China special

[pigwot]

I spent a week earlier in June at a friend's place in Germany, alternately rebuilding saws,
mowers, trimmers, and water pumps at his small engine repair shop,
and helping folks move furnishings from their first to second floors as the Elbe was rising and flooding the area.

One fellow brought in a toasted chainsaw, pictured here. I especially like the name "Fuxtec".
A Chinese copy of a saw with no parts available.
Another was a Russian-made saw named "Steel", and yes, it was a copy of a Stihl 260; same font on the sidecover.

≈

 

[MasterBlaster]

Fuxtec???

 

[CurSedVoyce]

 

[woodworkingboy]

Appropriate name. A guy brought in a Chinese saw because he couldn't get the sprocket cover on after taking it off. Turns out the chain brake was engaged. No prob and no charge, I've learned to expect the unexpected with these things and certain people. I looked at the saw and it was almost an exact copy of my small Zenoah that I like to use when working at elevation. Looked well made, a tad heavier, and it got me wondering. Some days later I saw that the local home center had them on sale for like ninety dollars. A decent saw for so cheap!(?) I went there twice to surmise if I wanted to buy one, even took it apart discreetly as much as I could when nobody was looking. It actually looked fine, in some respects even better than the Zenoah, which is a very good and expensive saw. They had only one left, it was a time to make a decision. I balked, nothing I saw, just couldn't get past the idea of Chinese unreliability. It actually felt good to walk out of the store empty handed the last time. Some days later the same guy brought back the Chinese saw and said that he couldn't get it to run. I was able to get it started, but there was no way to adjust the carb to get performance, it just whimpered out at higher revs. He had barely used the saw since new. I figure a crappy carb. Those things still have a ways to go. Odd how they make things look good cosmetically, but the organs inside are junk Hard to figure the mentality behind that. A rather Chinese phenomenon, I believe.

 

[Cobleskill]

I have heard good things about the Chinese Honda engine clones. 6hp for about $100. My bud put one on his splitter and has run it quite a bit.

 

[pigwot]

Jay,
I worked on a couple Zenoahs while at Mathias' shop
- they are nice saws, but I still prefer Husky and Stihl.

That is Mathias on the right. We are part of a medieval re-enactment every June in Wittenberg.

 

[MasterBlaster]

You're a re-enactor? Do you belong to a Shire?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Nice!

 

[woodworkingboy]

I worked on a couple Zenoahs while at Mathias' shop
- they are nice saws, but I still prefer Husky and Stihl.

I think that is a fair evaluation, but there does seem some divergence in the Zenoah models, from good, better, to best. Husky took them over, not sure if that has changed some things.

 

[Tucker943]

I have heard good things about the Chinese Honda engine clones. 6hp for about $100. My bud put one on his splitter and has run it quite a bit.

The Chinese Honda clones sold at Harbor Freight are outstanding.