Trail Blazer Products Ltd., makers of Sawvivor Out of Buisiness

     I was recently looking for a replacement blade for my 15" Sawvivor takedown saw, it has seen a lot of use over the years and I wanted a replacement blade for it to have on hand when my current one got dull.  For some reason, I couldn't find any online.    I got mine originally from MEC, but they only offered the Sven Saw now.  Online Trail Blazer's takedown and folding saws have gathered quite a good fanbase, as they are very light, efficient and easy to use.  But just doing some research, I found that Trail Blazer Products Ltd. the family owned, Nova Scotia based company that produces them has gone out of business and was just being dissolved, not sold, unfortunately.
     They produced a range of saw products, the  Sawvivor 15" folding saw, 25" takedown buck saw and the xtend a saw were popular items.  They also made shovels and some other saws. I have a small hand hatchet they made.
     What a pity,  I do t like the takedown saw that I have, I thought it is a great design.  The really only one thing I didn't like about the 15" saw was when sawing very hard the arms would flex a bit and sometimes the blade would pop out of position, but this only happens periodically under agressive sawing.  Other than that this tool has helped me create many a good campfires over the years.  Perhaps now is the time for someone else to step in to the saw market.  Many people love the Sven saw as well, but the design does not appeal to me that much, as it is a simpler triangle.  The problem with that is the far tip has little room for larger diameter branches, so it is limited to small branches.  With tthe small 15" sawvivor saw, I cut even 8" diameter logs and branches with ease.  You can't do that with the Sven saw.
  The 15" saw was so popular even Browning sold it at one time under their name.  I think I will scour the internet to find some p blades for this thing before they are all gone, since I don't see any other product on the market right now that appeals to me as a lightweight saw capable of handling medium sized pieces of wood.
     I don't know what happened to the company, it seemed to be doing great in 2008/2009, and as I mentioned earlier, there was a loyal fan base that loved the saws.  Perhaps some bad business decisions? In any case, it's too bad these good outdoor products are no longer available.

Links:
End of the Road for Trail Blazer
Trail Blazer Products Award

Saw vs. Axe

I'm not exactly an environut - leave-no-trace at all costs type of guy in the backcountry.
I am sort of middle of the road - huge respect the environment, but I won't go to all ends to leave no trace.  I like to  have campfires when I am in the woods.  In fact I would count my skills as a wood gatherer in the backcountry rather highly.  When I first started backcountry camping, I started fires, but didn't even use any tools to gather firewood.  Anyone that has successfully started fires in the backcountry by gathering wood knows that the only wood that burns is dry wood, dead branches that are still on trees, or dead trees themselves, still standing.  Anything lying on the ground is almost guaranteed to have way too much water to burn efficiently.  So I used to break lower branches off of pine trees to burn then snap them by stomping on them.   This, to say the least isn't the easiest way to go about it, not to mention it kills your hands with the vibration of snapping branches, and getting hit with the ugly stick in your face when you stomp the branches isn't fun either...  A tool makes gathering wood much more efficient.
So, what's better, a saw or an axe?  I'm sure many people have their preferences, but to me this almost isn't even a question.  Just like a game of paper scissors rock, saw beats axe any day.  A hand saw can slice even quite thick branches off trees, fell small to medium sized dead trees, and cut longer pieces into a manageable size for the fire.  Quickly.  Efficiently.  The only thing a saw doesn't quite excel at is cutting finger sized branches off of a larger limb or tree.
An axe on the other hand, at least in my opinion is next to useless.  It takes much more effort and time to cut even a medium diameter piece of wood than a saw, and good luck lopping off any decent sized branch or trunk.  Any axe big enough to be useful is much, much heavier than folding saws to boot.  Hatchets are just useless.  The only thing an axe is better at than a saw is to fray or sometime split wood for kindling and chopping off those small branches.  Might as well leave the thing at the car camping as far as I am concerned if all you want a tool for is to collect wood.  I'd challenge anyone with an axe vs. my saw to collect firewood for a night's campfire and beat them to a larger pile of wood much quicker any day.
I have a Trail Blazer brand Sawvivor takedown saw (same as pictured above).  I love this thing.  It's ultra lightweight aluminum tube, light enough for me to take backpacking.  The saw stores in the longer tube when folded, and takes only seconds to set up.  It makes short work of anything less than 6 inches in diameter.  Highly recommended.