Review : Bahco Laplander Folding Saw
Cost: £27.06 (Amazon - 21/07/2022)
Why I bought this:
After attending a number of events which have been based in woodland and the like, I found it was becoming tiresome when collecting wood to be limited by what was small enough to break by hand but large enough to burn without constantly adding more firewood.
Being the use for wild camping and MilSims, the general aesthetic was pleasing to me and being that it is used by various militaries (NATO stock number 5110-25-147-4344), this made it all the more interesting as a product.
First impressions:
The saw itself is fairly simple in construction. Featuring a handle, a saw blade and a central hinge mechanism.
The handle features a comfortable grip with a semi-rubberised coating. A leather wrist strap comes supplied, and a plastic push button releases the safety locking mechanism. When collapsed, the whole saw measures 23.5cm (L) x 5.0cm (W) x 3.0cm (D).
The blade has a cutting length of 18.5cm. When extended the saw (plus handle) is a total length of 40.5cm. The blade is steel with a black coating designed to reduce friction when cutting. The teeth arrangement feature XT hardpoint toothing and give 7 Teeth Per Inch (TPI). The cutting motion of this tool is both forwards and backwards meaning that every stroke will bite into the wood. Whilst not the most aggressive of cutting teeth - this has easily cut through branches around 10cm dia. (this is the biggest I have used this on).
The saw doesn't come with a pouch but pouches can be bought from after-market suppliers.
The weight of the saw is around 190g.
Functionality:
The saw works well and is perfect for my uses. Trimming logs down to the perfect size for the fire pit is a great deal easier with the right tool! One thing I have found is that the hinge can sometimes be a bit stiff. However you can loosen the hinge nut if required - so I wouldn't say this has been a massive issue.
Positives:
The lockable hinged blade means that this can be stored in a bergan or pack without damaging the items inside.
The tool is comfortable to use and can plough through reasonable sized trees with little effort.
Negatives:
It would have been handy to have a Bahco produced pouch for the saw (instead of a third party after-market one). I believe this would have made the pouch a bit cheaper than those available.
Summary:
In summary, the Bahco Laplander folding saw is a useful piece of kit to have in your kit when you anticipate that you may be using wood fires in woodland environments. With it's size and compact nature - it's use would definately outweigh the additional weight and size for any woodland camping.
I will however acknowledge that you're unlikely to be cutting wood for every MilSim event - so I have lowered the MilSim score down to 3 on this basis.
Scoring:
Functionality: 5/5
Value: 5/5
Quality: 5/5
MilSim Value: 3/5
Overall:
