Have you ever needed a SAW?

I use one on every hike and canoe trip. For the woods that I frequent, and my style of traveling they're perfect. I do pretty much all of my cooking on wood fires, so for getting firewood and quickly making nice pot hangers it's perfect. I don't pack tent stakes either, because most of the time there are anchor points to tie my tarp to, but when there aren't I can make stakes in a couple of minutes. I don't know how much the fiskars sliding saw weights, but its extremely light for how useful it is, and I find that it cuts just as well as the heavier and more expensive Silky Saws.

Nope!

Party On,

Newton

Only on a canoe trip through the Everglades. For backpacking, no.

I only carry a saw when on a backpack hunting trip. It is used to cut a center pole for a pyramid shelter (from a dead tree or branch) and to process the animal if I get one.

I don't think I would have a need for on on a normal backpacking trip.

I take a folding saw on about 1/4 of my trips to cut branches that have fallen/grown across trail.

Fiskars – about 8 ounces – from Home Depot – about 10 inch blade

I like the *idea* of having a saw for emergency or survival purposes, but they don't fit with Leave No Trace principles. As with axes, in the wrong hands they can be used to make some ugly messes. I could see using one for a kayak trip for driftwood fires, or cutting deadwood for a tent pole. A carbon fiber pole is probably the same weight.

There are many Swiss Army knives with a saw, but I don't think they are good for extensive work— fine for cutting a branch or two. The 111mm Victorinox knives are best for sawing as you get a bigger handle and the saw is a bit longer. The blade on the 111mm models lock too.

I've come to prefer a 91mm all-in-one SAK with scissors, saw and blade like the Wenger Handyman or the Victorinox Fieldmaster. The Victorinox Farmer is a elegantly simple knife with blade saw and awl and Alox (aluminum scales). The blade on the Farmer is substantially thicker than other SAK's of the same size. The Hiker is a similar model with plastic scales.

The Gerber Sportsman's Saw with a sliding blade is 3 ounces and can be found for $10-$12. The Bahco Laplander saw is a folding design and weighs about 6 ounces. It is also sold in the US by Kershaw knives. The Gerber has a plastic body and the Bahco has a metal body.

When I read the title of this thread about the use of a SAW in the backcountry, naturally I thought of this kind of SAW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEcEWxcH5LE
and not the cutting wood kind of saw. Oops.

While I have never had occasion to use for a wood saw in the backcountry, a snow saw makes igloo building a lot easier. Last time I built an igloo we carried a wood saw up the mountain for the students to use. It worked well enough ;-)

I'll admit to having a 15" Sven saw that weighs 10.6 ounces. I have some friends with whom I backpack and for them the biggest joy is getting to camp and having a fire. We don't do roaring blazes – just a nice campfire. Our first task with the saw is to cut up the large pieces of wood that others dragged to the area and tried to burn through. Then we gather what other wood we need that's around 2-3" in diameter and use it.

We've carried and used the saw on two trips – having our fires in established rings and only cutting wood that was already down. I guess I'm more of a LNAT (Leave No Additional Trace) kind of hiker. I pick up other's trash when I see it and pack it out and I pick up and burn downed wood. I believe I leave the woods better than when I passed through them – and I have carried a saw.

Carrying a saw does not automatically make you a destructive hiker. It's like anything else – it's the person and not the tool that matters.

I hike with a small saw and/or loppers pretty regularly.

A lot of our trails are heavily overgrown and have been ravaged by a handful of major wildfires over the last 5 years. The FS doesn't have the resources to maintain many of the trails, so it's often up to the trail users themselves to keep the trails passable. We have a lot of blowdowns across trails (burned up dead pines that fall over) and encroaching brush on trails. The brush is mostly chapparal, so it grows thick and fast and really tears you up. Some trails, it's not uncommon to have to crawl through/under if they're not pruned from time to time.

A saw like the Silky Bigboy 2000 (funny name for a saw, I know!) or one of the cheaper fold-out saws from the hardware store work well for most of our needs (up to about 12" diameter tree). We leave the bigger stuff to the sawyers with the big 8' crosscut saws!

Outside of trail work though, I don't carry/use a saw. If I can't break a piece of wood with my hands/feet, then I don't try to burn it.

If I know I'll be making a campfire I take a small gerber saw.

Like others, I carry a small folding saw to take care of blowdowns. It works really well and is very fast for its size. I forget its weight, but I would guess around 6 ounces.