Silky Saws!

[Isaacherring]

I have a gomboy and it cuts great but I would be cutting vigorously and pull it out of the log without noticing and on the forward motion smash the end of the saw into the wood, I actually found myself doing this quite a bit and eventually broke the blade, twice! Maybe if I had a bigger model with a longer blade that wouldn't happen.

 

[ManOfSteel89]

Luckily I've never done that. The blades can flex. These certainly aren't buck saws but if you pay attention and use them how they're meant to be used they're fast and really a good buy.

 

[Silver Needle]

I have a gomboy and it cuts great but I would be cutting vigorously and pull it out of the log without noticing and on the forward motion smash the end of the saw into the wood, I actually found myself doing this quite a bit and eventually broke the blade, twice! Maybe if I had a bigger model with a longer blade that wouldn't happen.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

I know with my laplander I was used to making very short and fast back and forth cuts, the blade never missed contact with the wood.

My bigboy has to be used slightly more methodically and consciously, but once I get in a rhythm I can really fly. The length of the bigboy blade does make it easier to keep the blade in the groove of the wood.

 

[redwood22]

I definitely bent the tip of my Laplander this weekend, mercifully it went back to mostly straight

 

[supertac916]

I have a Laplander, Corona, 2 Silky Pocket Boys, and a Big Boy. I don't even remember where I put my Laplander because once I got the Pocket Boy I bought a second. I've used the Pocket Boy during the spring, summer, and fall to cut through wrist to arm thick pine, oak, and dried driftwood from the California coast to Tahoe. For it's size it eats up wood and makes quick work of it. I picked up the Big Boy for a recent snow camping trip in the Tahoe National Forest. I'd say it cuts through logs twice as fast as it's little brother. Wish I took some pics of us collecting the wood because we spent about 10-15 minutes to have enough wood to last about 10 hours for our fire. I actually didn't get to use my Big Boy much because I let my buddy try it out and he tossed his Gomboy in the snow. Couldn't get it away from him..lol Although he just bought a Sleven saw and we plan to compare the Big Boy and Sleven against one another in a few weekends on another snow camping trip.

 

[LarsL]

Bigboy 2000 was my favorite for about two years until...

I still have a few smaller Silky Saws (Gomboy, Super Accel) that I use for day hikes but I take a Boreal 21 with me for backpacking.

 

[squarebox86]

For those who are interested in the comparison.
[video=youtube;qJwUwm5qndY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJwUwm5qndY[/video]

 

[Silver Needle]

Redwood, my laplander tip is slightly bent from bumping the end into a branch while I was cutting another. I got it pretty straight by hand and it's been fine since.

Lars, that brought a tear to my eye. Sad! Is the boreal saw pretty easy to put together?

Supertac, I have a cousin who works for the park service in Alaska. He swears by his stacked learher Kabar knife and a Sven saw. I really like Silkys for their ease of deployment. I'll be interested to hear what you think of your Sven saw with use.

Squarebox, thanks for the vid!

 

[Fancier]

The saws that cut on the push are more likely to bend.
Saws that cut on both strokes have teeth that are a compromise because they cut in both directions.
The saws that only cut on the pull are both less likely to bend and have teeth that are optimized because they only have to cut in one direction.

 

[LarsL]

Redwood, my laplander tip is slightly bent from bumping the end into a branch while I was cutting another. I got it pretty straight by hand and it's been fine since.

Lars, that brought a tear to my eye. Sad! Is the boreal saw pretty easy to put together?

Supertac, I have a cousin who works for the park service in Alaska. He swears by his stacked learher Kabar knife and a Sven saw. I really like Silkys for their ease of deployment. I'll be interested to hear what you think of your Sven saw with use.

Squarebox, thanks for the vid!

At least I got two years of good service out of it. I had used it often and was glad that it broke on a car camping trip (backup saw) and not when I was freezing in the mountains at 11,500 feet elevation (no backup saw when backpacking).

The Boreal is super easy to put together. There are no pieces you can lose and it takes about ten seconds. Replacement blades are cheap.

In my opinion the Boreal (21") is better than the Bob Dustrude Quick Buck Saw (24") which is better than the Sven Saw (21"). I own and have used all three of them.

 

[RiverRunner]

Bigboy 2000 was my favorite for about two years until...

I still have a few smaller Silky Saws (Gomboy, Super Accel) that I use for day hikes but I take a Boreal 21 with me for backpacking.

They sell replacement blades... but no wonder it busted. The cut path dramatically rises up the tree toward the operator. That's quite the curve you put in that cut path.

 

[LarsL]

They sell replacement blades... but no wonder it busted. The cut path dramatically rises up the tree toward the operator. That's quite the curve you put in that cut path.

It is not a curve. I had just moved the saw.

 

[Fancier]

They do sell replacement blades and you can choose fine or coarse teeth for your spare blade.
If you wonder which would be better buy a spare in a different tooth count.

 

[91bravo]

An older review I did a while back. Both saws are still cutting like demons today!

Thanks to my good ol pal Solanine, I now own a Silky Bigboy! Thank you much my friend! I promised I'd do a short review and post it here!

First off, I have to say that this is a huge mother freakin saw! The blade is held in place by washers made of some poly of some sort. I put a couple drops of oil in and she opens up smooth as butter! The saw makes a "cha ching" sort of sound when it locks into place.

Here it is closed, next to the fully assembled 21" Sven

Did I say that this saw is freakin huge? Next to the zombie slayer for reference

This saw has medium teeth and pale in comparison, to the size of the teeth on the Sven

This approximately 4" x3.5" piece of seasoned hard oak will be the test subject

The Sven cuts in both directions and throws sawdust in both directions as well

The piece the Sven cut off

The Silky Bigboy took some getting used to because it only cuts on the pull stroke

The piece the Silky cut

The sawdust of the Silky actually looks like little micro curls that you would whittle with a teeny weeny knife!

The blade of the Silky is very flimsy, but due to it only cutting on the pull stroke, I don't see an issue.

The Silky has two positions you can lock the blade into place. Here is the second position, it's used for undercuts, or cutting from underneath the log.

The handle is very very comfortable and ergonomic. I can see myself using this saw for a long time in the woods without getting fatigued or hot spots on my hand.

Blade size difference

Final conclusions? I've made a million cuts with the Sven, since I got it around this time a few years ago. The Sven feels like it may need a new blade soon as it doesn't cut as fast as it used to. The Silky takes a little bit more of finess when sawing, especially on the push stroke, so you don't bind up the blade. With the Sven, since the blade is attached at both ends, you can saw away as fast and aggressive as you want! I can't really say which one cuts faster, due to the larger, duller teeth on the Sven vs the smaller sharper teeth on the Silky.

This Bigboy is going to work out just fine now! MTM with the Sven and me with the Silky and Junglas, we'll be able to process twice as much firewood now when we're backpacking!

And thanks to Longbow for making me a custom cinch bag to fit this saw!

 

[Silver Needle]

91bravo, great review!

So what's the difference between your bigboy and my bigboy 2000? I really like that sexy black handle. Jealous.
EDIT: I just looked up my own answer. The 2000 has a slightly curved blade and XL teeth. For the regular bigboys the handle color indicates teeth size. If S!K ever stocks the regular bigboy I may need one. Seeing how the teeth are all enclosed by the handle when closed is super nice.

Let's see a pic of that custom cinch bag!

 

[Silver Needle]

Pulled this from the Silky site:


The Silky BIGBOY is available in four teeth sizes/configurations (tpi - teeth per inch): 5.5 tpi - Extra Large/Coarse (pruning, green wood), 6 tpi - Large/Coarse (pruning, green wood), 8.5 tpi - Medium (soft wood), and 11 tpi - Fine (hard wood, bamboo). Each BIGBOY has a color-coded handle associated with the teeth configuration: Yellow - Extra Large, Red - Large teeth, Black - Medium teeth, and Blue - Fine teeth. - See more at: http://www.silkysaws.com/Silky_Saws/Folding-Curved_2/Bigboy-2000-XL-Teeth#sthash.oEjKoqLg.dpuf

 

[91bravo]

Pulled this from the Silky site:


The Silky BIGBOY is available in four teeth sizes/configurations (tpi - teeth per inch): 5.5 tpi - Extra Large/Coarse (pruning, green wood), 6 tpi - Large/Coarse (pruning, green wood), 8.5 tpi - Medium (soft wood), and 11 tpi - Fine (hard wood, bamboo). Each BIGBOY has a color-coded handle associated with the teeth configuration: Yellow - Extra Large, Red - Large teeth, Black - Medium teeth, and Blue - Fine teeth. - See more at: http://www.silkysaws.com/Silky_Saws/Folding-Curved_2/Bigboy-2000-XL-Teeth#sthash.oEjKoqLg.dpuf

I was just about to post this. It's funny because I always thought the bigger teeth was for hardwoods. According to Silky I'm wrong! Lol. It's just that my Sven has larger and deeper voids and has always made quick work of any seasoned deadfall in the woods.

 

[redwood22]

Well shoot, I was expecting to figure out exactly which saw I needed in this thread, all I've decided is I want like 5 different new saws....

 

[91bravo]

Well shoot, I was expecting to figure out exactly which saw I needed in this thread, all I've decided is I want like 5 different new saws....

There's a slight learning curve with the Silky, but once you have it down, you'll be blazing through wood like butter! The Sven is more forgiving and cuts like a beast as well. Honestly I can't say which one cuts faster after all these years. I do know that they are both great saws. I went from smaller folding Bahcos and Wicked Tree Gear saws to these two and I will never go back!

 

[Fancier]

Saw physics are interesting. There are several variables including the desired cut face finish, the amount of work you want to put into each stroke, and the width of the cutting face (how much of the saw is in contact with the wood) that determines how many teeth per inch you need. You also have to take into account the hardness of the material when deciding on the tooth angle and how much the material is going to swell when determining how thick the blade should be compared to the thickness of the teeth and the width of the cut the saw makes. I'm guessing that most of these variables are included in their blade design for each expected type of wood to be cut so there may be more than just the tooth count going in to their recommendations.