Over the last few years I’ve been using Huztl chains on nearly all my saws, doing work ranging from thinning cypress to milling. Overall they've worked very well, and have been remarkably cheap.
I haven’t noticed a difference in how long the Huztl chains stay sharp compared to Stihl chain, but I would expect Stihl chain, which is noticeably harder to file, to stay sharp longer in clean wood.
Varying chain types
Most chains I’ve bought from Huztl have been marked “KANGXIN” on the side plates, with semi-chisel tooth profile. I like this chain: semi-chisel is good general purpose chain, and copes better with dirty conditions than full chisel tooth. Chisel tooth cuts very well, but when you find some sand in the bark or a termite pipe, the corner can be badly damaged and it needs a lot of sharpening to cut well again.
Lately some chains from Huztl have been a different make. They are full chisel and unbranded. This was first with 3/8 LP, then with .325, now with 3/8 pitch chain.
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| Huztl's .325" chisel-tooth chain. See it is a low-kickback chain with ramps on the drive links. This is safer, but can obstruct boring cuts. |
I wrote to Huztl to ask if they can still provide the semi-chisel chain, and they replied that they couldn’t. Because of this, I’m now trying the chain from jonoandjohno.com.au, which is a similar price to Huztl if you buy a roll.
Hard spots
The biggest problem I’ve had with these Huztl semi-chisel chains has been frequent hard spots in the steel, in the gullets of the teeth. Small spots of steel are hard enough to damage the saw file when sharpening. I really don’t like this: it’s terrible to damage a new sharp file.
I think the cause of these hard spots is easy to guess: when the chains are being machine sharpened with a grinder in the factory, poor quality control of the grinding wheel condition, or the feed rate, or something, is causing overheating of the teeth.
I’ve seen hard spots in chains before, usually on chains sharpened inexpertly with electric grinders. I’ve even caused the problem myself, overheating teeth with a bench grinder while modifying chains to “Granberg” ripping chain pattern.
What happens is that the heat created by the friction of the grinding wheel, is enough in some small part of the steel, to bring the steel to red heat - critical temperature for hardening. Then when the grinding stops, heat quickly flows from the tiny volume of hot steel into the surrounding metal, quenching and hardening the steel that was red.
A remedy
The easiest solution to the hard spots is to carefully grind the tooth gullets of these hard-spotted chains before sharpening them the first time with a file. One grinding should remove the hard bits permanently.
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| This is the tooth before grinding. The hard spots seem to be on or around that little peak in the bottom of the gullet. |
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| Here's a tooth after grinding. See the little peak is gone and the gullet is a bit deeper. |
I’ve been using a cheap chainsaw-sharpening grinder I inherited from a neighbour. It’s a terrible machine really: terribly inaccurate and totally unsuitable for sharpening - I nearly took it to the tip more than once. The greatest benefit of an electric chainsaw sharpener is to accurately equalise the teeth of a poorly sharpened chain. However this machine is no good for that because the plastic parts give it so much flex. However for gulleting these chains to remove the hard spots, this cheap machine is good: the flex allows the grinding wheel to be swept back and forth in the gullet.
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| This is the cheap chainsaw chain grinder. Mostly plastic construction makes it very flexible and inaccurate. An old angle grinder cutting disc is mounted on the plastic spindle, held on with a plastic nut. It works very well for this job but not for sharpening. |
Because the original sharpening wheel was broken, I mounted an old 2.5mm thick angle grinder cutting disc in it. This would be too coarse for sharpening, but is good for this gulleting task. The plastic spindle needed to be trimmed a little (spinning it against a chisel) to fit the disc.
Hard depth gauges
I’ve also noticed some depth gauges are hard to sharpen, in the Huztl chains but also in genuine Stihl chains. It only seems to be a problem the first time the dept gauge is filed, perhaps due to the chrome plating instead of steel hardness. This is also annoying, leaving visible lines of damage to the file teeth. If I’m in the workshop when I find these hard depth gauges, I’ll use the grinder to take the tip off the depth gauge, so my files will last longer.
Conclusions
Huztl chains are alright, but you need to be flexible about what tooth profile you get.
It’s not worth buying a cheap electric chainsaw sharpener, but they can be useful to remove hard spots.
If you use an electric chainsaw sharpener, grind very gently, to avoid overheating and hardening.
Some of this cheap Chinese chainsaw gear is good enough, if you have the time and bush engineering skills to make it work properly. Spending less money means less time earning money, more time in the workshop at home. That works for me.
[but some of this cheap Chinese gear isn’t good enough: see my review of the Huztl/Holzfforma chainsaw bars]
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| Here's another chain bought from Huztl, this time branded "ZHUANG". It looks like the riveting machine missed a side plate, and no one was checking. Easily enough repaired - but remember to do your own quality control. |
