Saws - where do you carry yours?

[MattBibbings]

This discussion has surfaced at work after I ran a staff workshop/update on dealing with pins (mainly thinking open boat but applies to kayak too). We have decided it would be best practice to have a folding saw at hand when leading groups on rivers. Subsequently our staff who don't carry one as standard asked "where should I carry it then?"

We have come up with a number of ideas that I am sure will work but I thought it may be interesting to throw this one out to the crowd.

So, if you too carry a saw, where do you keep yours? (open boaters welcome in the discussion too!)

[twopigs]

When open boating in my bum bag (now).

We had a discussion a year back in our club about carrying it in the first aid kit......

[mattdennies]

A vote for the bum bag too. If your boat wraps and the kneeling thwart entraps you, it has to be in a place where you can get to it and cut yourself out.

[scottdog007]

In my boat. So in my Burn between the legs there is a strap for holding the throw bag but the strap is too small on my boat to get the throw bag through, so I put the saw there in it's sheaf bag that has a velcro strap, so will not fall out easy. Then the throw bag goes on top, and I have put a bungee strap in place to hold the throw bag and saw.

You could argue that if you were the one being pinned and the tree was across your deck area, that may be you couldn't get to it, but I guess it would have to be a big tree.

Last year in Switzerland in the Gairsun gorge there was a tree up ahead probably 5" diameter, when I saw it I spun my boat and hit it backwards and got pinned. I didn't have a saw at the time, but one of the others did got on to the rock next to me and cut the tree. He carried a small knife like saw in his BA.

[saturday seth]

In my pfd

[DaveBland]

I don't carry one, but if I did it would be gaffer taped to the underside of my front deck so it could be easily reached if needed, but generally just forgotten about and out of the way.

[Andy H]

12 inch folding saw gaffer-taped under my thwart on my open boat

and

8 inch folding saw in the back of my kayak in a drybag

and yes I have used them as Mr Scott explained above, as a river leader I feel they are a must

Cheers Andy

[Poke]

I don't own one, but if I did - I'd go for the buried in the central foam piller.

It worked (ish) with machettes in Papua!

[TheKrikkitWars]

My river knife has a 4.5in replacable saw alongside the knife blade... It's actually more effective cutting boats than wood, but can rip through either at a reasonable rate; lives in my BA pocket.

[DaveBland]

Saws - where do you carry yours?

I have a cream for mine.

[Jim_MWX]

In my B.A front pocket. Although thinking about it I guess a second one in the boat itself isn't a bad idea. The Knife lives in the same place.

I paddle an OC1, a Dagger Impulse to be precise.

[Jim]

Hanging up in the garage next to the shears and loppers (I'm lying, for some reason all 3 have ended up in the kitchen, but I will put them outside again at some point)

[RichTyler]

under the thwart attached with velcro for quick access but not in the way :)

[David Fairweather]

On the waistbelt for open boating.

When I carry on the river it's usually somewhere in the PFD. The back of the Palm Extrem is convenient.

[James G]

An 8 Inch folding saw lives in my BA. If I'm going onto something with an increased likelyhood of wrapping a boat, a second, rigid, saw in a sheath is attached to the hull of my boat on the right hand side in front of the kneeling thwart.

[DaveBland]

If I'm going onto something with an increased likelyhood of wrapping a boat

...I usually walk!

[p.sanger]

I have an 8" folding saw in my BA most the time. I've seen a friend get caught in a big strainer and had to cut himself out with his river knife, from then on I think most of us who were with him at the time then started carrying saw's.

[dpround]

On this topic, are these saws generally stainless, or do you need to care for them after every trip?

Many thanks

David

[scottdog007]

On this topic, are these saws generally stainless, or do you need to care for them after every trip?

Many thanks

David

Mine was a pruning saw to be used for the garden so is stainless steel, though I was quite surprised how big it was after seeing a picture of it on ebay. Too big to go inside a BA so sits inside my boat.

When you have seen someone use one in a rescue, it sure makes you think twice about having one yourself.

[Tom_Laws]

In a Dakine Builder's Pack usually.

[Relliott]

I bought one of these saws and its brilliant: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiskars-UK-Limi ... B0002TTRQ2
It cuts though stuff like butter and its small enough to fit in the pocket of my AMP pfd easily taking up not much space at all.

[Relliott]

Its also small and really light!

[Jim]

To be quite honest, after hearing the story of a friend who was pinned mostly underwater some years ago, and how when it came time to try sawing the boat from around him it was impossible to make 2 cuts in the same place due to the flow pushing the blade around, I don't bother carrying a saw in a kayak. The boat was eventually recovered and I have seen the scratch marks where the failed sawing was attempted. There is a lot of equipment we could take kayaking to deal with situations, but if we take it all our boats will sink, the saw therefore goes on my non-essential list.

Canoes are a different story, they can often wrap with the thwarts and gunwales out of the water but trapping the paddler. Depending on the exact position of things sawing through a thwart may free the paddler, or it may be necessary to saw through the gunwale and start the boat ripping itself in 2. I should probably take a saw if I ever get back out in the Ocoee, although the way it's set up cutting the straps with my river knife is probably all I need to do.

Of course, were I heading for a destination known for it's trees and log jams (Oregon say), I might pack a saw in my kayak kit.

[Tom_Laws]

Of course, were I heading for a destination known for it's trees and log jams (Oregon say), I might pack a saw in my kayak kit.

And a turfer?

[TonyM]

I seem to be the only one in my paddling group who carries a saw. I think they're invaluable, not least for clearing overhanging branches, thus making life generally easier. It goes in my BA pocket.

Tony

[Adrian Cooper]

This gardening analogy is going too far, Tom.

[Jim_MWX]

On this topic, are these saws generally stainless, or do you need to care for them after every trip?

Many thanks

David

I have a fiskars one. It has started to rust a little, however a very fine sand paper and a bit of WD40 soon sorted it out. Now I take it out of my B.A, open it up and leave it to air dry. No issues from now on.

On a slightly different note, I don't carry mine thinking I could use it if I got pinned. Chances are I probably couldn't. I carry it cause I go boating with other open canoeists etc. I hope I never have to use it.

[hardy]

Tony,you are not the only one in your group who carries a saw,but you are the only one who likes showing it to novices,and scaring them half to death with reasons why you carry it!

Lots of saws in the van,and a grubby old pruning saw buried in the boat somewhere,never used,just checked occasionally for function.

[Jim]

Of course, were I heading for a destination known for it's trees and log jams (Oregon say), I might pack a saw in my kayak kit.

And a turfer?

Tirfor I beleive, the log jams I saw in Washington would need more than a Tirfor!

[lewis=)]

Anyone thought of the wire saws such as the BCB Commando Wire Saw, I have used one while camping and it tears through even fairly big trees no bother, and it packs down nicely