Best Folding Saw

Best Folding Saw

Folding saws are primarily used for pruning branches on larger trees and bushes. They are incredibly popular amongst gardeners, groundskeepers as well as bushcrafters and campers. A folding saw folds up nice and compact while still providing plenty of cutting power. For campers and bushcrafters, they take up very little room in the backpack while giving excellent versatility.

However, not all folding saws are created equal. For that reason, we have developed this folding saw buyer guide to ensure your next purchase is for the best folding saw possible.

The Best Folding Saw We Tested

Top Pick
Bahco Laplander Folding Saw
£25.89

The Laplander Folding Pruning Saw has a thicker blade with a friction-reducing coating and BAHCO XT Toothing.

It is best suited to general cutting along or across the grain.

Size. 7 1/2in.

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03/29/2024 12:17 am GMT
Bacho Laplander Folding Saw
Bacho Laplander Folding Saw

Bacho is a Swedish brand known for its excellent quality, we have already recommended their hack saw in our best hacksaw guide. The Laplander folding saw lives up to their usual quality.

The blade is made from Sandvik Steel. Sandvik is known for creating exceptional blades. 12C27, 12C27M, 13C26, 14C28N, 19C27 are all steels designed for knives intended to hold a low angle, high sharpness edge.

Bacho Laplander Blade Closeup
Bacho Laplander Blade Closeup

Still sticking to the blade it also has Bacho XT teeth which are designed to cut on both the push and pull strokes. This can halve your cutting time compared to a blade which only cuts on either the push or pull stroke.

Another great feature of the blade is its non-stick coating. This allows you to glide through branches where the sap would typically clog up a regular blade without a non-stick coating.

Bacho Laplander Folding Mechanism
Bacho Laplander Folding Mechanism

The Bacho also features a locking mechanism that allows you to lock the blade in either the open or closed positions. This mechanism is really easy to use and seems robust enough to stand up to repeat use.

Specs: 

  • Blade length: 190mm
  • Blade material: Sandvik Steel
  • TPI(Teeth per Inch): 7
  • Handle: Plastic
  • Strap: Leather
  • Weight: 200g

Overall we are really impressed with this folding saw from Bacho. In fact, Sam is so impressed this saw has even found its way into his toolbox.

Great for camping

This folding saw is perfect if you are planning on doing some wilderness camping. It is incredibly light and packs up super small but will absolutely munch through any branches you need to cut. Perfect for gathering firewood. If you are planning on a camping trip make sure you read our best windproof lighters article, it could save your neck on a windy trip!

Runner Up

Stihl is another brand know for its exceptional quality, and this folding saw lives up to that expectation.

The Klappsäge PR 16 features a 16cm folding blade complete with three-sided Japanese style teeth created using impulse-hardened chrome-plated steel. That sure is a lot of sales jargon, let’s break it down and see what all that means and whether it makes any difference.

Three-Sided Japanese Teeth

3 Sided Saw

The first line of the sales pitch, the Stihl features “three sided” teeth. The tooth essentially has a smaller mini tooth on the side of it. This is repeated throughout the full length of the blade, how much difference it actually makes to the cutting power of the saw were not sure.

Hardened Chrome Plated Steel

Chrome plating steel involves electroplating a very thin layer of chromium onto the steel. This provides extra hardness and also corrosion resistance to the steel. Chromium is used because it gives a tough, wear-resistant layer on top of the stainless steel.

Impulse Hardened

In impulse hardening, a wave impulse is used during manufacture to harden the saw teeth. This, in theory, makes the teeth stay sharper for longer.

Folding Saw Buyers Guide

You might not want to take our advice and buy one of the two folding saws above, and that’s okay. We’re big boys; we can take it, promise.

However, if you want to go searching on your own, we highly recommend you give our folding saw buyers guide a good read, so you know what to look for. There is one obvious benefit to folding saws, the compact size. However, there is much more that should go into your purchasing decision.

Weight

This is a key factor; you are buying a folding saw because you want a portable saw. If your folding saw weighs a ton, then it doesn’t matter how small it is if you plan on carrying it every day. This can also be an essential factor when using the saw one-handed, you don’t want a heavy saw making it tough to use one-handed.

However, this doesn’t mean you should go for the lightest saw possible either and use this as your only purchasing criteria. We recommend between 200 – 300g, and you will be okay.

Quality

You want a good quality tool. Buying a cheap folding saw will always come back to bite you, as it does with all tools. Buy quality and buy once; this is a great mantra to stick to. Cheap tools are a false economy; they are likely to break meaning you need to buy again. This wipes out any potential savings made on the saw itself.

Dual Way Cutting

You want a blade that cuts on the push and pull strokes. This can potentially halve your overall cutting time.

Sam Wood

Wood by name, wood by nature. I am a fully qualified, time-served, award-winning joiner with an NVQ Level 3 in Carpentry and Joinery as well as an HNC in Construction. Beyond my joinery qualifications, I have also earned a degree in building surveying. I believe these qualifications make me perfectly positioned to provide expert advice on many different areas of DIY as well as share all of the tips I have picked up in over a decade working on building sites!

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