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.

"David (Normandy)" wrote...
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!"

Good proper Builders Merchants usually sell good tools and I would think
that applied in France too.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

In reply to David (Normandy) ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

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!"

I sympathise. I have bought four of those modern fancy wine openers and
three have completely disintegrated [1]. They are made of a little-known
element, Ch (Cheese) which is common among Chinese-made goods. It is
designed to destroy itself within about six months of purchase. I am fed up
with taking the skin off my knuckles when tools break.

I think the only way forward is to buy quality stuff (if such a thing still
exists) but sadly, we don't seem to make much any more. We are merely the
call centre an service industry for the emerging nations.

One thing which may be of help - our local "tip" recycles gardening tools,
at £1 each. There are some rather good, though old, things in there. It's
amazing what people throw aaway - and presumably replace with a brand new
shiny one which is sure to fall apart :-) I get all mine from there now,
sometimes it's worth replacing the handle (which means buying another tool
for £1 with a good handle!). So good for the dustbinmen, who put the money
towards a Christmas beer.

[1] the fourth one is a "Screwpull", made by Le Crueset (probably spelt
wrongly?) and is guaranteed for ten years against defective material and
workmanship, and I don't think Le Crueset will go broke. It is a work of
art, heavy, a pleasure to use, and I am embarrassed by how much it cost so
I'm not saying.

In article ,
"Bob Hobden" wrote:

"David (Normandy)" wrote...
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.


You might find a new blade for your Stanley in the BTCV online shop
http://shop.btcv.org.uk/shop/level3/11/level
They have a range of sizes and the blades are "Sandvik" - who I
guess are swedish. In any case the BTCV shop is a good resource.