Following up to the previous issue, in this second article about the Silky Zubat Handsaw from Japan, tooth size and blade length are dissected.
Contrary to our natural thinking, there are times when a smaller tooth blade will cut faster and more easily with a fine tooth blade than a large tooth blade. A perfect example is when an arborist is dead wooding. Fine tooth blades cut dead and dried wood better and faster than a large tooth blade.
This was driven home to Silky Saws when they played around with cutting the same piece of dried timber with a fine tooth saw and a large tooth saw. They filmed the cutting and placed them side by side. The fine tooth saw created more sawdust when cutting and finished more than a second in front of the large tooth saw.
We had always been told that a fine tooth saw would cut deadwood faster, but to actually see it and compare it was a good confirmation of something that was counter-intuitive.
Another confirmation time was at a mower shop demonstrating the use of Silky Saws and cutting up some pallets from their incoming deliveries. The boards were difficult to start cutting with a large tooth saw, but easy with a fine tooth saw and again the fine tooth saw ripped through them quickly.
When to use a fine tooth saw, large tooth saw or extra-large tooth saw
Fine Tooth Saw: ideal for woodworking, carpentry, dead-wooding, fine pruning, palm fronds, bamboo.
Large Tooth Saw: general pruning, bigger branches 25mm+, opening the canopy on fruit trees, live or green wood.
Extra Large Tooth Saw: canopy or height reduction, arborist work.
Having determined the tooth size needed, what length blade should be selected?
Ask yourself what am I cutting? Large branches, easy access, do I need to climb?
The majority of climbing arborists choose the 30cm or 33cm blade for the Zubat. The governing factor for the climbing arborist is ease of getting it in and out of the scabbard. The 30cm or 33cm blade is easiest to manoeuvre when in the tree, whether you have it clipped to your harness or attached to the leg with leg straps.
Or you may be on the ground doing some heavy pruning with crossed over branches or branches close together. A shorter blade will make it easier so that you don’t damage the branch behind the one you want to remove. Also a consideration if your employees are not familiar with using a Pull saw, a shorter blade is harder to break.
Silky has created different Zubat combinations for all the different situations you may encounter. With a little bit of TLC your Zubat investment will last a lifetime.
Silky Zubat Arborist saws are available throughout Australia.
Call on (07) 3823 1599
For more information and to find your nearest stockist visit www.arborlab.com.au