Testing the Silky BIGBOY – large folding saw for the forest

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Have you always wanted to saw firewood in no time at all?

Then take a look at the Silky saw BIGBOY, because it is an amazingly versatile tool for bushcrafters, survivalists or campers.

Find out all the important facts about the Silky BIGBOY now.

Why the BIGBOY belongs in your backpack

Tired of sawing through large tree trunks with your short saw? Does your hand hurt because the ax is so heavy?

Then you should check out the Silky BIGBOY as it is one of the largest survival bushcraft folding saws on the market.

There are folding saws and then there is the BIGBOY. With a saw blade length of over 36 cm, the BIGBOY offers a larger cutting capacity and a longer stroke than many other saws.

This saw easily handles large branches, small trunks and even many construction projects. Lightweight, with a thick and strong aluminium handle and a long blade, the Silky BIGBOY is perfect for trimming larger logs.

After a long time with the smaller Bahco Laplander and the Coghlan’s folding saw After experimenting, I recently got the larger Silky BIGBOY folding saw – and I wasn’t disappointed.

The Silky BIGBOY is ideal for beginners to use as long as they are sawing firewood at their bushcraft camp.

However, I would not recommend the saw for beginners to fell trees with it. Of course, the long sawing surface invites you to do so, but cutting down trees is not without its dangers.

Chopping down trees with saws is dangerous as they can fall on you if you saw them in the wrong place. And there is a high risk of damaging your new Silky BIGBOY because the saw blade gets stuck.

Advantages of the Silky BIGBOY

The Silky BIGBOY has one thing in particular: it saws smoothly, without much force and silently through the wood.

Here are the positive points I noticed:

• • Cuts green and dry wood

• • Little pressure needed

• • Super sharp

• • Great saw for camping

• • Secure non-slip grip

• • Replaceable saw blades

• • Optional: curved saw blade

Disadvantages of the Silky BIGBOY

Do you like long saw blades? Then you also have to accept the length and weight of the saw (408 g), which is of course a disadvantage.

I also noticed that the saw blade sometimes bends when you push it if you don’t handle it carefully. This occurs especially when you are not sitting straight with the saw blade while cutting.

You should also be aware that the saw blade is quite flexible and can easily be bent.

I would also like to say that the saw blade of the BIGBOY only cuts in one direction because the saw is a pull saw. That doesn’t have to be a disadvantage, but if you’re familiar with a push-pull saw, you might have to adjust first.

I got the hang of it pretty quickly and then realized that I don’t have to put as much pressure on the saw as I used to.

Furthermore, no carrying bag for the saw is included in the scope of delivery.

Safe grip

The BIGBOY is equipped with a thick non-slip handle that offers you a strong grip.

On top of that, you’ll find that the handle is long and comfortable enough to hold with both hands.

Once you have both hands on the saw, you feel like the boss in the sawmill.

Handling the Silky BIGBOY

You should also be careful when handling the BIGBOY, because even when it is folded up, some of the saw teeth are exposed (on the curved version). With small folding saws, like with the Silky GOMBOY Folding saw, the saw blade is fully folded into the handle.

Despite these safety aspects, the flexibility of the Silky BIGBOY with its 30 cm blade is quite impressive. Non-folding saws, for example, cannot keep up because the bracket gets in the way and thick logs can no longer be sawed through efficiently.

Summary

Although the Silky BIGBOY is a ferocious cutting tool with its extra large teeth, it is still much safer than using a chainsaw or an Axe and offers fine control over the placement of cuts.

When purchasing the BIGBOY, pay attention to the four tooth sizes/configurations that are offered.

• • Yellow handle: extra large saw teeth (for pruning, green wood)

• • Red handle: large saw teeth (for pruning, green wood)

• • Black handle: medium saw teeth (soft wood)

• • Blue handle: fine saw teeth (hardwood, bamboo)

And I noticed that particularly positively with the Silky BIGBOY:

• • incredible cutting performance

• • minimal effort required

• • the extremely clean-cut surface

Available for around USD70, it is an excellent choice for chopping up large logs.

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