It’s blowing a hooley out there today! In fact, January has seen one storm after another. So the Barnsdale Gardens team have been busy with a good tidy up of small branches which are hanging on by a thread! What have they been using? The Niwaki Moku Folding Saw, that’s what! Check out how they fared with this in the review below!
Tested January 2026 by Jonathan Brocklebank, head gardener at Barnsdale Gardens
I’ve used many different pruning saws over the years, but hadn’t tried a Niwaki before. Pruning saws cut on the pull stroke, and they come in many sizes. The Moku is a small saw intended for finer pruning jobs.
My first thought when I took it out of the box was how lightweight it is, definitely the lightest I’ve ever held (only 113g). The blade is 190mm long, the handle 230mm, giving an overall length of 420mm when opened. The beech wood handle is well finished; it doesn’t have any additional grips, but it’s comfortable to hold and slightly wider at the base, so unlikely to slip out of my hand. The blade has small but extremely sharp teeth; it’s made from impact-hardened SK-5 steel (high-carbon Japanese steel), so it will stay sharper for longer.
The saw is functionally very simple; the blade opens out easily and locks in place when fully opened. To close it, there’s a metal locking device which needs to be pressed in. I did find the blade to be quite flexible; it’s only 1mm thick, so when closing, it can be awkward to align with the gap in the handle and may take a few attempts. The locking device was quite hard to press in, but I’d imagine over time it will loosen off.
Its performance it doesn’t disappoint at all – it’s for pruning branches up to 60mm in diameter, so for big pruning jobs a larger saw would be more suitable but I used the saw to prune and thin out some of the smaller apple trees this winter, it’s fantastically sharp and the compact size really was beneficial for getting into some tight spaces.
Like other Niwaki tools, it’s designed to be high quality, unfussy and to do the job well. With the handle being wooden, it would probably be best to use it in dry conditions to avoid swelling, and I’d give it a clean and dry after use. As the saw is lightweight and compact, it would fit in a pocket, but Niwaki offer a holster should you want it to hang from a belt.
Conclusion: I think the saw performs well for its intended use and is a great addition to my tool collection.
You can buy this saw from Barnsdale Gardens in their shop at the gardens and also their online store at Barnsdale Gardens Online Shop, at a RRP of £28
You can read all of the team’s Tools On Test here: https://shop.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/blogs/tools-on-test
Photo credit Steve Hamilton
Source RabbitattackPR
