Sad day today ... Demise of Black & Decker.

Refueler

Refueler

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After more than 20 yrs excellent service, with only one change of chain. My trusty B&D Chain Saw has finally curled up it's chain and shuffled of to Chain Saw land in the sky.

Lent it to guy cutting the wood at my house and he hit a nail ... kept trying to force it and stripped the gear teeth inside. B&D not being sold over here means it's naffed and anyway at that age ? what chance of parts ?

Not bad advert for a tool though ... ! Replacement is slightly more powerful and bigger Dolmar at 85 quid .. see how good that is !

I use lecky type for my firewood, Stihl petrol job for trees.
 
Not that boaty but since you mention it my Stihl chain saw - had it for years - starts easily but my Stihl hedge cutters never do. Prime, choke and pull but the plug stays dry. Only starts with a squirt of petrol in through the spark plug hole. Can't work it out.
 
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Not that boaty but since you mention it my Stihl chain saw - had it for years - starts easily but my Stihl hedge cutters never do. Prime, choke and pull but the plug stays dry. Only starts with a squirt of petrol in through the spark plug hole. Can't work it out.

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Started my 30 year old stihl yesterday, which had not been started for 6 years (new Hesqwana). started 2nd pull.

All Rubbish Black and Decker have gone in the skip. Numerous drills, Jig saws etc , used 2 or 3 times then failed - never again.... I thought the original poster had said THEY had gone bust!
 
Always had sterling service from B@D, despite being at the economy end of the price spectrum. I had three BandQ branded Jig saws more of less collapse right out of the box, the Black and Decker goes on and on.
They may be made in the same factory for all I know but perhaps the name ensures at least a basic level of quality control.
 
Re: Sad day today ... Demise of Black & Decker.

I'm still using a B.& D. mains powered 2 speed hammer drill that I bought in late 1976 when we were about to move into a big prewar house that neded full restoration. In all those 32 years I've only dismantled, cleaned and greased it once.
 
Lots of B and D spares still available, also for Elu and DeWalt (same company) here. One of several spares suppliers for B and D I think, but this is the only one I've used. Bit late for the chain saw though /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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Not that boaty but since you mention it my Stihl chain saw - had it for years - starts easily but my Stihl hedge cutters never do. Prime, choke and pull but the plug stays dry. Only starts with a squirt of petrol in through the spark plug hole. Can't work it out.

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My little portable genny's like that !

Why on Boaty forum ? Why not - but actually thought I'd tag on the theme of company demise's ! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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Lots of B and D spares still available, also for Elu and DeWalt (same company) here. One of several spares suppliers for B and D I think, but this is the only one I've used. Bit late for the chain saw though /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

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I just found a site that MAY just be able to supply the gear cog that stripped ... CS is in a cardboard box in bits in barn .. so not totally out of possibilities yet.

But needing one pretty quick bought a Dolmar 35 ... 85 quid with more powerful motor etc.

Still if old B&D can be resurrected - why not.

[edit] ... just checked - same site !! [/edit]
 
My B&D chain saw also finally packed up after 15 years of abuse from me; it was secondhand when my father in law gave it to me as had no more use for it. Replaced it with another B&D which only lasted a weekend! Finally replaced with a Bosch electric chainsaw which works a treat and far superior.
 
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my dad just bought spares for a twenty year old B&d chainsaw from the above listed site, only bits not available for his was a label and a chain cover.

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Have another site in fav's now ... with blow up piccy of similar CS .... so maybe :

http://www.mtmc.co.uk/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=12708090&strPageHistory=cat

was looking at other - but needed the piccy to check style of CS as later ones are completely different.
 
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Not that boaty but since you mention it my Stihl chain saw - had it for years - starts easily but my Stihl hedge cutters never do. Prime, choke and pull but the plug stays dry. Only starts with a squirt of petrol in through the spark plug hole. Can't work it out.

[/ QUOTE ] When I bought my Stihl Combi (optional attachments) the salesman said it would always be difficult to start due to the cheap carburetter (sp?). He wanted to sell me something more expensive but I decided to make-do. I always swear at him under my breath when I am trying to get it started! It relies on a certain combination of choke and primer button, followed by very gentle pressure on the throttle to get it warmed up.
 
The simple answer is the small squirt of gasoline in via plug hole ! Takes lot less energy and time than all that huffing and puffing on the starter cord ... another post above said similar !

I find amazing the later starter cord systems where you pull but it only spins over at a set speed. My latest strimmer, big genny, are like that - makes starting a doddle.
 
I think current B & D products have been the victim of some "value engineering" and are MUCH the worse for it! I have some old B&D stuff and it's very good. I still have my first cordless B&D screwriver from about 15 years ago. About 5 years ago, the batteries started dying so I bought a new B&D cordless screwdriver. It was utter junk! I burst the geartrain the first time I used it manually! In the end, I just took the batteries out of it and stuck them in my old B&D screwdriver (which is still in use today)! I haven't bought any B&D since...
 
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I have some old B&D stuff and it's very good. I still have my first cordless B&D screwriver from about 15 years ago.

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My ancient B&D mains hammer drill is still going strong

[/ QUOTE ] I am still using my Father's old B&D drill. must be over 40 years old. Metal case, non of this plastic stuff.

Actually also got his old Bridges drill. That must be over 50 years old.
 
Designed to fail

I haven´t bought a Band D product since I realised the true reason for the two little holes in their jigsaw blades. For years I thought that they must have a purpose, presumably to fit into some clamping system that I haven´t seen yet.
But as the years go by (lots of them, in my case!), and the clamping systems remain the same, I realised that the those holes can only be there for one purpose, to make it easier for me to break the blade, so I have to run down to the shop for some more.
I seem to remember that Hoover used to sell vacuum cleaners cheap, because they would get a long term customer for their paper bags, but at least they didn´t put lines of holes in them.
Anyway, thats how B and D lost me as a customer.
 
Re: Designed to fail

There's an old saying that Profitable business is only on consumable goods. Customer must come back for more. The trick is to find the fine line between reasonable period of service and short life.
Whether true or not I don't know, but it was said that a Light Bulb producer came up with the never ending light bulb. They patented it and then locked it away, never to be produced commercially. Probably one of those legends that may have basis but expanded over years !

One question I have is my old B&D Chain saw would work happily of my Wolf 700 genny. Until it really started biting into a hard job - then auto breaker would kick out on genny. This indicates to me that B&D for all it's able to cut some pretty hefty serious stuff (I cut a 2 foot diameter fallen tree up with it and the genny) it must be a lot lower power than the Dolmar replacement - which is 1800W. Anybody any idea what a 10" B&D old Chain Saw power rating was approx. ? Unfortunately haven't got exact model number .. but looks like the GK 100. Can't find anything on web to tell me.

Maybe its stupid sentamemtality - but I will try and ressurect the B&d .. blimey to last 20+ yrs and fail for a silly plastic gear cog ? Motor is still excellent - even service guy said that it's better than a lot of them today.
 
Re: Designed to fail

I had very good service from B&D Angle grinders, large and small, the large lasted 17yrs in daily use as a cut off saw. But these where the Professional range, now sold as DeWalt. (The large one is still waiting a strip, as it stopped suddenly and no smell, so might be fixable).
A
I think the light bulb story belongs to the same box as the oil co.s buying up water driven car patents.
 
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