The Gerber Sports saw has an over all length of only 6.5" when folded and weighs only 60g with a 1/32 inch thick 5.25 inch long blade. It cost about $10 US (Canadian Tire, ~2000). The steel type is unknown as is the hardness, it is readily filed.
The lock doesn't feel secure and there is blade play from side to side. The lock fails the spine whack test easily with a medium fast hit. The handle is nice and large with a finger cutout and checkering to improve grip security. The blade cuts on the pull stroke and is fairly aggressive, but it doesn't really out saw the Rucksack even though the Gerber is significantly longer. The extra blade length however does allow it to cut larger wood easier.
Mainly bench marked against the Rucksack and the Machax from Camillus :
For a performance benchmark the Gerber was compared against the saw on a Swiss Army Rucksack, one of the better small saws easily performing higher than the saw on a Leatherman Supertool for example. Nineteen pieces of scrap were cut with each saw. The wood ranged in size from 1/2" to 1" thick and from 3/4" to 3" wide. In terms of number of strokes needed both saws were basically identical :
| Model | cut direction | Edge length | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| cm | |||
| SAK | both ways | 3.25" | 100 |
| Gerber | pull stroke | 5.25" | 98 +/- 6 |
The runs were also timed, and again neither saw had a significant advantage, both had about the same number of strokes per second (2-3). In terms of chopping, the Machax easily handles that size of wood about three to four times as fast as the saws and this is sitting down just swinging from the elbow. Standing up with a full power hits, this size of scrap can be cut in 1-3 hits. The Machax also isn't the most efficient large chopping blade.
Next some pieces of Pine were cut to check the saws on fresh sappy wood. A half dozen small pieces were cut with each saw with the wood ranging from about 1.25 - 2.25" in diameter . Again the blades were dead even :
| Model | cut direction | Edge length | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| cm | |||
| SAK | both ways | 3.25" | 100 |
| Gerber | pull stroke | 5.25" | 93 +/- 8 |
As well, as on the scrap, a decent chopping blade easily handles wood of this size much faster than the saws.
The grip is secure and I can saw with a wet hand as well as even a light soapy solution. The Rucksack is secure as well under the same conditions.
The saw on the Rucksack because of the closer spaced smaller teeth can be used on materials such as thick cord that the Gerber saw cannot cut through as it just catches. This difference in the teeth pattern also makes the Gerber saw hard to start on smaller wood, especially scrap and similar with bone. However it does have the advantage of being easier to clean. It is near impossible to get sappy wood debris out of the fine teeth on the Rucksack's saw.
After about a month of use, the edge holding ability of the Gerber Sports saw was found to be very low. The steel is soft and thus the points round quickly seriously degrading the performance making the saw not ovely functional. However the tooth pattern is large enough so that it is easily sharpened (I used the file on a leatherman supertool and a DMT tapered rod). Freshly sharpened it again cut well.
The Gerber Sports saw cannot cut wood any where near the speed of even decent chopping blade. A large knife also has a greater range of wood that it can handle and is much more versatile. The saw however is safer and requires a reduced range of motion. It also requires less effort so could be used easier with a higher degree of safety if injured or seriously fatigued. As well the saw is very light, from a performance / weight ratio the saw is very efficient.
A one handed folding saw has a number of advantages over the wire saws that have to be used two hands. The free hand this can be used to position the wood, clear branches out of the way and of course because it can be used with either hand it is better to have in terms of injury. The wire saws however require much less space to carry.
As for modifications, if the teeth were similar to the Rucksack the performance would be much higher. However with the current pattern since you only cut on the pull stroke, fatigue is fairly low assuming you take advantage of the directional cutting ability. A decent functional lock would be nice as well.
UPDATE : , a decent folding pruning saw with a Japanese tooth pattern such as the Felco will readily out cut this saw many times to one, and have far greater edge retention. The Gerber Sports was later modified to have such a japanese tooth pattern.
Comments can be sent via email : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com .
| Last updated : | Wed Jun 16 00:50:20 NDT 2004 |
| Fri Jul 28 14:09:30 NDT 2000 |