Here at Carters Garden Machinery we are asked many times “Why should I spend more money on a Silky saw than any other brand?”. Well I’m here to tell you why.....

The first thing we would ask is "how much you will use it?".  Now we obviously would like you to spend as much money as possible but due to our long heritage of being a family business, Carters Of Swanwick, it has been instilled into each of us to be honest and genuine.

If you say to us “I’m going to use it once, every few months” then our answer would be “spending money on a silky saw is to be fair, not a waste but unnecessary” unless you feel like being indulgent. Don’t get me wrong they are the best pruning saw on the market but we are also not here to take advantage of you.

"Why are Silky Saws the best saw on the market?" I hear you ask. Silky say “Silky Saws made in Japan by Um:Kogyo Inc since 1919, have developed a world-wide reputation for being the best pruning saws you can buy. Unique technology and design have been applied to produce an extensive range of saws and tools with superb cutting ability”.

We say they are the best due to their reputation and feedback from not only professionals that use them but you, the everyday person that tries them for the first time and never goes back. This in our opinion is the best feedback you can get. 

Silky Saws have a vast range of different versions from 4” folding saws being perfect for pruning of saplings and the like, to the 1 metre long Katana Boy, in my opinion the meanest, baddest thing I’ve ever held, capable of felling trees with a diameter of 50cm. 

Earlier, I went on YouTube to find a review on the katana boy and funnily enough the following video of the slightly smaller Katana Boy 500, which is the baby brother to the 1m long version, was reviewed by Ben Orford (crazy good blade smith) who was in fact in the same year at school as me, how mad is that! I have not seen him for 25 years and there he was in the first video I checked out, he hasn’t changed a bit.

Well back to the job in hand after that blast from the past!

It speaks volumes that every tree surgeon possibly in the world would buy a silky saw over anything else. Lets face it, for the money they charge they can afford it ???? However, what about you?  As you saw (excuse the pun) in the video they are very easy to use, very sharp and they will stand the test of time, which is great as you will only need to buy one once as long as you look after it. If you don’t, they will bite you! trust me I’ve seen the damage in real life and its not pretty. Anyway, as I said, keep it clean and tidy, not left out in the elements, give the blade a wipe down after use then it will last as long as you need it for. I’m sure I heard that one of our customers still has one from 20 yrs ago. That’s great value for money in anyone’s book. 

Now along with replacement blades, and if for any unfortunate reason you manage some how to damage any part of your Silky Saw, then they are fully backed up with spare parts. That’s enough of that because it doesn’t happen very often, which in itself is just a sign of the quality of a Silky Saw.

Some of the larger saws you can sharpen, mainly the larger ones but I just thought I’d let you know.

I've been banging on about the fact they are expensive.  This is mainly true and the 6.3m Hayuachi pole saw is, but the entry model F180 folding saw is anything but. It's a great little saw and you can pick one up for about £25, so its a good starting point to understand why we sell them at the rate we do, not only from the shop down in Swanwick, Southampton but also online at Carters Garden Machinery.  Yes you heard me correctly. We now have some online presence AND a brand new website, its taken sometime to get but the team got there in the end!

Sorry, headed off topic again there, I’m easily distracted as my dear old mum would tell you.... You heard me mention the Hayauchi (i think that’s how you spell it, I’m not up to date with my Japanese), is the go to range of pole saw.  They start at the 3.7m version, then have a 4.9m and the crazy long 6.3m, which to be fair, most people buy when we start talking about them. It's quite hard for us to demonstrate them as we only have 2.5m of head height in our cozy upstairs parts department, so once we head outside and fully extend it, it sells itself.  6.3m plus! Now i say "plus" because you may be a 7ft giant thus giving another 2m when you hold it as far as you can above your head.  But please remember H&S and I do not in any way shape or form condone you do that ????  Let’s face it, if you can, you're going to do it and the longer the better they say. They work great due to the fact the construction is so rigid, there’s literally no flex so you can guarantee as your “pulling” through the branch (did you see what I did there??) you are actually cutting the branch and not wasting your effort on trying to pin the blade to it. With the construction being so precise this does come with some weight and I’m not going to lie to you and say its light because its not.  BUT this does have its benefits, the weight of the saw helps with the cutting motion as you can just let it go (not literally) and it’ll pull through that 6inch branch in no time, just make sure you get out the way when it falls!!!

There is a more expensive fibreglass version but that’s more a pro thing and other slightly more affordable versions that they do, like the Zubat Arborist. This is quite a new model to the range but if you're looking for something lightweight and to give you that little bit extra length then its a perfect solution to get to those branches that are just out of reach. We do stock them at Carters, so fell free top pop down and take a look.

As I’ve been talking about cutting on the pull stroke a lot, here’s a quick video explaining this.

I know there is sooooo much more I could preach to you about Silky Saws, but I think I’ve drained you enough so I'll finish up with the following statement.....

“Since writing and reading this back about 50 times, I think its clear to say I’m hardly a leading blog writer, but I hope this has been fairly informative and will help you choose the right saw for you, BUT I’m not biased in any way, shape or form even though Silky are the best!"

At Carters Garden Machinery AKA Carters Of Swanwick we try to keep a range of Silky saws to cover all bases and what we don’t have on the shelf we can get within a couple of days. 

Thanks for reading this, yes by me, Chris from Carters Garden Machinery and I hope your new purchase will serve you well.