BAH396LAP 7-1/2" Laplander Folding Saw for Trail Maintenance, Wood Processing, and Survival Use, Rust-Protected Blade, Secure Lock, Ergonomic Grip, Ideal Bushcraft and Camping Tool

I was looking for something more efficient for cutting fire wood and shelter products in the woods. I have used an axe and a hand axe for cutting these items in the past but now that I am older, they get tiresome. So I decided to try a folding saw for ease of carrying and use. I liked the size of this, I don't think I needed anything longer. For a first folding saw, I didn't want to buy something like a Silkey yet. Maybe later. We recently had a storm, power was still out and some limbs were cracked and hanging waiting to fall. I could have gotten the chainsaw, but wanted to check out the Bahco instead. I was impressed. The angle from the handle to the blade looked odd but felt god in the hand. The blade lock was good, easy to lock open and close. The blade was quite aggressive and sawed through those limbs very well. Not hard on my hand or arm at all. Very smooth cutting. It's a good size for me and what I need it to do. Cut quality is quite good and leaves the cut surfaces quite smooth. Not a big deal for firewood but that may be more important for other tasks. Handle seems strong and grippy, hinge point seems strong, durability does not appear to be a problem either. Blade slices through wood well. The only co nab cern I may have is with the blade thickness. It seems a little thin but then this is my first folding saw and I had no problems with removing any limbs or cutting them into garbage can length pieces. Not sure how they temper these blades but seem to do a good job with heat dissipation. Glad I decided to buy this.

Took this saw backpacking with me along Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore and it was a great help. I was surprised to find downed wood at the only campsite we were allowed to have a fire at but this saw performed flawlessly. It cut through 2-3" branches in no time at all. 4" branches took just a bit of time. I did manage to get a 6-8" log cut but that took a solid 5 minutes for me to go through(had to take a break lol - in all fairness this was at the end of the day which included a 9 mile hike with a 50lb pack). The guy that cut the 7" log in 45 seconds...he must be a cyborg or something or else the wood he was cutting was extremely soft. Then again, I was cutting through a downed maple tree that was good and dry. I especially like how the blade's teeth are aggressively cut and I like that the saw cuts in both the push and pull directions. Other pruning saws only cut in the pull direction(which reduces the chance of bending the saw and also allows for a finer cut finish -ideal for pruning, but not so much for stroke efficiency.) I love that the blade locks into the handle and also into the open position. I have not had any trouble with the blade unlocking at inopportune moments but I've really only used this saw one day. The rubber grip on the handle is excellent and comfortable and the longer handle provides room for any size hand and position. You can almost use two hands on it.(Probably could if you have small hands but I have quite large hands - usually XL or XXL in gloves) The only thing you need to watch out for with this saw is BENDING THE BLADE. The blade is thin to make it lightweight and also to make cutting easier but if you happen to stray off center in a push-cut then you can bend it fairly easily if you're not paying attention. I didn't have a problem with it, but I can definitely see it happening. I'm also not a fan of the leather strap on a plastic & rubber handled tool. It just feels out of place not to mention that it's fairly dry and doesn't feel like it will hold up that long. I've already replaced it with some bright neon green para-cord to aid in finding the tool if dropped. It IS a very dark green/black handle/blade and blends in easily with ground cover. Now if I can just find replacement blades for this saw(not that I need one now, but it'd be nice to know they're available if anything ever happens to this one) then this would be the ULTIMATE lightweight pack saw. All in all this a great saw that merits the extra initial expense. UPDATE ON COMMENT QUESTIONS(2-21-2012):Hmmm... I don't have a kitchen scale to give you oz/grams but a little googling for "bahco laplander" brought up a few reviews(brian green / brian's backpacking blog) and some video reviews on you tube. According to "Brian" it's 6.4oz! In my experience: it's lightweight for its size, the blade is only about 1mm thick maybe a hair more so it limits the amount of steel, and it's slightly heavier than my 2-3" pocket knives(with aluminum handles and steel liners) but way lighter than my SOG B61 Multi-tool(iron brick lol). I just compared it to an empty nalgene bottle(32oz/1 liter size) without the cap on and the saw felt slightly heavier. More googling (backpack gear test)and I find that a review lists the 32oz Nalgene bottle with CAP was measured at 6.2oz. So that makes sense to me. If you would rather have grams, there's always google. The bottom line is this: If you're going to be backpacking and heavily dependent on wood fires - it's a life saver. IF you're mostly using stoves in the summer you could go without it. In the winter though - I'd carry this and a hatchet but I live in the wooded north or Michigan.

This saw has gained legendary status on the internets, and my iconoclastic disposition compelled me to skepticism on the subject of the Laplander. Well, I finally got ahold of one, and chopped some things up with it, and I can only report that it's an outstanding tool at a modest price. The first thing that struck me when I had it in hand was that it's super light. You really can stick it in a back pocket and drag it anywhere. The second thing that caught my attention was the craftsmanship of the locking mechanism. It stays closed until you press the button, and locks up tightly when it's fully open, and it's better than most pocket knives in that respect. The blade, of course, seemed sharp, rugged, and flexible, but you can't really say much about a saw blade until you put it to use. I took it out today and sawed up some dead hardwood ranging from 1" to 4" in diameter. It zipped through that stuff with no effort whatsoever. Based on that experience, I wouldn't hesitate to tackle anything that's thinner than the length of the blade. I can compare the Bahco to my experiences with: the Chainmate CM-24SSP 24-Inch Survival Pocket Chain Saw With Pouch , Gerber 31-001054 Gator Combo Axe , and the Truper 30518 2-1/4-Pound Boy's Axe, Hickory Handle, 28-Inch . I've carried all of those into the woods at one point or another, and can say that I'd have been better off with the Laplander in every case. I might stick with the larger axe if I really planned on splitting a lot of firewood, but I've generally found that unnecessary on my trips. I'd like to compare this saw with a Silky Folding Landscaping Hand Saw POCKETBOY 170 Fine Teeth 342-17 and a Shark 10-2337 Folding CutsAll Saw for good measure. Maybe I'll be able to try those down the road. For now I can just say I'm pretty happy with this Laplander, in spite of the hype.

After an ice storm hit my home town and I was left without power for a week in -30°C (-22°F), I became far more interested in basic, primal tools and survival/bushcraft. I never had the opportunity to be in the scouts, so this has been a learning experience for me, and I'd love to share what I've learned with you, because my requirements were simple: I need the best, most necessary, cheapest tools I can find. Since you're here looking at this, I'm going to guess you may fall into one of those categories as well. A saw is secondary to a knife (as is pretty much everything), can be carried with, or instead of an axe. Men like Mors Kochanski carry bowsaw blades around their waists on special belts. While a 24" bow saw is going to do things this saw can't, buying a belt like that will run you about $180 from a specialist company, OR you'll need to make it yourself, AND you'll also already need the skill to craft a bowsaw frame in the wild as well. For a beginner, this is a daunting task. This is where this saw comes in. First let's talk pedigree. Bahco was founded by Johan Petter Johansson, the man who invented the adjustable wrench. Formerly the Tool & Saw division of Sandvik (acquired 1991), and as recently brought to my attention by another reviewer, it is now owned by Snap-On. If you know any of these names, they should strike a chord. However, name isn't anything, nor a guarantee of quality. However, the reviews on this thing speak for itself. Swedes love their bushcraft and essentially have yet to be surpassed in terms of quality for the money (Mora) or just outright quality regardless of money (Gransfors Bruks). The 396-LAP is no different. When I got it, it was surprisingly big, and surprisingly light. The handle is 9" from tip-to-tip, meaning I can wrap both my hands around it and still have a bit poking out either end. Realistically, this gives you the option of operating it double-handed. However, you'll find that utterly unnecessary. By depressing the very secure lock (you must release the lock both to extend and retract the blade, a really nice feature), you can release the 7" general-purpose blade. The saw has 7 extremely aggressive teeth per inch, and cuts on both the fore and backstroke; this is important because it means you don't waste any energy, super important in a real survival setting, and making cutting through brush and wood in your backyard like slicing through bread with a chainsaw. The saw blade itself has a 1/16" kerf, which is half of a full blade kerf that you'll find on your typical circular saw. While I don't necessarily agree that this is a weight-saving option (I don't think an extra ounce or two of metal would be that drastic), as some note it can make the blade feel flimsy. When retracting it, sometimes it can bend and strike the handle. However, anyone who has worked with handsaws will know that it's inevitable there's some give in what is essentially a long, narrow piece of sheet metal. A few people mention problems with the saw bending (particularly on the push), I haven't experienced this but this problem can also be aggravated by cutting knotty wood or a dull saw. This product typically sells around half its MSRP on here (~$20) making it pretty much indispensable for bushcraft, survival enthusiasts, camping or anyone who has to contend with branches that are too thick to use a machete or the like on but too thin to justify an axe or chainsaw. Furthermore, just like the Mora, this thing cuts way outside of its own class. Highly recommend. Not shown in the picture is the fact it comes with a tan leather wrist strap. While this is okay for home use (but not really meaningful in such a case and will degrade eventually anyway), if you use this in any rugged (bushcraft, portage, survival) situations, you should really switch that to a synthetic (paracord), preferably a high-visibility colour because this thing is the same colour as a forest floor, and if you drop it, especially at night, you're never going to see it again. And finally, let me tell you, in a survival situation, if you pull this thing out, there's definitely an intimidation factor, like staring down the maw of an alligator.

This saw is nice. It's got an 8 inch blade with a black protective coating. There is a locking mechanism that locks the saw both open and closed. I've used this to cut hundreds of pieces of dry limbs for kindling for our fireplace this winter. This saw simply chews though anything around an inch in diameter. It's quick and effective for limbs up to 2 or 2.5 inches. Any thing past that, and this saw takes some time and effort to get through it. I've effectively cut some fallen wood limbs up to around 5 inches in diameter. Limbs are approximate circles, and the area of circles is proportional to the square of the radius. So, a 1 inch limb has an area of .25 pi to cut through. a 2 inch limb has an area of 1 pi, a 4 inch limb has an area of 4 pi, an 8 in limb, 16 pi. So, it's only natural that a piece of wood twice the diameter is 4 times as much effort to cut through. For putting in a vehicle glove box or in a backpack this saw can't be beaten. I've carried it around very well in my jeans pockets without any discomfort. The double locking mechanism makes this saw very safe for transport.

The Bahco 396-LAP Laplander Folding Saw is an outstanding, compact, lightweight saw for bushcraft/camping. At 6.8 oz. (194 grams) and 9" in length, it slips easily into the pocket of a pack or cargo pants. The saw blade locks in the open AND the closed positions, and uses a simple push button to deploy or fold up the blade. The teeth cut very well, making short work of tree limbs and reducing the effort normally required to process wood for a fire or shelter building. The Laplander is best suited for day hikes and outings up to 2-3 days in milder/warmer weather when you may not need to process a ton of firewood. It makes a great match to a lightweight blade like the Mora Heavy Duty Companion with Carbon Steel Blade. Between the two of them, most bushcraft/camping tasks are well within reach, at a very affordable price. For longer outings and in cool/cold weather, I prefer a larger, stabler, more efficient (albeit heavier: 14 oz.) saw like the superb Coghlans 21" folding saw (yes, I know it's Coghlans, but trust me, the quality is excellent, the design is actually more refined than the popular Sven saw, and its included Bahco blade cuts wonderfully well). Either saw option is superior to an axe, in my opinion--largely because of the weight savings, but also because most people are not sufficiently experienced to use an axe as safely or efficiently as a saw. (If you're a very advanced bushcrafter well accustomed to an axe, that's a different story.) Inevitably, people interested in this saw ask how it compares with the similar Silky saws, such as the Gomboy 210/240. Silky saws are excellent and noticeably more efficient at cutting than the Laplander (YouTube has several video comparisons that show Silky saws cutting through the same material in two-thirds or half the time as the Laplander). However, the tradeoff for the increased efficiency is reduced durability. Silky saws have thinner, flexier blades and cut only on the pull stroke. If you get tired and lapse into an undisciplined sawing technique (applying too much pressure during the push stroke or failing to exert that pressure directly in line with the cut), it is relatively easy to kink and deform the blade. Once that happens, it is difficult to straighten again and reduces the cutting efficiency. Depending on the severity of the kink, it can even make the saw exasperatingly difficult to operate, as the kinked blade is prone to binding in the cut. Although the Laplander is less efficient at cutting, it cuts very well and is noticeably less prone to kinking (partly because of its stiffer blade and partly because of its smaller, less aggressive cutting teeth). You'll have to decide whether you prefer efficiency or durability, but my choice is the Laplander, which also typically costs $10 to $15 less than similar Silky saws. The color of the Laplander is a pleasing, forest-friendly green--maybe too friendly, as it can disappear into the weeds if you drop it. The first (and only) change I made to mine was remove the leather lanyard and replace it with a bright orange paracord lanyard for better visibility. What else can I say? If you're new to bushcraft, looking to lighten your load with an alternative to the axe, or hoping to extend your skills by exploring efficient ways to process wood and build shelters, this well-built tool is the place to start. In fact, it might be the only saw you'll ever need. Highly recommended!

Awesome saw, light weight, compact, perfect for camping or backpacking. Saw is sharp, can't say how long it will hold an edge. Good purchase, I am happy with it.

I bought this saw back in 2019 and 5 years later it’s still going strong. I originally got it to replace a backpacking 21 inch collapsible Sven-Saw, which is a very nice fancy one and very compact but, a little awkward to assemble in the cold climate. I decided to simplify the backpacking saw and after countless comparisons with many others out there I went with the Bahco 396. I have zero regrets and love the thing. Compact, lightweight, blade locks in place and very comfortable to grip. I like it so much I started using it for pruning tree limbs. I avoid using it beyond a 4 inch cross diameter limb due to the blade length only being 7 1/2 inches. Anything more than 4 inches you’ll be sawing an undesirable amount of back and for motion. I’ve used this saw on backpacking trips and for pruning and it still cuts through wood with ease. This thing has shown to be very durable and for a reasonable price compared to other big name “high end” brands. I like the little toothy beast and highly recommend it. I like it so much I bought another one as a backup and to keep it in my bug out bag for a “just in case” situation.

I love this folding saw. I frequently go camping and need to cut up deadwood, much of which I have no say over the size or diameter. Even though this folding saw is designed for moderate diameter wood, I've been able to use it on large logs with absolutely no problem. It takes longer to saw and I have to attack it from different sides/angles, but it stands up well to wood that's 8+ inches in diameter. It's very easy to open and close the saw, as well as clean sawdust from the teeth. Although I haven't tested this part much, it seems to resist rusting fairly well, too. The handle has a great grip that feels secure and sturdy, whether I'm using it gloved or bare-handed. It's nice and light and tucks away easily into my backpack. If I had to get really picky, I'd wish that the teeth were a little more aggressive, but it's a fantastic product nonetheless.

Uma serra que dispensa comentários ela é muito linda ainda não usei por falta de tempo

Excelente calidad.!

徒歩キャンプなので、とにかく軽くてなおかつ切れ味の良い物を探していましたが、これを買って正解でした。軽く切れ味も最高です。キャンプ大活躍しています。

Excellent tool. Great for pruning and cutting up kindling.