Bow saw, folding saw: cutting firewood and poles without bleeding

Quick answer: Brace the wood so it can't move, keep your free hand behind the blade's path, and cut at a angle where a slip sends the saw into open air. Use the bow saw for anything wrist-thick or bigger and the folding saw for limbs and poles. Cut dead wood first.

Pick the right saw for the stick

A bow saw is a metal frame with a long blade, usually 21 to 30 inches, held tight by a lever or wing nut. It's the firewood tool. It chews through logs the thickness of your arm and keeps going.

A folding saw is a short blade, often seven to ten inches, that locks open like a pocketknife. It lives in a pack. It's the right tool for limbing, trimming poles, and cutting anything under about three inches.

Most folding saws cut on the pull stroke. Most bow saws cut on both, but the push is where you'll bend the blade if you lean into it. Let the teeth do the work. Pressing harder doesn't speed anything up. It just gets the blade stuck.

Match the blade to the wood. Green wood needs a blade with wide, raker-style teeth that clear the wet sawdust. A fine-toothed dry-wood blade will clog on a fresh pole and you'll spend ten minutes wondering what's wrong with you. Nothing's wrong with you. It's the blade.

Check the saw before you check the woods

Pull the bow saw's blade tight. Pluck it. It should feel like a guitar string, not a rubber band. A loose blade wanders, binds and snaps.

On a folding saw, open it and tug the blade hard. The lock should click and hold. Test it before the first cut, not during. A blade that folds on your fingers is the single worst failure these tools have.

Wear leather gloves and glasses. Sawdust flies, and a dry branch end can snap back into your face. Long sleeves and sturdy boots, not sandals. Yes, people cut firewood in flip-flops. They tell the story afterward in the ER waiting room.

Choose the wood, and ask first

Dead and down is the safe default. It's dry, it's already on the ground, and it won't fight you. Standing dead wood is fine for small stuff, but look up before you cut. A dead limb hung up in a tree above you is exactly what experienced woodsmen call a widowmaker. Walk away from it.

If you're on public land, check the rules on what you can cut and carry. Some places allow dead and down only. On private land, get the owner's okay. That's not a technicality. It's the basic courtesy of the thing.

Don't cut live trees for shelter poles unless you own them or have permission. Dead standing saplings, blowdowns and storm-snapped limbs give you plenty of straight poles for free.

Set up the cut

This is where most injuries happen, and it's before the saw even touches wood.

Never hold the wood with your free hand near the cut. The saw jumps, the hand's there, and you've got a deep cut on the back of your knuckles. Instead, brace the log.

• Lay it across a forked stump or a second log, so it's supported on both sides of where you'll cut.
• Or build a simple sawbuck: two crossed pairs of stakes, or a purpose-made folding rack, that cradles the log at about knee to waist height.
• Or prop a long pole in a Y-shaped fork and cut the end that hangs over.

Stand with your feet apart and the log to your side, not between your knees. Your free hand rests on the log well back from the cut, or on your thigh. Your body should be out of the line the saw would travel if it slipped. Think of the blade's path as a lane. Nothing you care about stands in it.

Never rest wood on your thigh or knee and cut toward it. Never saw a log you're holding upright against your leg. Thousands of stitches have been put in for exactly that mistake.

Make the cut

Start with a few light pulls to set a groove. On a bow saw, you can start the notch with the blade near the frame end. On a folding saw, use short strokes with the tip, then lengthen.

Then use the whole blade. Long, steady strokes are faster than short furious ones, and they're easier on your shoulder. If the saw squeals or jerks, ease off.

Watch for binding. If the log sags as you cut, the kerf (the slot) closes on the blade and the saw locks up. You'll feel it pinch. Don't yank. Stop, lift the log's loose end or slide a small stick into the cut as a wedge, and continue.

If the log is supported on both ends, it'll pinch from the top. Cut a third of the way down from the top, then finish from the bottom. If one end hangs free, it'll pinch from the bottom, so cut a third up from underneath first, then finish from the top. It's the same idea in reverse.

Near the end of the cut, slow down. The last inch is where wood splits, drops and takes the saw with it. Support the piece that's about to fall so it doesn't pinch or splinter off.

Limbing and poles

Cut branches off a pole from the base outward, standing on the opposite side of the trunk so the pole sits between you and the blade. Cut limbs flush, but not into the trunk. Leave a short stub if you're going to lash something to it.

Small branches under tension are the trap. A limb that's bent under the weight of another log, or a sapling caught under a fallen trunk, is loaded like a spring. Cut it on the side where it's compressed first, in small bites, and stand to the side. When it releases, it moves fast and without warning.

For shelter poles, cut to length before you carry them. A ten-foot ridgepole is awkward in brush and a menace to your buddy behind you. Notch the ends or leave a forked stub so lashings hold. If you don't know your lashings yet, learn them in six knots and the order to learn them in. Three of them will cover most pole work.

If you cut yourself

Stop the cut, not the bleeding at first. Put the saw down and put the blade away. Then apply direct pressure with a clean cloth and keep it there. Don't peek every thirty seconds. Anything deep, gaping, spurting or in the hand with numb fingers needs a doctor, and the ten minutes before the ambulance arrives is worth reading before you ever need it. Ask your own doctor whether your tetanus shot is current. Dirty wood and dirty blades make that a real question.

Pack up better than you found it

Wipe sap and grit off the blade. A bit of oil keeps it from rusting. Slide on the sheath or fold it shut and lock the blade with the safety if there's one.

Stack what you cut. Split pieces go in a neat pile, bark side up if it might rain. Drag the brush off the trail and pick up your chips. Leave the next person a campsite with dry wood already waiting and nothing sharp lying in the leaves.

And if you borrowed the saw, bring it back with a clean blade and a little extra oil on it. That's how you get asked again.