Sierra saw ain't what it used to be, what is?

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Sierra saw ain't what it used to be, what is?

Postby sailfish » Thu 15 Sep, 2011 12:51 pm

Hi,

I bought some replacement blades for my larger folding Goghlans Sierra Saw that has served well for near 30 years until the blade snapped. The original has made in Japan on it, the new blade has made in Korea….

The good news is that the new blade actually fit the handle despite changes over time. The bad news is the drop in quality. The original blade is very well finished with no unnecessary sharp edges and tapers so the back of the blade is thinner than the teeth which have no set. This gives the blade clearance so it doesn’t jam while the lack of tooth set gives a very smooth cut which helps prevent disease getting into pruning wounds. The blade was extremely sharp high quality Jap steel and has never needed resharpening in all that time though the tips of some teeth had broken off from rough work, it still cut very well.

The new blade is not well finished having irregular and sharp burred edges. The blade is flat (no taper) with no appreciable set giving it no clearance so I expect it will jam pretty regularly though that is to be proved over time. The teeth are much coarser and with ground tips so may be a little stronger though certainly nowhere near as fine sharpening angles. I don’t know about the quality of the steel.

Anyway, I know these are cost cutting changes but it doesn’t seem so good an idea to me for a company to undermine their reputation for certain very high quality products for which they were once well known just to save a small amount on manufacturing. Though I am not surprised at all.

Some may wonder what such a product has to do with this forum. Well admittedly I originally bought the thing on a whim and it was on sale at the time. It has been our main pruning saw at home so seen a lot of work there but after an accident in the canoe club years ago, entrapment became an issue so it went along on many trips after that in case we ever needed to open a kayak to release someone else. It has been used for a little judicial stream side pruning to retrieve fishing flys and open up casting lanes for next time, as well as the odd bit of bush furniture in year past. These days I carry a wire saw for emergencies but the old Sierra has been a convenient and reliable tool.

I guess the moral of the story is, if you find something good, buy several because it won’t last.


Regards,
Ken
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Re: Sierra saw ain't what it used to be, what is?

Postby vagrom » Thu 15 Sep, 2011 2:33 pm

Picked up a beautiful little Swiss made Felco, folding saw from our Belair plant sale shop for $52 recently. Too sharp really, those jagged teeth. You'd really want to have a roller bandage to hand. But of course, beautifully made and likely quite durable. For when some gardening's necessary. Small and light.

Edit: Oops, yep.. In fact it's made in "South Korea". A very smart looking piece. A small problem: the blade doesn't lock solidly in place; moves slightly.
Last edited by vagrom on Sat 17 Sep, 2011 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sierra saw ain't what it used to be, what is?

Postby sailfish » Fri 16 Sep, 2011 1:06 pm

Felco do have the rep in gardening tools like secateurs. They certainly do a lot of folding saws. Don't get me wrong about the Sierra saw, the new Korean blade does cut very well, it's just the finish quality and the lack of blade clearance compared with the Jap blades. I got a pocket Sierra at the same time as the new Korean blades. Interestingly the pocket saw blade has a tapered cross section (0.75mm - 0.45mm) while the larger one doesn't.

Ken
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