Best Handsaw? Shape? Length? Teeth?

[M.D. Vaden]

What would you say is the best handsaw for you?

My pick is between the Silky Zubat and an ARS although I'm leaning away from wooden handles these days.

I prefer the curved blade saws because less downward pressure is required on the pull stroke, alleviating strain on the forearms.

Also, I don't care for any handsaws that have the notches between every so-many teeth, as that prevents use of the saw on smaller tree and shrub branches. A good sharp saw can keep me from pulling my handpruners out for 3/8" to 1/2" twigs and branches. But the notch will snag the little ones.

 

[trevmcrev]

Just got onto a Silky Zubat after many Ars saws and love it. super sharp, comfy grip, good scabbard. Highly recommended.

 

[Stumper]

For general use 13" curved, pull cut and 6.5-7.5 pts per inch is hard to beat...which is why the Silky Zubat and Corona Pony saw are so tremendously popular. For fruit tree and shrub work I find a straight blade and finer teeth to be advantageous-I use a Gomtaro or Oyakata in orchard work. For ripping through bigger work and popping out dead twigs a Sugoi shines.

 

[Ryan Willock]

I'm fond of my Silky Natanoko. It has greatly reduced the use of a chainsaw in the tree for me. When pruning I pull my climbing saw up just a couple times a day when before I was using a fano I kept the chainsaw in the tree with me at all times. I've been thinking about maybe trying a Sugoi.

 

[MNClimber]

I use a Stihl PS 70. I also have a silky zubat but like the stihl better it weighs less and it seams to cut cleaner and faster. It has a 13" chemical nickel blade.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

The stihl has the problem MD already mentioned, the slots in the blade that make it not work for small shoots.
Wood handles are slippery when wet, and don't give any shock absorbency. Can you say CTS?
It also has the hook at the end of the handle, which constantly snags on ropes, but that could be cut off with a Zubat.

 

[treeseer]

Ryan you can borrow my Sugoi if you want. I don'''t like silky scabbards. md, I'd rather bull out the handpruners on the small stuff < 1".

That's my answer--favorite handsaw--florian ratchetcut handshears.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Ryan you can borrow my Sugoi if you want. I don'''t like silky scabbards. md, I'd rather bull out the handpruners on the small stuff < 1".

That's my answer--favorite handsaw--florian ratchetcut handshears.

I pull out the hand pruners too. But it looses time for me when I have to switch from one tool to the other.

At least I"ve eliminated the lopper 97% of the time.

A sharp saw reduces the time to scabbard and switch a tool.

Apparently some arborists have more of a selection than I anticipated, even within the same brand name.

 

[ozy365]

The Zubat is my choice. I also like it in the pole saw version that shares the same blade. The pole saw is not as rigid as I like, but the light weight and blade swap-ability still make it a good combo.

 

[elmnut]

Corona, and Silky are the best I have seen, and of course Felco #2 hand pruners.

 

[Tree Machine]

I've always dug the straight-blade saws, Silky Gomtaro line. If you tend to do cut a face-cut / back cut like you would in dropping a tree, but on a miniature version, up high to direct a limb where you want it to go, a straight-blade meets and makes the V-notch. Curved blades overshoot at the sides.

I like the straight-blade folding saws, the Silky Gomboy 300mm and the Bigboy 360. Compact, straight blades and no scabbard. I tend to have saws fall out of the scabbard while up in the tree.


Last week I got a curve-blade Silky Sugoi, not a lot different from the Zubat. That baby really sizzles.

For fine pruning I like the Prosentei with the fine teeth at the tip and the larger teeth nearer the handle.

I got my sister the pocketboy, large teeth so she can prune her pygmy palms and all her ground plants.

I like the Silky Top Gun, musically speaking. If you tune it just right you can get it to sound like a classical guitar with rock and roll flavor. Check it out.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

The 13" Kanzawa Samurai is far better than any Silky saw I've ever used.

No contest.

 

[Tree Machine]

I've had a couple of those, the green / red handle one, curved, scabbarded. They really are good saws.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I think a the Sugoi is a step up from the Zubat in that it's sturdier and the blade arc is better. It makes it so easy to use the entire blade. Cost is an issue though.

I like the curved blades for general use, and a striaght blade for removals where I may need to finish a back cut.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

I think I'd liike to try one of those Gomtaros.

The tooth pattern looks like it may be the best of both worlds. More set apart on the handle side, and closer finer spacing near the end, which would be great for smaller twigs and some plants like Japanese maple.

Someone mentioned the Kanzawa Samurai. It should be built reasonably well, but it has a design issue that I found on a couple of other saws I tried about 6 years ago.

The attachment and angle of the handle demand a bit more energy from the upper half of the fingers on the handle.

At least that's the way the images appear. I like saws that have the handle a little bit more inline with the blade. Not totally inline though.

Regardless of brand, I like the protrusion on the handles that prevents the hand from slipping off. It saves on having to waste energy squeezing to keep a grip.

 

[Tree Machine]

I think a the Sugoi is a step up from the Zubat in that it's sturdier and the blade arc is better. It makes it so easy to use the entire blade. Cost is an issue though.

I like the curved blades for general use, and a striaght blade for removals where I may need to finish a back cut.

How can cost really even be a factor on something that will begin to make you money the second you begin using it, and will easily pay for itself in the first several hours you use it? This is not a cost, this is an investment. Assets make you money. You are buying, for $70, an asset that can earn you hundreds a week, week after week after week.

I can see the Sugoi outlasting my folding Gomboys many times over, partly because the thicker gauge blade will be less prone to breakage. I will be sure to stay away from chain-link fences with it and if I treat it right and work it hard, I hope to get a year out of it. The packaging says the blade is resharpenable, which is unheard of with my folding Gomboy blades and the Gomtaro series, those blades are just replacable.

The Sugoi, I'm finding, is really aggresive. I'll keep it away from dogwoods and magnolias, and carry it up for ash and oak and maple. The hook end at the tip of the Sugoi is not sharpened. I don't know what function it''s supposed to serve, but you can reach out with the saw and retrieve an out-of-reach rope without it ever touching a sharp tooth. On the pole saw blades, that tip is sharpened.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

The Sugoi, I'm finding, is really aggresive. I'll keep it away from dogwoods and magnolias, and carry it up for ash and oak and maple. The hook end at the tip of the Sugoi is not sharpened. I don't know what function it''s supposed to serve, but you can reach out with the saw and retrieve an out-of-reach rope without it ever touching a sharp tooth. On the pole saw blades, that tip is sharpened.

I've got two guesses on those tips - because I've been thinking that one over this week.

One guess - to keep the front teeth from ripping the scabbard. I've seen that scabbard damage from some of my saws like the ARS I used to use.

The second guess is that it helps prevent pulling the saw all the way back on the pull stroke.

 

[Stumper]

The tip hook on my Sugoi IS sharpened. It is a twig slicer/chopper. Reach out, grab little sproutlet with hook, snatch it off cleanly.

 

[Tree Machine]

I'd prefer mine sharpened. You can still pull a rope in very gently.

I took the Sugoi up the tree yesterday to take out a dead top and some dead wood. The little job paid just about what the saw cost, so I thought, let's make an exercise of this. Can the saw pay for itself in 15-30 minutes in the work that it does?

Finding myself rather comfortable in leaving the chainsaw behind, besides it was raining lightly, I climbed the slippery thing and proceeded to to the deadwooding. Third limb in, I drop the Sugoi. No chainsaw, but I do have the 360 folding Bigboy. the blade is a few month old, so it wasn't being magical like the Sugoi was a few moments earlier, but it was cutting and I finished in under a half hour.

What I really noticed, using a thinner blade straight blade, as opposed to the slightly thicker Sugoi blade is that the Sugoi blade doesn't bend. It's super stiff, and that's really nice. Blades that bend can snap and I've done that a good, many times, especially when the weather is in the freezing temps.

Curved blade, WAY better for limb sizes from wrist-diameter up to leg-diameter.


On the Sugoi I found you can overcome the grabbiness of those super-aggressive teeth by moving the saw really fast, like zipppp! Single pull removals of smaller dead wood branches, does it better than anything I've used yet. Shoulda bought one of these in 2005 when they came out.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

I have a sugoi that I really like. The one think that bothers me is the big circular nut? thingy that attaches the blade to the handle. It always loosens up. But really the thing cuts like crazy