Timberframed
ArboristSite Guru
I've been reading some very funny reviews over the net. This is not a bash. Some good some not. Either way the write-ups got me chuckling. No way suggesting milling with one. Just Google chinese chainsaw review.
To be honest, If i could get one cheap enough Id like to use/abuse the heck out of one just to see what it can take. Sorta like a harbor freight corded drill i used to build an addition to my deck up at camp.... screw after screw until it smelled like it was burning but it never quit on me. $12 drill. Finally killed it in october drilling 1/2" holes into a Ash stump in an attempt to get it to rot/ dry sooner.
I actually bought one of these saws out of curiosity. It's a "Kingpark" - Essentially a Husky 460 knock off. I got it for $95 shipped to my door. I obviously did not expect the thing to be on par with a genuine Husky, but for the price I figured it would be fun to mess with and practice some porting, muffler modding etc.
It took about a week to arrive from California. When I opened the box, it smelled JUST like walking into a Harbor Freight store. Anyway, upon inspection, there was some of the crap you'd expect but overall I was actually pretty impressed. The "manual" was a terrible translation. Parts of the manual say to use 25:1 mix and other parts say to use 50:1.
It came with a tool kit, the powerhead, 20" bar and chain and a little mixing bottle. I was disappointed that the screws to attach the felling spikes were missing (so I picked some up at the hardware store) I put it together, mixed up some 25:1 and fired it up! The thing actually started pretty easily and ran pretty darn well out of the box. After some warming up and shutting down the saw a couple times because the damn chain needed to be re-tensioned, I decided to try cutting some wood with it. I had some red oak stumps in my yard that I needed to flush cut anyway, so I figured I'd attack them. These stumps were dry and the wood hard as iron. Well, I was actually pretty impressed! The engine lacked some torque (I think some tuning and modding can wake this thing up some), but it sure as hell can cut hardwood!
The stock chain is absolute garbage, but I expected it to be. I had to tighten the thing about 6 times. I was scared the whole time that the crappy chain could break and hurt me. I went and got a 20" Husky bar with an Oregon chain. HUGE difference. With the Oregon chain, it cuts more like a real saw. It really eats through hard oak pretty darn well.
At the end of the day, this is obviously NOT a replacement for a genuine Husky if you are a professional. But to have around as a spare saw or for a homeowner or just to mess around with, the thing is actually quite impressive.
The good: for the price, it's pretty good at cutting wood. It's not very heavy. The muffler looks pretty choked up, so I think opening it up can unleash some good power. It spins a 20" bar in hard wood and with a good chain, i'm overall impressed with its ability.
The bad: the "chain brake" does not seem to work at all. The plastic does have a cheap feel to it. The tensioner is something I am worried about, but it looks a LOT like a genuine Husky tensioner and I think I can make a real Husky tensioner work on it. The chain oil leaks some. It's not terrible, but it is annoying.
I'm going to run 25:1 in it for a couple more tanks and then start running the mix at 40:1. I'm going to mod the muffler some and tune the carb. I get the feeling there's a good bit more power in the saw. Will it last me years and years? Probably not. But for as little as I paid for it, it's pretty darn impressive.
Over the past several years I have noticed that virtually the same thing you buy at Harbor Freight shows up at Home Depot/Lowes, etc. I am a member of AMZ Review Trader and one of the sellers and I email back and forth frequently. He is located in Shenzhen City, China (big surprise). One day I asked him about this and he told me there are varying levels of quality for the products produced depending on what the buyer is willing to pay. I had always suspected this but it was kind of interesting to see it validated by someone that is involved in the process from overseas.
All of that being said I find that a lot of those tools are very usable for the homeowner (like me). I personally cannot afford to drop hundreds and hundreds on every tool or i'd have only a handful of tools. Most of my stuff is bought lightly used or china-built and I don't mind working on things to get them into usable shape. Just my 2 cents.
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