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Best Folding Handsaw: 17 Saws Tested for Sharpness, Cut Speed, and Edge Retention
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More head-to-head tests from Tools & Workshop / Cutting & Sharpening
Seventeen folding handsaws, from a $6 Harbor Freight One Stop Gardens to the
$43 Silky Pocket Boy, went through the same sequence of tests. Edge sharpness
was measured on a certified sharpness tester, on the pull side of the teeth,
since these saws are designed to cut on the pull stroke. Cutting speed was then
measured in a fixture applying a constant 4.24 lb of downward force over five
inches of blade travel, first through a 3/4-inch softwood dowel and then
through a green hedge apple branch, followed by a freehand cut through a board.
Finally, each blade was drawn 100 times across fully cured hedge apple and sent
back through the dowel to measure edge retention.
Price predicted very little. The $17 Corona finished first overall, winning
both fixture-based cutting tests and holding the sharpest edge of all after the
wear test at 2.7 passes, while the $43 Silky finished fifth overall and the $34
Kershaw twelfth. Tooth count mattered as much as raw edge sharpness:
the Kakuri Gikoh had the third sharpest blade in the group at 270, but its
8 TPI pattern needed eight passes through the softwood dowel against the
Corona's two, and the 9 TPI EverSaw needed 32.
Fastest through both the softwood dowel at two passes and green hedge apple at 11, and the sharpest edge in the group after the wear test at 2.7 passes — from a $17 saw with a 7-inch high-carbon blade.
230 on the sharpness tester. The sharpest blade of the 17 and the quickest freehand cut at 3.28 seconds, with four passes on the softwood dowel and 16 on green hardwood.
Second overall behind the Corona: 2.2 passes on the softwood dowel, 14 on green hedge apple, and 3.44 seconds freehand, all for a third of the price of the most expensive saw here.
154 g. Interchangeable blades and a carrying case, at 154 g — lighter than anything else tested — with 2.2 passes on the softwood dowel and a sharpness of 320.
A 7-inch high-carbon steel blade, heat treated for hardness, with a chrome finish coat and triple ground teeth, at 196 g. Second sharpest out of the box at 255, then first in every fixture-based cutting test: two passes through the softwood dowel, 11 through green hedge apple, and the sharpest edge of all after the wear test at 2.7 passes.
Impulse hardened steel with triple ground teeth, 234 g. The sharpest blade in the lineup at 230 and the fastest freehand cut at 3.28 seconds, helped by a long blade. Four passes through the softwood dowel and 16 through green hardwood, and it held its edge at 3.2 passes after the wear test.
An 8-inch SK5 steel blade with triple cut razor teeth and an anti-slip soft grip, 216 g. Fifth for raw edge sharpness at 335 but second overall for cutting: 2.2 passes on the softwood dowel, 14 on green hardwood, and 3.44 seconds freehand. The blade does not fold completely into the handle.
Interchangeable stainless blades with a 7.1-inch overall length, a push button blade lock, and a carrying case with a spare fine tooth blade. The lightest saw here at 154 g with 0.83 mm blade stock. Sharpness of 320, 2.2 passes on the softwood dowel, 20 on green hardwood, and 5.1 seconds freehand.
The Pocket Boy, and the most expensive saw in the group at 224 g. Taper ground stock with four cutting angles along the blade, heat treated teeth and hard chrome plating, and the most comfortable handle of the lineup. Sharpness of 375, 4.5 passes on softwood, 24 on green hardwood, and 4.1 seconds freehand — though it fell from 4.5 to 7.2 passes after the wear test.
A razor sharp Japanese steel blade, triple ground and hardened, 220 g. Third sharpest in the group at 270, but an 8 tooth-per-inch pattern held it to eight passes on softwood and 33 on green hardwood. At 0.6 mm it has the thinnest blade here, and deflection was noticeable on the freehand cut, which it still finished in 4.08 seconds.
High-speed steel with a Teflon coating for rust and dust resistance and a 7 TPI aggressive staggered tooth design, 170 g — the second lightest saw here. A middling 555 for sharpness, but consistently better than average at cutting: 6.2 passes on softwood, 28 on green hardwood, 6.5 seconds freehand. Tied for the least lateral blade sag at 1.25 inches, and the blade favors one side when closing.
A 7-inch impulse hardened, Teflon coated high-carbon blade with six teeth per inch and three-dimensional grinding on each tooth, 226 g. Dull on the tester at 820, but the tooth geometry made up ground: seven passes on softwood, 47 on green hardwood, and 7.2 seconds freehand, with essentially no change after the wear test.
A 7.5-inch, seven tooth-per-inch blade designed for green wood, dry wood, and plastic, specially coated for rust protection and low friction, 188 g. The second dullest edge on the tester at 1,490, yet it cut green hardwood in 33 passes and improved to seven passes on the dowel once the coating wore away. Lateral blade sag of 1.4 inches.
Harbor Freight's saw and the cheapest in the group: an 8-inch carbon steel blade with seven teeth per inch, a push button lock, and an ABS plus TPR grip, 198 g. Sharper than most of the field at 475 and quick on softwood at 8.5 passes, but green hedge apple exposed it at 123 passes.
The longest blade here at 10 inches, SK5 steel given high-frequency quenching, with Japanese-style triple slant staggered teeth and a TPR and PP non-slip handle. The heaviest saw at 332 g, with 0.88 mm blade stock, and stiff enough that deploying or closing it takes real effort. Sharpness of 595, 48 passes on green hardwood, and 7.3 seconds freehand.
Triple cut razor teeth on a rugged blade designed to stay stable under strong pulls, 224 g, with thin 0.8 mm stock and 1.4 inches of lateral sag. Middling on sharpness at 590 and below average at cutting: 10 passes on softwood, 57 on green hardwood, 7.6 seconds freehand, and it lost ground after the wear test at 13 passes.
A 3-in-1 folding saw supplied with wood, metal, and PVC blades, 266 g. The wood blade measured 1,000 on the sharpness tester, and that carried through every cutting test: 15 passes on softwood, 79 on green hardwood, 9.4 seconds freehand, and 16 passes after the wear test.
Hard case black tempered steel with a textured rubber handle over steel liners, dual position locking both open and closed, and a synthetic pouch, 266 g. Sharpness of 1,000, and slow throughout: 18 passes on softwood, 110 on green hardwood — 99 more than the Corona — and 8.6 seconds freehand.
A 7-inch pruning saw with triple cut razor teeth on a hardened steel blade, 258 g. Out of the box the blade favors one side and will not close without help, and it was the only saw in the group that failed the 10 lb blade lock test. Sharpness of 915, 14.5 passes on softwood, and 144 on green hardwood.
An 8-inch SK5 carbon steel blade with a ribbed rubber handle, 292 g, and nine teeth per inch where most of the group runs seven or eight. The dullest edge on the tester at 1,835 and 32 passes on the softwood dowel when new, though it showed the biggest gain of any saw after its coating wore off, dropping to 14 passes.
A 7.7-inch stainless blade with each tooth sharpened on three sides and impulse hardened, plus a blade lock to stop it folding in use, 218 g. Sharpness of 845 and the slowest saw on green hardwood at 212 passes and on the freehand cut at 15.7 seconds. Tied for the least lateral blade sag at 1.25 inches.
Price
Lower is better
Prices ran from $6 for Harbor Freight's One Stop Gardens to $43 for the Silky Pocket Boy. The overall winner cost $17 and the runner-up $12, while the two most expensive saws in the lineup finished fifth and twelfth.
Blade Sharpness
Sharpness tester score on the pull side of the teeth; lower is sharper
For scale, the tester's own reference chart puts a double-edge razor blade near 50, a utility blade between 150 and 200, new high-end cutlery between 250 and 350, an edge needing maintenance around 400, and a butter knife around 2,000. The Samurai came out on top at 230, the Corona second at 255, and the Kakuri Gikoh third at 270, followed by the Gerber at 320 and the FUJIWARA at 335 — three of the top five made in Japan. At the other end the EverSaw measured 1,835 and the Bahco 1,490, both closer to a butter knife than to the leaders.
Full results table
Rank
Product
Result
1
Samurai
230
2
Corona
255
3
Kakuri Gikoh
270
4
Gerber
320
5
FUJIWARA
335
6
Silky
375
7
One Stop Gardens
475
8
Workpro
555
9
Kershaw
590
10
Ginword
595
11
Gruntek
820
12
Flora Guard
845
13
Amazon Basics
915
14
Mossy Oak
1000
15
SOG
1000
16
Bahco
1490
17
EverSaw
1835
Strokes to Cut a Softwood Dowel
Back-and-forth passes through a 3/4-inch dowel under 4.24 lb of force; fewer is better
Each saw was fastened into a fixture loaded with a steel plate and two clamps weighing 4.24 lb, with stops limiting travel to five inches, so tooth geometry and tip sharpness are measured together rather than edge sharpness alone. The Corona came out on top at two passes, the FUJIWARA and Gerber tied for second at 2.2, then the Samurai at four and the Silky at 4.5. Tooth count shows up plainly here: the 8 TPI Kakuri Gikoh needed eight passes despite the third sharpest blade in the group, and the 9 TPI EverSaw needed 32.
Full results table
Rank
Product
Result
1
Corona
2
2
FUJIWARA
2.20
3
Gerber
2.20
4
Samurai
4
5
Silky
4.50
6
Workpro
6.20
7
Gruntek
7
8
Kakuri Gikoh
8
9
One Stop Gardens
8.50
10
Bahco
9
11
Kershaw
10
12
Ginword
11.50
13
Amazon Basics
14.50
14
Flora Guard
15
15
Mossy Oak
15
16
SOG
18
17
EverSaw
32
Strokes to Cut Green Hardwood
Back-and-forth passes through a green hedge apple branch under the same 4.24 lb load; fewer is better
Green hedge apple is about as hard as yard work gets, and it spread the field out enormously. The Corona came out on top again at 11 passes, the FUJIWARA second at 14, the Samurai third at 16, then the Gerber at 20 and the Silky at 24. Below that the numbers climb fast: the SOG needed 110 passes, the $6 One Stop Gardens 123, the Amazon Basics 144, and the Flora Guard 212 — nearly twenty times the winner.
Full results table
Rank
Product
Result
1
Corona
11
2
FUJIWARA
14
3
Samurai
16
4
Gerber
20
5
Silky
24
6
Workpro
28
7
Kakuri Gikoh
33
8
Bahco
33
9
Gruntek
47
10
Ginword
48
11
Kershaw
57
12
EverSaw
62
13
Mossy Oak
79
14
SOG
110
15
One Stop Gardens
123
16
Amazon Basics
144
17
Flora Guard
212
Freehand Cut Time
Seconds to cut through a board by hand; lower is better
A far less controlled test than the fixture, but it shows how the saws behave with a person driving them instead of a fixed weight. The Samurai was fastest at 3.28 seconds, its long blade paying off, with the FUJIWARA at 3.44, the Kakuri Gikoh at 4.08, the Silky at 4.1, and the Corona at 4.8. The Kakuri Gikoh's speed came with a caveat — at 0.6 mm its blade is the thinnest here and the deflection was hard to ignore.
Full results table
Rank
Product
Result
1
Samurai
3.28
2
FUJIWARA
3.44
3
Kakuri Gikoh
4.08
4
Silky
4.10
5
Corona
4.80
6
Gerber
5.10
7
Workpro
6.50
8
Bahco
6.80
9
Gruntek
7.20
10
Ginword
7.30
11
Kershaw
7.60
12
SOG
8.60
13
Mossy Oak
9.40
14
EverSaw
9.60
15
Flora Guard
15.70
Edge Retention
Passes through the 3/4-inch dowel after 100 strokes across cured hedge apple; fewer is better
Each blade was drawn across fully cured hedge apple 100 times, then run back through the same 3/4-inch dowel it started on. Several saws got faster rather than slower as their protective coatings wore away: the EverSaw fell from 32 passes to 14, the Bahco from nine to seven, and the SOG from 18 to 16. The Silky went the other way, from 4.5 to 7.2, and the Kershaw from 10 to 13. The Corona finished sharpest at 2.7 passes, the FUJIWARA second at 3.1 and the Samurai third at 3.2 — all three effectively unchanged from new.
Full results table
Rank
Product
Result
1
Corona
2.70
2
FUJIWARA
3.10
3
Samurai
3.20
4
Gerber
4.40
5
Workpro
6
6
Kakuri Gikoh
7
7
Bahco
7
8
Gruntek
7.20
9
Silky
7.20
10
Ginword
11
11
Kershaw
13
12
Flora Guard
14
13
EverSaw
14
14
Amazon Basics
15
15
Mossy Oak
16
16
SOG
16
Saw Weight
Measured weight in grams; lower is better for carrying
Weight matters for a saw that lives in a pack or a tool belt, and the spread is more than two to one. The Gerber is the lightest at 154 g, the Workpro next at 170 g and the Bahco at 188 g, against 332 g for the Ginword and its 10-inch blade. It predicted cutting performance poorly: the 196 g Corona won both fixture tests outright, while the heavy Ginword and EverSaw finished in the bottom third overall.
Full results table
Rank
Product
Result
1
Gerber
154
2
Workpro
170
3
Bahco
188
4
Corona
196
5
One Stop Gardens
198
6
FUJIWARA
216
7
Flora Guard
218
8
Kakuri Gikoh
220
9
Kershaw
224
10
Silky
224
11
Gruntek
226
12
Samurai
234
13
Amazon Basics
258
14
Mossy Oak
266
15
SOG
266
16
EverSaw
292
17
Ginword
332
The Verdict
The Corona is the pick for best overall. It measured 255 on the sharpness tester, second only to the
Samurai, then won both fixture-based cutting tests outright — two back-and-forth
passes through the 3/4-inch softwood dowel and 11 through green hedge apple,
three passes fewer than anything else. It also held its edge better than any
other saw, cutting the dowel in 2.7 passes after 100 strokes across cured hedge
apple. At $17 for a 196 g Korean-made saw with a 7-inch high-carbon blade and
triple ground teeth, it is the value pick as well as the performance pick.
The Samurai finished second at 2.2 and has the strongest claim on raw edge
quality: the sharpest blade of the 17 at 230, the fastest freehand cut at 3.28
seconds, and 3.2 passes on the dowel after the wear test. It costs $24. The best
buy under $15 is the FUJIWARA at $12, third overall at 2.6, which cut the
softwood dowel in 2.2 passes, green hardwood in 14, and a board in 3.44 seconds
— worth knowing that its blade does not fold completely into the handle. The
Gerber rounds out the top four at 4.0 and is the one to carry: 154 g with
interchangeable blades and a spare fine tooth blade in the case. For a saw kept
in a truck for occasional use, Harbor Freight's $6 One Stop Gardens measured a
respectable 475 on the sharpness tester and cut the dowel in 8.5 passes, though
green hardwood took it 123.
Three cautions are worth carrying into a purchase. Tooth count drives
performance on green wood as much as sharpness does, and the two extremes here
prove it: the Kakuri Gikoh started third sharpest at 270 and still needed eight
passes on softwood with its 8 TPI blade, while the 9 TPI EverSaw needed 32. Fine
teeth leave a cleaner kerf but cut slower, so a saw bought for green branches
wants a coarser blade than one bought for finish work. Coatings can mask what a
blade will actually do — several saws cut faster after 100 strokes had worn the
finish off, the EverSaw dramatically so, while the Silky went from 4.5 passes to
7.2 despite a claim of teeth staying sharp about three times longer. Finally,
blade stiffness and locking hardware are worth checking on the cheaper saws: the
Amazon Basics was the only one of the 17 to fail a 10 lb load on the front of an
open blade, and its blade favors one side and will not close without help; the
Kakuri Gikoh's 0.6 mm blade wandered noticeably on the freehand cut. With 2.5 lb
hung on the tip, the Flora Guard and Workpro held to 1.25 inches of lateral sag
and the Bahco and Kershaw to 1.4 inches.