Silky Vs Boreal 21 Buck Saw Some fact with my Opinions

[@CytoplasmicGoo]

I’m been using a silky folding saw for a few years now, first month of using it I bent the blade.I bought a replacement blade and 3 years later it’s still going strong. Moral of the story, do try to push cut with a silky. Also, for the folding silky, replacement blade of varying types of teeth are readily available.

[@TheChadWork2001]

Thanks for this video. I like that Boreal

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

I haven't used mine in years. The 3 blades I have for it are just not as food as even a dull silky.

[@TheJusnic82]

Once going to silky's ive never gone back to buck saws.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Love all 7 of my silky saws!

[@brandonwood3442]

That cutting test was so not fair lol. You shouldn’t be counting the boreal 21 as double strokes, it is literally the same motion of your arm. If they both took 7 strokes of your arm, then don’t count the boreal 21 as 14 “cutting” strokes, count it as 7! You’re clearly biased, but that’s okay because you said it was your opinion from the beginning so I can’t fault you for that. Personally I think both saws have their pros and cons. And they both cut like beasts.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

The boreal 21 should cut on both forward, and backward motion equally, that is why i counted each motion as a stroke.

[@richarddsouza7761]

Great comparison man. Thanks for putting the video together it was really good to see your opinions on them and how easy they are to cut with. I just picked up a silky f-180 and still waiting for it to be delivered but I feel better about my choice now. I have a feeling that in the future I'll probably own both :)

[@GrumpyGrunt]

Great review and comparison, brother. The original blade on the Boreal21 is for green wood. So, it doesn't work very well on dry wood, especially that iron tough Cottonwood, Cedar and Mesquite you find in the SW. The Sidney Rancher blade you got is for exactly that. I looked at it for a long time and went with a Silky BigBoi instead and glad I did. I love it.

[@OpenAirOutdoors]

I’ve seen plenty of reviews on these saws. Some good many were bias. I really enjoyed your comparison on them! Nice work👍

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Many thanks!

[@tjn0110]

Excellent review, thank you.

[@evansinger8740]

Dude you’re argument on the amount of strokes to cut is a little weird.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

why? if the bow saw should cut both on pull and push it should be counted as such. But I'm open to other thoughts.

[@evansinger8740]

I definitely understand what you’re saying. But you’re essentially giving the agawa saw a disadvantage because it’s more efficient. You can’t just say it takes more strokes just because it’s designed to cut in both directions. Either way I enjoyed the video, it’s good to spark the conversation.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

It cut less with each cut stroke. But it's still a great saw. Thank you for watching!

[@GUNSLINGEROUTDOORS]

Good review.. it really comes down to what works great for you.. 🇺🇸🤠

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Thanks 👍

[@Flockingtheherd]

The other blade you don’t like is for dry deadwood and probably leaves a better cut that feels smoother

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

I’ve tried to like it, it still feels like you’re ripping the wood, not cutting it, but it’s much better than the blade that the Boreal 21 came with. It’s still my opinion that silky saws just cut better…they’re certainly easier to maneuver around and manipulate. I’m testing a 6 dollar folding saw, so far it’s quite good!

[@Person-uz5lw]

I've got the Corona folding saw, $20 at Lowe's/Home Depot and I'd put it up against the boreal any day

[@vensheaalara]

It's a different cutting stroke with the silky. My opinion: they have them with blades you can change out. Carry spare blades. They weigh practically nothing.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

that is certainly an advantage. A silky blade is easy to change as well, but requires a philps tip screwdriver. And the blades are not cheap. You can get 2-3 bahco 21 inch saw blades for the same price as one 310mm silky blade. The advantage of the silky though is they just dont seem to dull! I've had to replace one, and its because I cut through a piece of wood that had buckshot in it that the tree had grown around so it was perfectly engulfed. It blunted the tips of the saw and dented the edge of a hatchet as well!

[@martinerhard8447]

counting strokes like you did makes no sense to compare. Also the big problem with the silkys is that they are not resharpable. Means they are expensive throwaways.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Explain to me how you would have done it differently. Also I've had the same silky saws for several years and never had an issue with them becoming dull. There are also special files that you can buy to sharpen your silky saws. any diamond cutter will sharpen a silky saw.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

If that saw cuts on both the push and pull stroke than every movement should count as a single stroke. Meaning one stroke for a push and one for a pull.

[@martinerhard8447]

@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy What you would need to measure is time and also how much you get exhausted. Because this is what actually matters You can buy special files sure but only sharpen a limited selection of silky saws. All silky saws with impuls hardened tips cant be sharpened because only the very tip of each theet is hardened and if that hard part is gone you essentially have a unhardened saw. Another problem is that you will never be able to recreate the factory edge so after you resharpen a silky saw that you can sharpen it will perform like a regular resharpened folding saw (i learned that the hard way but it should have been obvious) Its still great for hobby bushcrafters that dont use it a lot since they keep their edge for a good while and have nice performance. But i favor bow saws nowadays again. They dont break when you mess up on the push, exchange blades are super cheap and i can even put in blades for metal/bone.

[@martinerhard8447]

@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy here found a vid about the topic kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnSzZ2aGjbitgLc but they also have the info on the silky website

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

I do see your point. The first silky saw I bought about two years after I got it I ran it into a nail embedded inside of a log. At chipped a couple of the teeth so I just bought a new blade for it.

[@johnanon658]

Thanks for the vid. So you saying if you were gonna backpack, you would take the silky?

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Without a doubt, yes I would.

[@johnanon658]

@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy what about onenna does 12” folding bow saws

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

@@johnanon658 I'm afraid I've never tried one. I usually dont use bow saws because their application is limited. I'll check that one out though!

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

@@johnanon658 looking around I am not able to find any saw by that name. However I generally do not like bow saws, like I said before, a folding pull saw beats them out because it can be used in many more situations.

[@johnanon658]

@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy Gerber and boreal now make collapsing 12” ones

[@pgpagaia]

Your technique witht rhr bowsaw ia poor. Sorry to say. You are using it as a handsaw. Bowsaws are all about placing yourself in maximim comfort poaition and make long efortless strokes. If you do it right, they will cut better than hand saw because they are longer and have way less drag. Perhaps they are not thr beat when it comes to just grab a branch and cut it. But rather for continuous usage in the same optimial prepared set up.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

I find it more difficult to use this bowsaw in virtual every way possible.

[@TheChadWork2001]

Intros are impractical and following the crowd and waste time

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Mine is starting to annoy me.

[@mgraber1]

So because the Silky is less efficient and only cuts on every other stroke you penalize the Agawa? In other words, If I designed a saw that was only supposed to cut on every 10th stroke but cut 5% more per cutting stroke you would give the win to that saw because it cut more on the strokes that were supposed to cut? Dude, that is literally the stupidest conclusion ever, every stroke counts whether it cuts or not. The Agawa has drastically reduced wrist and hand fatigue, also. I do love them both for different reasons. Sorry, I won't be subscribing, lol,smh.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

You're fun. The agawa doesn't cut half as well, doesn't cut, it shreds, far more uncomfortable and literally hurts to use. This test was as fair as it could be. I gave no "penalty" to the agawa. Oh it also has no versatility, and the tension system doesn't last for beans.

[@escapetherace1943]

@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy Yeah your stroke argument makes zero sense. They both took "7" strokes. They have the same cutting teeth per inch. You have 2 teeth that cut each direction on the agawa and four teeth that cut one direction on the silky. The effort expended is the same. Less on the agawa, especially on thicker wood, because the blade on a bow saw is thinner. Your technique is also kind of bad and brute-forced if you say it shreds and is uncomfortable to use. You need to consciously think to cut both ways and let the saw guide itself, and not hold it down with too much pressure. You need to cut wood with a much wider diameter and tell us which saw makes you tired faster. You'll find that the thicker silky blade that cuts only one way will make your hand and forearm tired a heck of a lot quicker, especially when you are cutting things longer than a twig. Overall your review is meh.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

@@escapetherace1943 Thank you for your comment, i'm very confident in my opinion here. I rewatched my review, and my opinion is the same. The agawa takes more effort to cut than the silky. Get a silky with smaller teeth and the difference is astounding! A straight blade silky gomboy with medium teeth cuts faster, easier and better than the agawa by a long shot. Except MAYBE (big maybe) on green sappy wood. I have 9 silky saws and 1 agawa with 2 blades that has been on my shelf in the garage for almost 3 years. Also you can sharpen the silky, diamond still cuts the steel and they make a file that sharpens it. The silky doesnt take any effort to 'push' forward, you just move it back to the front of the wood, a baby could do it. The agawa also doesn't cut in both directions, it SHOULD and CAN if you use it intentionally, you're weaker pushing, so its just awkward to push cut. The blade is not any thinner than a medium tooth gomboy. I have yet to find a reason to take that bow saw out over any silky. Especially when cutting logs, real logs for siberian log fires. The agawa cant stay straight, and because its a bow saw the backbone gets in the way, so you really cant cut larger things with it. It is much much duller than a silky blade (which you can shave with) and feels more like you're pushing a cheese grater through wood than a saw. at 9:59 I say I think it does have its place. I will revise that now and say it has no place that most every silky doesn't do better and easier. Its a quirky, uncomfortable, hard to use, limited, of questionable quality saw that I just dont find as useful as any silky. You never see one on alone, striking a firesteel, or in the hands of any arborist or tree removal company employee. Anyone who uses both will say the silky is a far superior saw. And I've still never broken a silky blade, and never dulled one.

[@escapetherace1943]

@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy sounds like a skill issue, but saying you can sharpen the silky is a joke. Yes it's possible but you're not doing it in the field and it's beyond the common layman and not worth doing, it's disingenuous to say so. I'm sorry you can't cut with a bow saw both ways, like I said you clearly don't have the technique. People break silky saws all the time, it can happen and if it DOES happen in the bush you are basically SOL. Silky is great for smaller stuff but it IS more fatiguing. Maybe you should slap a better quality blade on your agawa because I will say that their stock all purpose blade is of medium quality, to be fair. I've had good experience with bahco blades.... I'm regularly cutting through wood 10 inches wide and I'm sorry, a bowsaw does do insanely better at least for BIG wood, it just does, period. The blade being thinner makes a faster cut and less likely to get pinched. A silky style is honestly better for those small branches, I will admit it, for 1-2 inch stuff because it doesn't require setting the saw the right way and you're through a small branch in the speed of light. There are more factors to consider than you did in your review, of course

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

@@escapetherace1943 sharpening a silky is not hard. just as time consuming as sharpening a bow saw blade but you only have to do it never. or unless you cut through a nail. Even then the blade is hard enough to cut through mild steel. I've never done it, never had to. The technique to cut both ways on a bow saw isnt hard, but virtually nobody does it. You can hear the saw bounce off the wood going in one direction. The stock silky blade cuts better than any 3rd party bow saw blade made. Here is another (arguably the best out there) source for silky saws. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrbnXljedeLZ8U kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWKZe52NfsaXmZY kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4nMd6R5ipd3oZI and just because you think the silky isn't meant for big stuff: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnuYZ5V4Zph6g5o I also have the 650mm saw, and I can fell trees that are 40-50 inches+