Felco #60 pruning saw

A shot of the Felco #60 pruning saw :

Description

The Felco #60 brand pruning saw has a Japanese tooth pattern, with seven teeth per inch (0.8 centimeters depth, 0.36 inches) and cuts on the pull stroke. The saw weighs 130 grams, is 20 centimeters when folded and 35.5 centimeters in overall length with a 14.5 centimeters length toothed edge. The blade is 0.035 inches thick and has a set 0.050" in thickness.

Performance

On spruce lumber, the Felco cut through the wood well but was a difficult to start. It was in general outperformed by a Zeta folding saw and Timber saw from Tashiro hardware on such woods. On fresh woods, the Felco did better did better and matched the performance of the Zeta but was still outcut by the Timber saw". The Felco was also compared to the saw on a Rucksack on spruce lumber was and some fresh mainly pine and fir :

Here again the Felco had a very large advantage over the Rucksack saw on both woods. On the fresh woods, since the trees are tapered a running ratio was calculated with the saws alternating down the tree. The Felco was also compared to Trailblazer, a folding swede saw on fresh pine and fir, 2-3 inches in diameter. Multiple cuts were made as the wood was small, the total time and number of strokes required were recorded.

The averages have larger variances due to the taper in the wood, as noted previously this an be reduced by taking an running average of the ratios. This gives a times of 56 (2) % for the Trailblazer, so it takes about half as long as the Felco. For amount of cuts needed, it is 35 (2) % so it takes about a third as many strokes. While the Trailblazer is ahead, it doesn't do as well as expected given its larger blade (51 centimeters) and coarse tooth pattern (3.5 tpi). Maximal force can not be applied as the wood as was cut in a saw horse and since it is too light to stay stable under its own weight it had to be held down with the free hand. Thus when felling standing trees the difference will be significantly larger than in the above.

To check the ability to cut small diameter hardwoods, the Felco, wood saw on the Rucksack, and Zeta were on one inch basswood dowel, with the dowel locked in place similar to limbs on a tree. A dozen cuts were made with each saw :

The very coarse tpi pattern on the Felco allowed it to cut through the hardwood with the least amount of edge, though it was matched in terms of time by the Zeta was close behind, the Rucksack was greatly outmatched. It was noticed that the Felco exerted much more force on the wood and to illustrate this disparity, the the cutting was performed again with the dowel held in place with the off hand. The cuts made with one edge extended over the side of a workbench, again a dozen sections were cut with each saw :

The Zeta cut at the same time as it exerts little force on the wood and thus doesn't need it to be locked in place. However the Felco and Rucksack increased because not as much force could be applied to the saw and keep it cutting in the wood.

how about some heavy choppers

To examine how the Felco compares to a quality chopping tool, it was used along side the Wildlife hatchet from Gransfors Bruks. Timing the cutting, small trees were felled, about two - four inches in diameter.

What is first obvious is that the hatchet is much more sensitive to optimal technique. If a hit with the axe doesn't follow the exact line of the previous chop time is wasted, if the chop it actually outside the last cut it accomplishes nothing. On the other hand, using the saw requires far less skill, and is *much* more consistent.

Knots are also much more problematic for the hatchet. With a saw cuts can simply be shifted up a little ways or down to move away from the knot and cut clear wood. With an axe, since a much wider amount of clear wood is needed this isn't always possible, and thus on really knotty wood like spruce the axe starts to have a disadvantage and time can easily double.

The biggest advantage for the hatchet comes on large wood, on trees greater than four inches in diameter, the axe can pull ahead many times to one over the folding saw. The hatchet can still take down trees in the four to six inch class in 20-40 seconds, but the saw will now take several minutes, the biggest problem being the blade is too short.

When both are ran at optimal levels, the hatchet has about a two to one advantage over the saw on clear woods in regards to time on wood less than four inches in size. As noted this falls off as the wood gets knotty and technique is less than optimal and the hatchet can take twice as long as the saw. Averaged over a large amount of trees, they tend to come out fairly even. Through 54 trees cut, the hatchet was found to have 112 +/- 10 % of the ability of the pruning saw in regards to time of cut.

Though as noted, the type of wood cut, and experience plays a large role, as a hatchet is much more demanding of technique and thus user skill plays a large part.

Summary

The Felco pruning proved to be a truly excellent saw for fresh woods, capable as well of cutting hardwoods when rigid. The handle was ergonomic and secure, and the bright color allowed it to stand out readily from normal background in the woods or even in the backyard, which keeps it from getting misplaced. The lock engaged firmly, and held the blade in place with no play of any kind even after extensive use. The teeth stayed sharp after extensive cutting, however like all such patterns are difficult to sharpen. The blade however can be replaced.

Comments and references

Comments can be sent via email : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or posted to the following thread :

• Felco Pruning saw

More information can be obtained on this folding pruning saw and others from the Felco website.