Bow saw vs Hatchet.

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flip888

Joined
Jun 8, 2006
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I picked up a bow saw from the hardware store yesterday for my cousin to help cut up a bunch of 6 inch thick round wooden fence poles for firewood at his house. We also had a fiskars 14 inch hatchet so I got to do kind of a comparison.

I started out using the hatchet since I never really cared for saws, and found that my cousin was cutting through the poles a lot faster and with less energy. And the cuts were obviously cleaner. So after a while we switched and I got to use the saw. It felt a lot more effeciant and actually a lot safer. It made the hatchet look like a primitive clumsy tool.

After words we went out to the woods to a field of alders. We ended up cutting up a fallen alder that was about a foot thick at the base. The only advantage the hatchet had during the whole process was that it trimmed the smaller branches that were less than an inch thick off with no effort. The saw would just bend the branch and not really catch them. But the bigger branches it had no problem with.

We ended up splitting the wood with a heavy splitting axe. I'm sure the hatchet would have had the advantage here though if we didn't have the maul.

After all that saw use I'm thinking I'm going to try leaving the hatchet at home next time I go hiking.
 
Somebody here one time ran a comparison between a GB mini and a small folding saw and they came to the same conclusion as you.
 
A sharp saw will cut with very little effort compared to chopping with anything. I can saw through half a dozen branches in the time it takes me to chop through one. I love the small light weight efficient saws that we have today. I have cut tons of wood with a bow saw and with the old two man saws.
 
Saw's rule.

I gave up carrying a hatchet many, many years ago. Now I have a selection of Gerber/Fiskars, Opinel, and Silky saws that go in my day pack. At a tad over 4 onces, my sliding blade Fiskars will go through a 4 inch thick log like a crazed beaver, and without the energy expenditure of a choping tool.

At 9.95 each on sale at the garden center at Target, the better half and I each carry one.

Oh and flip88; next time trim the small banches by laying the saw blade flat on the tree truck and sawing the branches off at their base. It'll go right through is a few seconds. :thumbup:
 
jackknife said:
Saw's rule.

I gave up carrying a hatchet many, many years ago. Now I have a selection of Gerber/Fiskars, Opinel, and Silky saws that go in my day pack. At a tad over 4 onces, my sliding blade Fiskars will go through a 4 inch thick log like a crazed beaver, and without the energy expenditure of a choping tool.

At 9.95 each on sale at the garden center at Target, the better half and I each carry one.

Oh and flip88; next time trim the small banches by laying the saw blade flat on the tree truck and sawing the branches off at their base. It'll go right through is a few seconds. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip jackknife.
I guess there are a couple advantages to carrying hatchets. Unless you have a mid size knife with you. Splitting is the main thing a saw would have trouble with. And hammering things. Though when hiking I usually don't do much of either.

The whole thing about being able to use a hatchet as a knife also doesn't really apply to me since I usually have a folder and a fixed blade with me in the woods. And a backup fixed blade in my pack.

I wonder if it would be a bad idea to sharpen the back 1 of those fiskars slide out saws. That might be a good way to make it more useful.
 
If you've got a sharp, quality saw, then I agree. They're pretty quick and efficient. I've owned some crappy ones that bent on me (bent waay too easily) and thus became useless when I needed it.

But I don't know, there must just be something about me that likes hatchets/small axes. Just very appealing and fun. I don't like traveling without one.
 
I carry a silky saw, and leave the hatchet at home, for the reasons above. And it is lighter.
 
I'm a big hatchet fan. I used to carry a saw but now almost always carry a hatchet.

However saws are faster most of the time and safer.
 
Having a historical logging background in the family and, still doing lots of logging on my own land (several hundred acres of heavy timber); I can say without hesitation and experience that there isn't an axe or hatchet made that will keep up with a good saw...period. I even own some competition axes with some big husky sons that can't keep up with a good saw on horizontal material. Not talking machete twigs here. :)

Hatchets are fine for chopping and splitting small pieces...which is what they were designed to do. I will sometimes use the hatchet as a wedge or mini-maul to split rounds, but I don't actually swing the hatchet. I use a cudgel or baton (on the axe pole) which is much more safe. I have taken too many guys out of the woods with severe axe lacerations and cuts on the legs and feet caused by swinging short handled tools coupled with inexperience.

I like a traditional folding saw (this is a 24") when canoeing or traveling deep in the bush.
crookednorlandbucksaw1no9.jpg
 
They are different tools- both are valueable. A saw is a better way to cut wood, a hatchet is more versatile. It is difficult to use a saw to gut a fish, pound a stake, split kindling, or sharpen a pencil. If you can carry both, you will be farther ahead!
 
This has been my woods carry for the last 8 months or so

DSC_2395sml.jpg


A lot of cutting power for just over a pound of weight :thumbup:

DSC_2716.jpg
 
I gave this subject a fair amount of thought when purchasing some new gear a little while back. While I'm no super experienced woodsman, I did my research and decided on a saw for cutting and a large knife for splitting. So these days, I carry a pocket chainsaw and a KaBar heavy bowie. So far, this combo seems to work good. I'd like to get a small sliding saw as a back up to the pocket chainsaw as it's not really heavy duty (bent it on the first cut). I figure even with two saws and a 14inch knife, I'm lighter then a decent hatchet and just as compact, plus I have more capabilities. It seems safer than swinging an axe or hatchet as well which is a big deal to me. I can also leave my sheath knife (4 in blade) at home if I need to save more weight and be just as capable with the bowie and multitool (which I'd take either way), or just throw in a light weight necker.

Just my $0.02
 
theonew. That trio should do it all with ease. I have the same setup for saw and SAK along with the Breeden Bushcraft.
 
The saws are great for more efficiency in cutting but also if you are trying to cut something to serve a tool or utensil. Chopping a piece of wood to fashion a bowl or plate with is a pain in the neck...same withorks and spoons. The folding saws are a big advantage in this. However I'd much rather make kindling with a hatchet but if weight is an issue a large fixed bade will work well for that. What you need all depends on what, where, and for how long.
 
jackknife said:
Saw's rule.



Oh and flip88; next time trim the small banches by laying the saw blade flat on the tree truck and sawing the branches off at their base. It'll go right through is a few seconds. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Whether you use a saw or axe, you will get an easier, faster & cleaner cut if you cut in direction of the grain - i.e. cut [ B]up [/B] (from underside of the branch). You get a lot more resistance when you try to cut downwards - don't just take my word for it, try it for yourself
 
antonio_luiz said:
Whether you use a saw or axe, you will get an easier, faster & cleaner cut if you cut in direction of the grain - i.e. cut [ B]up [/B] (from underside of the branch). You get a lot more resistance when you try to cut downwards - don't just take my word for it, try it for yourself
Click to expand...

There's definately a technique to get the most cutting with the least effort.

With the saw IMO you have to pay more attention to where the pressure(if any) is on what you are cutting because there is more of a chance of the blade binding if it is a bowsaw.

With the hatchet IMO you want to start a notch from one side and then come in on both sides and to narrow it out rather than coming down from the top all the way.

A lot of times with a hatchet if I'm cutting up something like 3" and 12' long I'll stand it on it's end and then make a angled cut all the way around the circumference and then just hit it to crack it. You can section something pretty easy that way and hold it far from your feet or legs;)
 
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