Rexbeti Folding Pruning Saw Review

I’m always on the lookout for a good saw that’s lightweight enough to carry into the backcountry  without sacrificing too much in terms of effectiveness. The Rexbeti Utility Folding saw is a model that has been popping up on a lot of “best folding saw” roundups lately, and you just know I had to try it out. 

Rexbeti Folding Saw: First Impressions

The Rexbeti Utility Folding Saw is a little bit larger than I expected, but also fairly lightweight for its size. The blade feels solid, and it has some very formidable-looking teeth. I can imagine it being just as effective for landscaping and yard work as it is for camping. The orange plastic of the handle would make it easy to spot if it was dropped in the brush, but also feels a little flimsy. 

There are quite a few folding utility saws like this on the market, but the obvious point of reference is the Silky Gomboy 240. The Gomboy is a saw I’ve reviewed before and used extensively, and for me is about as close to the perfect backpacking saw as I’ve yet seen. 

My intention for this review isn’t to write a side-by-side comparison of the Rexbeti and its Silky counterpart, but the similarity between these two saws is so striking that it’s hard to avoid making the comparison. The Rexbeti is clearly the more budget-friendly of the two at around $20, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the better buy. 

Measurements & Specs

The blade of the Rexbeti Utility Folding Saw is 11 inches long, and the saw measures 22 inches in total when fully opened (it’s 12 inches long when closed). It weighs 12.2 ounces, which isn’t exactly ultralight, but again, it feels quite light in my hands, especially considering its size. The blade is made of SK-5 steel, and the handle is rubber-coated plastic.

Saw Blade Design & Construction

Let’s talk teeth. The Rexbeti has seven of them per inch, and they’re large, aggressive and slightly angled back for maximum cutting power on both the forward and backward stroke. The teeth are staggered so that every other tooth is beveled in the opposite direction, which gives them superb cutting power.

It also helps that the blade is ever-so-slightly wider at the teeth than it is at the spine. This minimizes resistance when cutting, and adds to the saw’s ability to bite into wood and cut through it with minimal effort. 

And “minimal effort” is actually key to this saw’s effectiveness. It’s very well designed so that it melts through wood without the user having to throw their back into it. If you start pushing and pulling too hard, the saw can bend, get stuck or jump, which can be both damaging to the saw and dangerous for the user. 

My point is, take it easy. The teeth do most of the work for you, and the blade is just pliable enough to bend when it needs to without breaking. The manufacturers recommend using the Rexbeti for branches up to 6 or 7 inches thick, which feels about right. 

The steel used to make the blade is SK-5, which I would describe as a low to mid-grade Japanese carbon steel. It’s modestly corrosion-resistant at best, so take care to clean and dry your saw after use. It has excellent hardness and edge retention, ranking about 65 on the Rockwell scale, so it should stay sharp for a while. 

Lock & Handle

The blade of the Rexbeti Utility Folding Saw folds into its handle and locks into place when open with the use of a simple thumb-operated back lock, which connects with a small notch on the rear spine of the blade. The lock feels solid, and is easy to operate. 

The hinge bolt on which the blade swivels can be loosened and tightened as needed. It’s easier to open and close the blade when the bolt is loosened slightly, but feels more secure and has less play when tightened a bit. 

Another cool feature is that the blade can be opened to the standard straight-ahead position as well as a second, slightly upturned position, which can be useful for cutting at odd angles. The blade locks open, but not closed, so there’s a possibility that it could open up unintentionally. Tightening the hinge bold greatly reduces the likelihood of that happening. 

The handle of the Rexbeti, I must say, is its least impressive feature. Although the rubber coating is comfortable in my hand and provides excellent grip, the plastic underneath feels light, flimsy and cheap. 

Again, I hate to compare the Rexbeti to the Silky Gomboy because the latter is clearly a higher-end product with a price tag to match. But while the Gomboy has a full metal handle that is coated with rubber for grip, the handle of the Rexbeti is clearly made mostly of plastic. By shining a light through it, one can see exactly where the metal part ends. 

Final Thoughts on the Rexbeti Utility Folding Saw

The main reason I said at the top that I didn’t want this to become a Rexbeti vs. Gomboy article is because these are two products that, while visually similar, are clearly aimed at different buyers. The price of the Rexbeti Utility Folding Saw is less than half what you’d pay for a Silky Gomboy 240, and I think this is a situation where you simply get what you pay for. 

To be clear, both of these saws are very effective when they’re new. The Rexbeti absolutely annihilates kindling, and I have no complaints about its right-out-of-the-box sharpness or effectiveness. And to be fair, I haven’t owned it long enough to fairly judge its longevity. 

Even so, you can sometimes just feel cheapness when you hold it in your hands. When I hold this saw in my hands, I have no confidence at all that it would stand up to many years of frequent use.

I should also point out that Silky sells replacement blades for its Gomboy saws, while Rexbeti does not. If and when the blade breaks or gets dull, that’s it. Time to buy a new one.

Of course, you might be fine with that, and you might not really need a heavy-duty saw that will last a decade-plus. If you’re a landscaping professional or someone who works on a trail maintenance crew, you probably already know that a $20 saw isn’t going to cut it for you. But if you’re a homeowner who simply needs to do some occasional pruning and trimming, the Rexbeti may very well be all you need. And hey, if that’s the case, I say go for it.