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This morning as I walked out my front door, my hair got caught in some low-hanging branches from the cherry tree that shades the front porch. That was enough to finally spur me into action and get out the pruning shears. Problem was, the branches that needed cutting back were too thick for my pruning shears to handle, and I don’t have the proper tree-trimming equipment to handle the job.
But I do have a Silky Master 360 – a Japanese handsaw with a just-longer than 14″ straight blade and 9 teeth-per-inch – which seems like too many for rough and wet work. It is not. The razor sharp teeth with deep gullets made very quick work indeed of the offending branches, and the rubber grip on the handle gave good purchase to my hand.
The saw is intended for rough cutting, and the manufacturer says the impulse-hardened teeth excel at both crosscuts and rips. I was careful not to twist the saw at I was making my cuts – while the blade is 1.4mm thick, I would guess twisting it in green wood could snap a tooth or two fairly easily…but if that happened, well, the blade is replaceable.
After I was done tree trimming, I used an old toothbrush to remove a few stringy bits of lignum, then wiped the blade with jojoba oil, and put it back where it belongs – at my workbench. It was tempting to stow it with my gardening tools – but I think I’ll simply order a Silky Sugoi 360 Pruning Saw instead. There’s only so much tool abuse in which I can engage before the guilt gets to me.
