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Silky Pocket Boy 170 - folding saw review
Bahco, Fiskars, Cyclone, HT, Mcgregors all make reasonably priced folding saws that are a boon to someone in the woods who forgot to bring their chainsaw along that day...generally they are marketed as pruning saws and have the options of fine, medium or large teeth, some times more options as well.
Anyone who has set up a camp, be it selecting the right trees to hang a hammock from, find a flat piece of scrub free ground to pitch a tent or build a bivy will have from time to time needed to fell a tree or cut some branches, whilst a good knife or machete/axe will do the job one of the best ways to do it with the minimum expenditure of energy and leave a clean cut will be to do it with a saw, now dragging one of your wood saws into the bush is not super practical, taking a small capable folding saw is - unfortunately not all folding saws are created equal.
The most common ones seem to be Bahco and Fiskars, there are Swedish companies that make some very nice products, unfortunately there folding saws are one of those nice products, oh they are adequate and better than nothing, but I find that they tend to go blunt quickly, especially when trying to chop through tea tree branches, so instead of buying another when my last one broke I decide to see if there was anything else out there, and there is the japanses company called Silky.
Now I was a little dubious about buying a Japanese saw, then thought about Japanese steels, not Hondas but Samuarai swords, and thought I would give one a try. The Pocket Boy is Silky's small folding line of saws, they also sell a lot of stuff for the professional arborist; the pocket boy comes in either a 13 cm blade (the 130) or a 17 cm blade (called the 170), I opted for the 17 cm blade with large teeth, the blades are user replaceable so if I want a different toothed saw I can just buy a new blade, not a whole new saw, the frame has a rubbery grip which fully encases a metal tang which holds the blade which can lock open (but not closed) in one of two configurations for either over or under cutting, the lock is a sold spring load affair and feels like it will not spontaneously close or fail on you,the blade is some sort of Japanese carbon blade which will strike a spark off of a fire striker, the teeth are real marvels, each one sharpened on multiple angles, not just a simple tooth design like on my previous saws, and the result is almost intimidating, this thing just decimates wood, it does so on a pull cut mind, a push cut just sets up the blade to pull, and if you try and push cut with it it will bend, and I imagine if enough force is applied, break.
It comes in a clear plastic case with a hook for hanging, I use this in the garage but would leave it at home when the saw goes in the pack, although a nice leather pouch from HGD might be in its future...
It weighs, sans case, 220 gm, is 21 cm long closed and 38 cm open, with a 17 cm blade. The Large tooth model comes with a red handle, there is also a black version and a yellow, I think there may be a fourth colour too, each size of teeth has a different colour handle, the handle is comfortable and non slippy rubber but not plastic, the teeth can catch on the handle when closing the saw if you are not carful, but so far has not damaged my handle.
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It does cost a tad more than the other options, but not ridiculously so, and the improvement in quality seems to be a fair upgrade, so far mine has not rusted but I suspect that without treatment it will, hence I am going to wax the blade after this review.
Anyway if you are considering a folding saw and the one on your Leatherman or Swiss Army knife is a tad small then I highly recommend one of the Silky saws, either the Pocket Boy 130 or 170.
Shelley
