I finally remembered to buy a new bow-saw last week. My old one, a Stanley I
think (can't tell because the brand name wore off years ago) is quite blunt
and I've never seen any replacement blades to fit it here. I could only find
bow-saws for sale that were labelled "made in China" so reluctantly bought
one.

Frankly I wish I hadn't. Using it today for the first time, found it was
impossible do a straight cut with. Half way into a two inch elder-flower
branch and it is cutting at 90 degrees to where it started! Comparing it
with my old blunt saw, the Chinese blade was really thin in comparison. No
wonder it was so awful. In fact the brand-new Chinese made saw is so bad it
has ended up in the dustbin!

If I still lived in the UK I'd have taken it back to the shop and demanded
my money back on the grounds that it wasn't fit for purpose. Unfortunately
here I'm not so sure of my customer rights and lack the amount of French
necessary for a good argument! I'll be reluctant to buy tools from that shop
again (Mitchigan) and treat labels saying "Made in China" as saying "Don't
buy this it's crap!"

David.