I have been out of the loop for a while and this topic may or may not have been covered.

I was brain storming about a small, light-weight saw for each of our BOB's. I have tried those wire saws and ended up breaking them in the first minutes of use. I have limited amount of space in my bag as does the wife.

I need some opinion as to what you fine folks think of putting a recipricating saw (sawz-all) blade in a pack. I have one for my saw that they call the "demolition blade". I have used this - with the saw - to go through nails, screws, wood, drywall, copper pipe and electrical wire (unfortunately it was all at the same time when I was doing "house repair" but that is another story). They are light, tough, sharp, inexpensive and come in a variety of lengths.

I can already see one downfall and that it has no handle, but I have used saw knives and proptly broke the handle anyway. Maybe I am too hard on my stuff???

Anyway, I would seriously like some input on this.

I keep 2 sawzall blades (think they are 6") in my psk. I use black electrical tape to protect the teeth, and then you can use that same tape for a little 'handle' if you need to use the blades asap. Using this method reduces the cutting part of the blade. I've done this for cutting thru copper pipe as a test and it worked.

They take up no room other then the length. And if needed, you can create a handle for it...

I agree with sockpuppet, the Gerber is the way to go, I bought the saw and have used it quite a few times and really like it, holds up well too.

I bought a saw (I agree the thin wire ones are junk) at Wal-Mart for $10.00 it’s not a thin wire, it’s like a chainsaw blade, it seems very tough considering the price. Its only problem is that when new it’s hard to saw because the joints are tight. Some use and WD-40 helped a lot with this. It comes with a black cordura case with a plastic lining on the inside to protect the case, it has handles on it that are large enough and seem to be more then strong enough to hold up to abuse. I’ve had it for about a year and have used it several times.

I just went out and took a few pictures of it to post.

I think you're on the right track. A sawzall-type blade, with a few tweaks, is a "cut anything" tool. Not fast, but effective.

From my experiments, I'd suggest:

- Go with a bi-metal, fine-tooth blade (usually 14 tpi IIRC) at least 6" or longer. It takes a lot of power to use a coarser-toothed blade by hand, especially without a handle.

- My preference is to grind both ends of the blade to a quarter-moon shape, all edges carefully smoothed so I can use it as a pull-cut or push-cut. You never know which you'll need. Also, rounded ends mean nobody except airport security gives them a second glance.

- Another option: drill a couple of holes in the blade so you can mount a short handle if needed.

I would even hand these out to people who knocked on my door asking for help. Useful as a tool, useless as a weapon. Perfect.

NOW THAT IS COOL! I have not seen anything like that at wally world, but I like the design and the simplicity of it. It also looks like it could take some abuse and still complete the task at hand.

I also noticed that the links are like motorcyle chain links. I wonder if they are the same size? If they are you could put a spare link or two in the pouch should I (for whatever reason that I do) break it. If you know where else to get one of those, send me a link or whatever. I like it.

Regarding making a handle, could an exacto knife handle be used if the back end of the saw blade was modified to enter the socket deep enough?

-Bill Liptak

It works good when running it with my hands, but it does require 2 hands to operate this way. It also works well as a bow saw allowing you to cut with one hand if you want to. All you have to do is find the right length branch that can tolerate the sharp bend needed without breaking. This usually means a green piece of wood (still alive and attached to a tree) and it seems a lot of us here don’t like to cut branches off a tree so the bow saw comments are for information purposely only. No trees were harmed in my testing (that you know of…)of the saw!

Or you could buy a Leatherman Surge , it uses similar blades...

Here is a knife combo pack with interchangeable blades. It has a wood saw in the pack. It’s made by Kerskaw, it’s called a Blade Trader. It has 6-blades, fish blade, bone saw, wood saw, 2 regular blades (one curved, one strait) and what looks to be a bread cutting blade. I’ve had it for going on 20 + years. I’ve mostly only ever use the wood saw on it. It also has a zip-up case.

It’s not something you are going to hack through the jungle with, but it does work well sawing wood.


They also made a smaller version called a Jr Blade Trader, it had 3-blades.

I don’t know if either one is still made today.