BBT Chainsaws - handy to have on the tracks!

[KevinE]

Yup, the 3400 is a great saw!

My favorite of the 2 pictured is the 350. Both are muffler modded, 4 degrees timing advance & re-tuned. The 350 is a BEAST!

The anti vibe has long since been flogged out due to it being a full time work saw between 2007 - 2015, but I love that saw. Its old school Echo!

From cold: choke on - 2 pulls & it pops - Choke off - 1 pull & it screams!

 

[Czechmate]

I have a big stihl as well as the little top handle echo

I think echo and shindaiwa make the best chainsaws in the world these days

The stihl is good, but the early 90s one it replaced was better

 

[KevinE]

I like Echo, Stihl, Zenoah & Makita/Dolmar and have owned several of each. Zenoah cops a lot of undeserved criticism on the net, just like Echo. But I like them! They're reliable work saws.

The Makita & Stihl plastics let them down for full time work in Adelaide though. Lots of palm work here & the acid in the palms eats the plastic clutch covers. But, if you don't cut palms, you'd be hard pressed to find a better saw!

 

[Hugh9359]

BBt chainsaw

Going back to original post on cheap chinese stuff,while not a chain saw I have a "Victa'lawn mower cost $198 from bigw,briggs and straton motor made of parts from china,assembled in Canada,have had it 8 years starts first pull every time never changed oil in it,absolute ripper.

 

[KevinE]

Yeah, I own a 7 year old Honda HRU216 self propelled mower. Made in China - It's a cracker.

 

[KevinE]

The new emission's laws come into effect on 1/7/19; you won't be able to buy any of the cheap 2 stroke outdoor gear from shops after that. Shops haven't been able to buy it from wholesalers since 1/7/18.

It's been illegal to import it since 1/1/18, but the Ebay sellers are still doing it, so maybe there's a loop hole?

Allpower went out of business recently, so the Aust distribution network for Echo was shifted to Briggs & Stratton.

 

[KevinE]

Update; one of my small saws needed a new bar & chain & it was actually $3 cheaper to buy a cheap Chinese saw with an Oregon bar & chain, than it was to buy the same bar & chain on their own, so I did.

The bar & chain are of good quality & now reside on my other saw. The rest of the Chinese chainsaw is junk. It ran VERY slowly in stock form. The fuel lines are crap, it has no anti vibe at all, and after it's warmed up it would only start using a drop start with the throttle pulled wide open (dangerous!)

I had a bit of fun with it & pulled the guts out of the air filter, drilled a 2nd port in the muffler, advanced the timing a smidge & then re-tuned it. It now runs fairly well & cuts aggressively.

It'll never make it's way onto a job site, but it would probably be OK for someone occasionally cutting small logs for firewood.

BUT................ when I originally pulled the muffler off, there wasn't a spark arrestor in there! This means that you cannot use it within 1.5km of any park, or on a fire ban day. Which kind of makes it useless for clearing fallen timber off tracks!

 

[KevinE]

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but the little Chinese saw died yesterday. The internal workings of the recoil starter failed.

I was working it the same as I would a work saw, but only got about 11 tanks of fuel through it before it died.

Out came my little 9 year old 231T Makita, which has well over 200 tanks through it & it finished the job.

I could buy another little Chinese saw for $80, but I wont.

$249 for a saw that has worked very hard for 9 years and still going strong Vs $68.50 for the Chinese saw that died in about 4 months.

No brainer!

 

[ben85]

Did you see if u can buy another starter fir it on ebay?

 

[Czechmate]

You gotta factor in the landfill / wastage factor too when buying cheap chainsaws, whipper snippers, blowers etc

 

[KevinE]

You gotta factor in the landfill / wastage factor too when buying cheap chainsaws, whipper snippers, blowers etc

Exactly!

And the contribution to greenhouse gases made by manufacturing them too!

 

[KevinE]

Did you see if u can buy another starter fir it on ebay?

No way I'd spend any money on it. Even where the screws fit into the plastic is crap.

I might revive it using bits from my parts box if I get bored one day.

 

[Old.Tony]

It might make a decent model aircraft motor.

 

[tony d22]

I brought one recently and can't fault it, used it for a good few hours on firewood a few weeks ago on the farm.
For the price, I am not expecting it to last and it is a bit of a dinosaur.

For home and work I have a small Husqvarna, more refined and better balanced but also 3 times the price of the BBT. Had it for many years and will have it for many more.
Just a far better saw.

 

[KevinE]

It might make a decent model aircraft motor.

It's a clamshell design crankcase Tony, the top end bolts straight onto the plastic body of the saw. The crankshaft is held to the body of the saw by bearings moulded into the plastic. It weighs 3kg & is about the size of a football.

 

[KevinE]

I brought one recently and can't fault it, used it for a good few hours on firewood a few weeks ago on the farm.
For the price, I am not expecting it to last and it is a bit of a dinosaur.

For home and work I have a small Husqvarna, more refined and better balanced but also 3 times the price of the BBT. Had it for many years and will have it for many more.
Just a far better saw.

It pleasantly surprises me about your Chinese saw Tony.

I don't cut very much seasoned wood, it's too hard on the saws & I'm not a fan of continually sharpening chains lol.

I get that it's different if you're not doing it to pay the bills, but I don't know anyone who does what I do that likes cutting hard/seasoned wood. So your giving the saw a rap after cutting firewood with it is impressive!

I've got a colleague that doubles the price of a job if the tree is a Spathulata for the reasons stated above. I personally dislike any of the eucalyptus species that have a dark, shiny bark for the same reason.

It's funny, 17 years ago when I started doing this, nearly all the tree crews had Husky saws. You hardly see any of them with Husky's these days.

Stihl have a massive amount of market share these days.

 

[KevinE]

Got rained off work today, so I pulled the Chinese saw apart. Some will see what caused it to fail straight away!

Tip; the spool & the lugs are one piece of moulded plastic!

 

[tony d22]

It pleasantly surprises me about your Chinese saw Tony.

I don't cut very much seasoned wood, it's too hard on the saws & I'm not a fan of continually sharpening chains lol.

I get that it's different if you're not doing it to pay the bills, but I don't know anyone who does what I do that likes cutting hard/seasoned wood. So your giving the saw a rap after cutting firewood with it is impressive!

I've got a colleague that doubles the price of a job if the tree is a Spathulata for the reasons stated above. I personally dislike any of the eucalyptus species that have a dark, shiny bark for the same reason.

It's funny, 17 years ago when I started doing this, nearly all the tree crews had Husky saws. You hardly see any of them with Husky's these days.

Stihl have a massive amount of market share these days.

I was using it on massive rounds to quarter them up cutting along the grain as well as loping logs to size.
A mix of red and Ironbark as well as some Gum.
It impressed me.
I have the 54cc model 2.5KW with an Oregon 20 inch bar. One year on and still going.
Back down for some more work this weekend.

 

[tony d22]

Got rained off work today, so I pulled the Chinese saw apart. Some will see what caused it to fail straight away!

Tip; the spool & the lugs are one piece of moulded plastic!

You can buy replacement parts from BBT.

 

[KevinE]

I was using it on massive rounds to quarter them up cutting along the grain as well as loping logs to size.
A mix of red and Ironbark as well as some Gum.
It impressed me.
I have the 54cc model 2.5KW with an Oregon 20 inch bar. One year on and still going.
Back down for some more work this weekend.

Noodling hardwood with a 54cc saw is extremely impressive indeed.

I know blokes (rellies) who do that down around Mt. Gambier & they use an MS880 & a 394XP.

Not sure I'd even want to be doing too much of that type of work with a 7901 lol!