Dave Canterbury, Bushcraft and Survival School teacher, on why he loves Silky Saws
The Pathfinder School in Southeast Ohio is one of the largest survival schools in the U.S.
Pathfinder owner and operator, Dave Canterbury, has been using Silky Saws for six years.
We asked Dave how and why he uses Silky.
When I teach survival, I use Silky saws to process firewood, build shelters, and anything else you’d use a saw for in a bushcraft situation. Them things eat wood like a beaver!
Teaching or traveling, I use a Gomboy. When I’m having students set up a basecamp of some kind, when we’re out for multiple days, the Gomboy cuts firewood fast.
I use the Gomboy for craftwork too. Silky sells multiple blades for the Gomboy, and the blades are quick and easy to change out. That’s convenient. Sometimes I don’t want a really coarse saw, I want to make a fine cut, to cut a line to a stop and go no further. So I keep fine, medium, and coarse blades on hand for the Gomboy. I use a spare blade to loosen the screw to swap the blades out. And I carry the saw in a leather sleeve, so it’s always at hand.
For survival use, I carry the Gomboy with a coarse tooth blade. The Gomboy is the saw I use the most. Camping, I bring a Bigboy. And I always keep a Katanaboy by my side in case I need to cut a tree in the trail. A Bigboy could do the job, but the Katanaboy is helpful if the tree is big in diameter.
99% of people don’t realize if you’re low on matches or your lighter is almost empty, you can use a Silky blade to start a fire. I make a bird's nest of shavings. Then I strike the back of the Silky’s high carbon steel blade with a rock. Most Silkys have a high carbon blade, though some don't, like the Outback series. That turns the blade into a flint. It’ll spark. You can also use the back of the blade to strike a Ferro rod to start a fire. I use a spike shave or cabin scraper to turn fatwood or other shavings into tinder materials. Then I use the Silky to strike the rod to light it.
I switched to Silky saws because they stay sharper a lot longer than other saws. They only cut in one direction, but Silkys are aggressive saws with aggressive blades, so they cut faster than saws that cut in both directions. And Silkys are multifunctional. I can use them to cut wood, to shape wood, to start fires, for fine woodworking and coarse woodworking. There’s no other saw out there with so much flexibility.