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#195713 - 06/09/16 04:10 AM Saw and axe for wood.
bob13bob Offline
member

Registered: 12/17/09
Posts: 30
Loc: California, United States
I like bringing a saw for fires. I'd go with the corona 7". here's an amazon review comparing it to the other popular bahco saw. saw teeth for wood, not as versatile, but will cut wood better than any multipurpose toothed blade.

I leave a splitting axe or knife at home as i can usually find branches of my diameters where I hike in yosemite.
Quote:

By JayJay on Feb 09, 2014
There sure are a lot of favorable reviews of this item so I purchased this and a Corona folding saw and tested them on piece of firewood over a couple of days. The wood is a piece of dried out ash 2 3/4" wide at its widest.
The Bahco worked OK. I sawed and sawed like crazy and at first it went through well but as the saw had more surface area to rub against it was a fight to get it moving. My guess is the matte finish creates friction which just makes it harder and harder as you get deeper in. I only made one cut but half of the finish was pretty much worn or scraped up. I've posted a photo of both blades. I had to stop several times because I was getting tired since it was a fight to get the thing moving. It folds fairly compactly since the blade is straighter and weighs the least at 7oz.
The Corona worked much much better. It was harder to get it started and I was sliding side to side but it's because it only cuts on the pull so that was my fault. However, once it got going it cruised through the same piece of wood in less than half the time. It has a polished blade and it did start resisting the further I went in but it wasn't as bad as the Bahco and I didn't have to once stop to shake out my arm. I will say though that because of its curved blade it folds into a bigger package overall and it comes to 9.6oz. I think having to carry an additional 2.6oz would more than make up with the energy you would save cutting with the Corona.
What's interesting is the Corona is listed as a 7" blade and the Bahco just says 9". I was confused but their blade sizes are identically 7". Also, when folded they are the exact same length of 9". I think these sizes are important since they aren't listed exactly for either product. I sort of thought the Bahco was going to have a longer blade but nope. Both are about the same price as well so it's all up to personal preference I guess.

Update: I got a scale. The Bahco came to 6.6oz and the Corona came to 6.65oz so almost the same.

Update2: It seems as long as there's no friction it works extremely well. This occurs when you cut a branch off a tree since as you cut the branch naturally falls away. Because of this I'm upgrading it to a 4.

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#195722 - 06/09/16 08:25 PM Re: Saw and axe for wood. [Re: bob13bob]
Franco Offline
member

Registered: 04/05/04
Posts: 1010
Loc: Australia
I have used the Bahco but now I have a Felco , bought that because I was getting some pruners from them.
It also works on pull only, very sharp works well for me cutting stuff up to about 1.5" if alive (I have a lot of pine infesting my part of the bush)
6.3", 5.6 oz

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#195723 - 06/09/16 10:36 PM Re: Saw and axe for wood. [Re: bob13bob]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Considering the fire restrictions in California (and other western states during the dry season), this seems like a lot of extra weight for something that most of the time you won't be allowed to use!
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

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#195726 - 06/10/16 09:07 AM Re: Saw and axe for wood. [Re: bob13bob]
Dryer Offline

Moderator

Registered: 12/05/02
Posts: 3591
Loc: Texas
I've used many pocket saws over the years, including Gerber and Fiskars (current favorite), when doing trail maintenance, but not so much anymore. I've moved on to compound, ratchet. or gear driven loppers, long ago. I can cut in a couple of effortless seconds, what used to take me several minutes with a hand saw. That said, I never carry one hiking. Way much weight. I can generally break by hand the sticks I'd burn.

Sounds like you have a nice saw there, however. It's that 6.5 oz. that I'm not willing to carry. My entire shelter system weights 7 oz. My knife weights .8 oz. In 50 years of hiking/backpacking, I've never needed to cut wood for a fire. wink
_________________________
paul, texas KD5IVP

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