I'd been intrigued by the Silky Saws so I bought one before my 30 day trip this summer and have been very happy with it. I got the Gomboy 240, which has a 240mm/10 inch blade. It's all metal with a comfortable rubber grip and opens and closes like a pocket knife; which made it very nice to carry and use.
http://www.amazon.com/Silky-Folding-...s=silky+gomboy
It's relatively small size and compactness made it handy for light clearing of the portage trails I was traveling. It lived in the top pocket of my gear pack; which was the first pack across the portage trails. If a trail needed some clearing I'd remove it from the pack and then put it in my pocket for the rest of the portage. That way I didn't have to stop and take off the pack each time I needed it and it left my hands free while walking.
Or if I could walk the trail with the pack but knew there were trees that would hang up the canoe I'd just drop the pack at the other side and clear trail as I walked back for my canoe. Then back in my pocket for the canoe carry.
Seemed comfortable to use and I was happy with the cutting speed. My only comparison is with a Sven saw I've had for years. I liked not having the upper frame limit the depth of cut and although the Sven saw goes together quickly it sure was nice to just flick the Silky open and shut. The handle is long enough to use two hands and I did a few times when cutting bigger trees.The Silky saw was much more comfortable to hold and use than the Sven.
It has two 'open' positions. One, as you would expect, has the blade straight out from the handle. The other position lets the blade open just a little farther. This keeps your knuckles out of the dirt when cutting something on the ground or maybe from hitting another branch that's in the way. I made use of that feature a couple times and while I don't think it's a must have it was nice.
One thing you need to be careful of is not binding and breaking the blade. These saws cut on the pull stroke, which is opposite of most saws we use. Since it cuts on the pull stroke the blade doesn't have to be as thick and strong. Not a problem until you're going to town on a branch and the blade binds as you push it forward. I never did break a blade on the trip but I probably came close. It would usually bind when I'd take a long stroke back so that the tip was almost out of the wood before I pushed it back forward. If I kept the strokes a little shorter it wasn't a problem. I did carry a spare blade with me.
Alan
http://www.amazon.com/Silky-Folding-...s=silky+gomboy
It's relatively small size and compactness made it handy for light clearing of the portage trails I was traveling. It lived in the top pocket of my gear pack; which was the first pack across the portage trails. If a trail needed some clearing I'd remove it from the pack and then put it in my pocket for the rest of the portage. That way I didn't have to stop and take off the pack each time I needed it and it left my hands free while walking.
Or if I could walk the trail with the pack but knew there were trees that would hang up the canoe I'd just drop the pack at the other side and clear trail as I walked back for my canoe. Then back in my pocket for the canoe carry.
Seemed comfortable to use and I was happy with the cutting speed. My only comparison is with a Sven saw I've had for years. I liked not having the upper frame limit the depth of cut and although the Sven saw goes together quickly it sure was nice to just flick the Silky open and shut. The handle is long enough to use two hands and I did a few times when cutting bigger trees.The Silky saw was much more comfortable to hold and use than the Sven.
It has two 'open' positions. One, as you would expect, has the blade straight out from the handle. The other position lets the blade open just a little farther. This keeps your knuckles out of the dirt when cutting something on the ground or maybe from hitting another branch that's in the way. I made use of that feature a couple times and while I don't think it's a must have it was nice.
One thing you need to be careful of is not binding and breaking the blade. These saws cut on the pull stroke, which is opposite of most saws we use. Since it cuts on the pull stroke the blade doesn't have to be as thick and strong. Not a problem until you're going to town on a branch and the blade binds as you push it forward. I never did break a blade on the trip but I probably came close. It would usually bind when I'd take a long stroke back so that the tip was almost out of the wood before I pushed it back forward. If I kept the strokes a little shorter it wasn't a problem. I did carry a spare blade with me.
Alan
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