Knife vs Saw ???

I took a Fallkniven F1 , a Mora 2000 , an Opinel folding saw & a Leatherman Wave out to the woods this morning to find out which of the four would do a better/faster job of taking down a small ( 1 1/2") sapling.

I figured that this would be a good size to use for firewood or a shelter frame or things like that. Don't know what kind of tree it is , but around here they grow everywhere like weeds , so we call them Weed Trees.
They're tough & stringy!!!

First up were the F1 , followed by the Mora , the Opinel & finally the Wave.

Using a snap cut , where you bend the tree over to get some tension on it , then apply pressure while rocking the blade back & forth , the F1 got through the tree in 25 seconds with a fair amount of effort:

The Mora took 20 seconds:

The Opinel only took 7 seconds:

Finally the Wave got through it in 40 seconds:

Obviously the 2 saws gave a cleaner cut , but the knives got the job done too.

So....what does all this prove? I don't know , maybe nothing that hasn't already been proven , but it does serve to reinforce the notion that whether you have a knife or a saw , you can get this kind of work done with either. The more aggressive tooth pattern on the Opinel proved to be the fastest & took less effort while the thicker blade of the F1 took the most effort.
The Wave didn't do badly considering the small size of the saw blade & it got the job done.

Personally I'll still carry a fixed blade & some sort of saw with me in the woods.Whether the saw is on a Leatherman or a SAK or just a saw.

If you need a clean cut , the saw is the way to go. But if you just need "Quick & Dirty" then a good knife will get it done too.
Cliff

I think if you did a bigger tree you'd get different results too. Personally I love my gerber saw. It does wonders. It can take down 2-3" branches in just a few seconds. The only disadvantage is the size and weight of it if you're travelling light. I'll still carry my saw if I'm camping. I don't like to abuse my knifes much at all. I baby them. Cool

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You most certainly would get different results with a bigger tree.
Different woods will also get you different results.
Different knives would also get you different results.
The bigger they are though , the tougher it would be to bend them over for the snap cuts.

Sounds like the Gerber & the Opinel saws both work about the same.
They're both well designed tools for a specific purpose,so it stands to reason that they would work better & do this faster than the knives or the smaller saw on the Wave.
I don't really consider using a knife this way abusive though. They both survived this little excercise without any damage. Just trying to show what could be accomplished if you needed to do that.
More abusive would be batonning them through the tree or chopping them through the tree,but I've done that in the past & haven't seen any damage from that either.
Chopping & batonning could actually be more abusive to ME than it would be to the knife.
Cliff

	Cliff N wrote:
	More abusive would be batonning them through the tree or chopping them through the tree,but I've done that in the past & haven't seen any damage from that either.

Yeah I never batoned a knife through wood. I'd do it with my cheap knife, but I never wanted to ruin the epoxy coating on my SRK. It's still pretty pristene, and I want to keep it close to that for a while. Cool

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Aw come on!!!!!!!

Get that BAD BOY out there & beat on it a little Very Happy

You'll love it even more after you do.

Cliff

Interesting stuff, Cliff. Cool

Personally, if I had a choice I would pick a good saw over a good knife for this purpose. To me the saw seems a little more straightforward....hacking really isn't my thing. Just personal preference. Smile

That being said, you use what you've got....that's what survival is all about. Cool

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The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. - Psalms 53:1

good stuff I was just wondering the same thing since I am new to all this. going to get a folding saw at the sale. Very Happy

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I just heard something big crack�.. holy crap!-Les Stroud

better to fail at something you love then to succeed in something you hate.

Its allways great doing things like this really shows you what can be done with your gear, I know when I tested my Vanguard I was really surprised at how well it performed.

Well I tried batoning my knife through a log. Well I got about a 3" log, but my knife was only 5". Confused

The log was about 1 1/2' so I didn't get it through. It got stuck so I had to stick a rod in and pry the log apart to get my knife out. Confused

Um, is there a special technique to it or something? Question

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	Mystik Spiral wrote:
	Well I tried batoning my knife through a log. Well I got about a 3" log, but my knife was only 5". The log was about 1 1/2' so I didn't get it through. It got stuck so I had to stick a rod in and pry the log apart to get my knife out. Um, is there a special technique to it or something?

for the most part you have to work your way around the tree when batoning through, anything over 2" is hard to "slice" through. by that I mean cutting sections away piece by piece. But over that paton small pieces off at a time.

start like this.

then to this.

then this.

I think the wave would be the best overall because it has a knife and the saw in one small package. Yeah it takes time to cut anything down with the wave saw, but in reality you would be cutting wood all day if the key is survival where you are stranded is warmth

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Limitations are created only in the mind.
Only by ignoring them can one truly be great.

	Mystik Spiral wrote:
	Well I tried batoning my knife through a log. Well I got about a 3" log, but my knife was only 5". The log was about 1 1/2' so I didn't get it through. It got stuck so I had to stick a rod in and pry the log apart to get my knife out. Um, is there a special technique to it or something?

Like Fonly said...go small at first.

For lengthwise splitting of pieces larger than your knife blade,instead of starting at the middle (the largest part of the wood),start closer to the edge:

Then move your way around until your blade can get through:

You'll be done in no time...then you can burn it Very Happy

Cliff