For general trail-maintenance and other woodcutting I got myself a new toy, a big folding saw to cut through green wood when my GB's can not be used. See it here in comparison to the Gb-Sfa: http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/3101d174.jpg
To get the hang of it I tried it on a tree (fagus sylvatica) which has fallen down two years ago and was hacked in pieces a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, the blade was only a couple of centimeter longer than the tree`s diameter:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/15aa4550.jpg
With a big trunk like this, one has to saw around it, usually its enough from three sides:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/a4b0b878.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/fa1aa99e.jpg
It took me thirty minutes to cut the tree and here is how the saw felt:
Like all japanese saws it takes a lot of concentration to cut properly. Due to its thickness (1mm) and the grippiness of the green wood the blade likes to change direction and twist slightly inside the slot when not hold properly. It is more demanding in this than the usual trapez-shaped japanese saws (Ryoba Seiun and Komane), which are normally used only with dry wood and have even thinner blades.
I was astonished how good it cut! Not much force was needed and even my hands (weakened by bouts of rheumatic arthritis) werent stressed too much.
The possibility to change the angle of handle and blade is a good feature which makes sawing vertical or upsidedown much easier.
I also found out how much mistreatment the blade can take. When the trunk was nearly cut in two, the upper part suddenly split without warning. The saw was clamped solid in a twisted position. Using the axe as a chisel I pried the slot open
and broke the wood. When doing so, the saw`s blade was bent sharpely at the grip but did not break.
No pictures of this, I was to occupied in saving my saw!
I can really recommend this saw for everyone who wants to cut wood other than only with an axe. It is much faster than a good bowsaw, way more expensive ( 60,-) too.
Dont get it as your first japanese saw, but gain experience with regular ones and small japanese ones first.
I like it!
To get the hang of it I tried it on a tree (fagus sylvatica) which has fallen down two years ago and was hacked in pieces a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, the blade was only a couple of centimeter longer than the tree`s diameter:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/15aa4550.jpg
With a big trunk like this, one has to saw around it, usually its enough from three sides:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/a4b0b878.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/fa1aa99e.jpg
It took me thirty minutes to cut the tree and here is how the saw felt:
Like all japanese saws it takes a lot of concentration to cut properly. Due to its thickness (1mm) and the grippiness of the green wood the blade likes to change direction and twist slightly inside the slot when not hold properly. It is more demanding in this than the usual trapez-shaped japanese saws (Ryoba Seiun and Komane), which are normally used only with dry wood and have even thinner blades.
I was astonished how good it cut! Not much force was needed and even my hands (weakened by bouts of rheumatic arthritis) werent stressed too much.
The possibility to change the angle of handle and blade is a good feature which makes sawing vertical or upsidedown much easier.
I also found out how much mistreatment the blade can take. When the trunk was nearly cut in two, the upper part suddenly split without warning. The saw was clamped solid in a twisted position. Using the axe as a chisel I pried the slot open
and broke the wood. When doing so, the saw`s blade was bent sharpely at the grip but did not break.
No pictures of this, I was to occupied in saving my saw!
I can really recommend this saw for everyone who wants to cut wood other than only with an axe. It is much faster than a good bowsaw, way more expensive ( 60,-) too.
Dont get it as your first japanese saw, but gain experience with regular ones and small japanese ones first.
I like it!
