Mors Kochanski says to carry a swedish bucksaw blade in your belt. But how do you do that in concrete terms? Do you just slip it underneath the belt inside the loops, teeth up? Or is there some kind of James Bond belt that I can slip a bucksaw blade inside of it?

And where can I find cheap yet good quality 30-inch swedish bucksaw blades? Are the Stanley brand or other similar available at stores like HomeDepot adequate?

Thanks
Frankie

You can find 24" blades from places like Ace Hardware for well under $5. I just got one for building my own bucksaw. I got the largest one that I saw.

The thought of putting that under my belt makes me uncomfortable, though.

I wonder if the blade would fit in this product?

http://www.prosurvivalkit.com/mube.html

Depending on what you carry on your belt in terms of pouches etc:

Either one of the pocket chain saws or something like a folding pruning saw. For most shelter building tasks and for chopping up firewood a saw is a much safer and calorific efficent method than either batoning or using an axe.

I personally attach as much importance to having a saw about me under such circumstances as a knife. Lifesaver.

I believe Kochanski recommended sewing the blade inside a leather belt. Many leather belts consist of two layers of leather sewn together; he recommended unstitching one side, putting the saw blade inside, and (I think) stitching it back up again.

I watched him a few years ago make a bucksaw out of spruce tree branches but he "cheated" (his words); he used another bucksaw to cut the branches to size. He says it takes too long to do it just using the blade itself, although he used to do it that way.

The idea is to have a saw long enough to be able to cut a "hug-size tree" and should be ideally as long as from your nose to your fingertip to be able to use the full stroke of your arm:

The belt should be genuine leather to be used as a stropping device for your knife so this is not an option. I wonder if there is some kind of flexible plastic cover that I could put on the teeth of the saw to avoid damaging surrounding fabrics.

Thanks Aardwolfe, that makes sense... I'll consider this.

Most of my belts I make out of either flat or tubular 1 inche webbing. I would imagine you could put a bucksaw blade in the 1 inch tubular webbing and still have a belt to ware once the blade is removed.
cheers

That's a rather large tree! I'm curious, this advice is intended for short-term survival situations? What's the purpose of cutting such a large diameter tree or log?

Actually, I don't know. But there must be good reasons. Kochanski has the experience I don't have but anyway, I do think it's a nice idea and seems easier to carry than a folding prunning saw or a rather heavy chain saw blade. And when in the cold weather, you want a saw that gets the job done quickly...

Frankie

It was suggested to use a webbing belt - I just saw one the other day. Purchase the webbing from a climbing store and add Fastec buckles, insert the blade before sealing the end with heat.

I am glad to hear that he cheated!

I made a busksaw to his intructions 2 weeks ago but cheated on the slots for the blade using another saw as well since I feared splitting the wood

If you want to see Mors's making a bucksaw and my attempt at one it is here:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23000