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Silky Saw POCKETBOY Folding Hand Saw Review

The Silky Saw POCKETBOY Folding Saw weighs just 6.2 ounces and is ideal for pruning or campfire prep
The Silky Saw POCKETBOY Folding Saw weighs just 6.2 ounces and is ideal for pruning or campfire prep.

Silky Saw POCKETBOY Folding Hand Saw

Sharpness
Cutting Effiency
Safety
Lightweight
Versatility

Highly Recommended

Compact lightweight folding saw with 6-3/4-inch blade that will take up very little room in your pocket or backpack. Nicknamed as "Little Giant" due to its extraordinary cutting capacity. This sleek saw features rust-resistant, hard chrome-plated, taper-ground blade with an impulse-hardened non-set tooth design for greater cutting efficiency.

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The Silky Saw POCKETBOY is a compact folding hand saw that is ideal for campfire prep on backpacking trips when you want to process small branches for kindling or fuel. It folds up tiny and comes with a plastic protective belt case that ix worth carrying if only to avoid losing the saw when you put it down in the forest.

Silky Saw blades have a well-deserved reputation for being very sharp, and it’s true, they go through wood like butter. Made in Japan, the blade cuts on the pull stroke, not on the push, which requires less energy to saw and gives you more control over the blade.

The Silky Saw POCKETBOY 130 (reviewed here) has medium teeth and a 5.1 inch blade with a cut capacity of 2.6 inches. A slightly longer 6.7 inch blade is also available with a medium blade.
The Silky Saw POCKETBOY 130 (model # 340-13) (reviewed here) has medium teeth and a 5.1 inch blade with a cut capacity of 2.6 inches. A longer 6.7 inch blade (model # 340-17) is also available with medium teeth.

I already own several much larger Silky Saws, mainly for trail maintenance, but they can be a bit much to bring on backpacking trips. Weighing just 6.2 ounces, the POCKETBOY is the smallest and an easy-to-justify weight to carry that provides an impressive “bite” for campfire wood collection, sawing through 3-4″ branches like butter. It opens to two positions and locks in place, still, you might want to consider wearing it with gloves because the blade is wicked sharp.

The Silky Saw POCKETBOY comes with a plastic case w:belt loop. The hole in the handle is for using a lanyard
The Silky Saw POCKETBOY comes with a plastic case w/belt loop. The hole in the handle is for using a lanyard (not included).

When folded, the POCKETBOY fits easily in your pocket, but the plastic case only weighs another 1.7 ounces (for a total of 7.9 oz) and is worth carrying since you can secure it to your belt. The saw does rattle a bit in the case, so be advised because it can ruin your stealth.

If you already own a larger Silky Saw (they’re easy to collect), you may find the POCKETBOY to be underwhelming, given its shorter 5.1″ length. But it’s made with the same premium steel as the other members of the Silky Saw family and just as capable, but on a smaller scale with smaller diameter branches and trees.

If you’ve never owned a Silky Saw, your first saw is unlikely to be your last.

Disclosure: Silky provided the author with a sample saw for this review. 

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7 comments

  1. I sometimes pack a Bahco Laplander Saw, which appears to be similar to this Silky saw in construction and capability. For its small size I was surprised at how well this saw worked; certainly enough for a small campfire, on trips where you are so inclined. The only downside is that it requires more effort than the folding buck saw that I used to pack.

  2. Amazon’s price of $22.95 is only for a spare saw blade, not the entire saw.

  3. I’ve got the Silky Super Accel 21 that I take on camping trips (not backpacking) and when doing trail maintenance with Scouts. It’s almost 10 years old and seems as sharp as when it was new, even with scouts hacking the occasional nail or whatever. I’m sort of surprised at the weight of the POCKETBOY, as mine is 210 mm/8.25″ blade and only 7.05 oz (just weighed it), seems like the smaller one should be less than 6.2…

  4. I carry an inexpensive folding saw I bought at WalMart for $7. Weighs 6 oz and is very sharp. It’s an essential piece of gear in my kit and use it to prep wood for my Solo woodstove and/or campfires, and occasional clearing of blowdown hanging across the trail.

  5. Agreed. These little saws can be worth there weight in gold. I keep my Laplander in my car when not hiking. I once found a downed tree across a fire road that was about 5 inches in diameter and it made quick work of it. It’s as sharp today as when my wife bought it for me 10 years ago. Great piece of kit.

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