Wire saws?

3

3wolves

Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
1,061
Are there any wire saws out on the market that actually work? A compact wire saw seems like the perfect thing to attach to the sheath of a small fixed blade or in a pocket psk. I remeber seing some website where a guy compared a bunch of them and only one type worked.
 
The only wire type saw I've ever come across that worked properly as a saw was to do the following. 1st Find a farm veterinarian who comonly works with large animals. Contact him/her and ask if they will sell you 3-4 feet of Gigli saw material, it is a diamond coated cable material which is used in cutting up dead fetuses within animals. Sounds gross but I used to assist a vet. In the service I used the commando saw a couple times, but it worked better as a garrotte than a saw, and it was marginal at that.
After you have the material you can make a loop at each end using cable splicers. Attach a handle through each rope. It works well but sometimes the vets think your a bit strange.
 
The 'Pocket Chain Saw ' does work. I can't say about the wire saws.
 
I find current cable saws to work perfectly fine and don't have any problems with them. In fact, I carry many of them since they are so inexpensive. I keep one in each car (they cut radiator hose, pvc, etc. great) and I keep one and sometimes two in each of my packs. The Coughlin's Commando/Deluxe model I like the best, but there are many out there. Not as durable of course as a regular saw, but quite good for the price and size.
 
I've used both the Varco and the "commando" model sold by Colghans. They're OK - they work well enough on stuff up to 6 inches or so, but I wouldn't want to cut a ton of firewood that way. Mostly stashed in the backpacking gear, where I'll trade high performance for weight and compactness. The "commando" is less toothy, so it doesn't tear up other gear as much. It's also more supple and easier to coil without kinking. Predictably this has a negative effect on performance.
 
Pocket chainsaw here too. I love em. Only tried a couple of cable saws, on both the ends came apart. These could have been real cheap ones though, I don't remember where they came from.
 
Can remember the make, but I found one of the smaller twisted wire saws a long time ago that was built well and worked great. To avoid the discomfort of use, I remember cutting some small branches into two sections that fit through the split rings to make full grip handles that worked very well. Since then, I've broke the last two I bought...they were pretty crappy. The Pocket Chain Saw works the best and that's what our helo pilots carried in their vests when I was down in South America.

I still prefer a folding saw...Silky, Kershaw/Bahco, Sawvivor, SAK.

ROCK6
 
These_Nutz said:
They work good and fast.
I rember as a kid i use to cut down small trees etc.
Click to expand...

The only ridged wire saw I used once turned into a wire after trying to cut limb on tree. I haven't tried my commando saw from "combat tin" yet, it does look better than some. SAK saw zips through limbs. Some limbs can be broken faster than sawing. Folding saw works best on small trees.
One guy brags he can cut 2x4 faster with SAK saw than anyone with big wood saw. I say BS.
 
I do have a pocket chain saw which works really well, but it doesn't really qualify as a wire saw. I had a similar saw made for use by engineers in WWII that had teeth that made the pocket chain saw look tame. It was for cutting down telephone poles and worked great.
 
I have one that was designed as a yard tool; a limb saw. It has long lenths of 3/8" yellow polypro line attached to each end of the saw section and and a throw bag. I used to to cut several limbs off some maples in my yard and it worked very well. It was at the house when I moved in and it doesn't have any brand name on it anywhere. I got the impression it was cheap junk, but after using it a few times, I was impressed. Maybe I'll remove the polypro lines and put the saw section in with my camping gear....

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
Thanks guys, I have used a pocket chainsaw before but they take up alot of space and are pretty heavy. I want some wire saws for psk's and to attach to the sheaths of small knives. If anyone knows of a quality one that works, I would be real gratefull if you posted a link of something here.
 
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