I've only used mine to cut green wood. I did experiment on a very dry pine 2x4 and redoak scrap wood. It managed to cut these, but with a great deal of sweat equity. I would probably use it to place control notches in large wood and then crack it with a boot or mallet. It is far superior to an SAS type wire saw. I have added a few replacement bowsaw blades to my larger kit. I can rig a sapling into a bow easily enough. The better ones have both rakers and teeth.For the novice, the teeth cut the fibers and the rakers actually chisel out the wood. if you have a clean shavings it is in good order. A small supply ofkerosene or oil is usefull to keep sap from clogging the blade.