Inspired my Mungo’s post on the same subject, I knew there was a bow saw out there and even better, a collapsible one at that. My search ended at Bearclaw. This was cheap, collapsible and had three blades. It duly arrived in its own nylon bag. I stashed it in the same Sabre bag pocket as the axe and headed for the woods.

At first it was a bit of a mission finding out how to set it up. I was a bit dubious that the whole strain of the blade was held on a small pin in the handle. The saw didn’t look as though it was mass produced. My fears were realised as the blade jumped off the pin when I took up the strain by pushing down on the handle. No harm done, but I was very aware that when I set it up next time the hole in the blade was seated firmly on the pin, and I also kept my eyes well away when I took up the strain on the blade. I’m not too sure how this small pin and its seating would stand up to constant pressure of taking up this strain and general use.

Cunningly concealed in the main strut of the saw is a further two blades. These are help in place by a simple screw which pushes the blades into the side of the main strut. One is a hacksaw blade and the other appears to be a normal small toothed blade. The wood blade is the one I would probably use more.

Once the saw has been seated correctly on the pin, the strain is taken up by pushing the plastic handle down to make the whole thing triangular shaped. This triangle shape might be a little restrictive on larger sawing projects but this is the price of portability. The plastic handle was surprisingly well positioned to use the saw, although I’m not sure if I would say that if I had bigger mitts. The whole thing is very light weight, made from aluminium and plastic (apart from the blades). I tested the saw on a piece of fallen log.

The saw rattled a bit (due to the other blades) but after tightening the screw it wasn’t too bad. I’m not a woodworker by any means, but I was pleasantly surprised at the speed the saw went through this hard wood. It doesn’t have the weight that I think most people would like for a bow saw, but again, that’s the price you pay for portability. For larger cutting projects and to complement the axe, I think this is a winner and for £15-95 you can’t go far wrong. The test will be longer term use on a couple of winter projects I have in mind.

On another subject and following the post about pot hangers, I’ve been asked by Sam from Woodland in Poland to put up a video about how to make one, so here it is. I don’t think that any of the books show you how to do this properly because of the difficulty in showing all the angles involved to do it successfully, so I’m pleased to contribute. (I shy away from calling it a tutorial as I don’t think I’m skilled enough to call myself a bushcraft tutor). Even now it looks a little awkward, but this is probably more due to the fact I was trying not to block the camera view with elbows and arms. I had the video camera jammed between two branches and the weather looked ominously wet. Excuses over. Here we go…

More next time.

The guy, Phil Siddell from Woodhouse Joinery Ltd (no web site), describes it as The Companion MkII. The blade length is approximately 100mm, the handle is approximately 110mm with the blade thickness at 3mm made from O1 carbon steel. The edge is scandi ground and hair-popping sharp (there’s that phrase again). The wood is Zebrano which really looks nice on the knife, setting off the bronze fittings. A nice leather sheath finishes off the whole deal. The price? £95-00. I would say that’s a pretty good price. Of course, I haven’t had time to test it out yet, and I’ll do a full appraisal after it’s been with me for a while. The woods beckons tomorrow, but until then, it’s sitting next to the PSK around my neck. Thanks for the visit.