After I had finally got the thing together, and going, in spite of the crummy manual with its teensy and incomplete diagrams and multiple warnings about not using it to remove ear wax and the like, I eagerly applied it to its target with the result that all I achieved was a scratch. I thought about it for a while, had a large whisky and swore a bit, and then it dawned on me that perhaps I could discern a slight difference in the angle of the cutting teeth when picturing it turning the other way, such that it seemed worth a shot at reversing it on the blade. This I did, and wunderlich!, it worked! Straight through with gusto! The point is, nowhere in the instructions does it tell you that getting the chain the right way round is critical, not even on the plastic bag the chain comes in. To a novice at least, the appearance of the chain is not obviously different in perspective one way or the other. So - if you find it isn't cutting as you had expected it to, reverse the chain! Of course, you may be fortunate and get it on the right way round in the first place.