time, but for that streach of trail at that time, it was well worth it.

[bamboo bob]

In 10,000 miles I never started a campfire or carried a saw and I doubt I ever will. But if you do I'll be happy to gather blow down firewood and sit by the fire. I also wont sleep in a shelter that has a fire because I don't like breathing in the smoke. OOPs, there is a two inch saw on my Cabela's little imitation leatherman. I guess I'll use that to saw off my arm if it gets caught under a boulder. Maybe in the Mahousic Notch.