Chainsaw Collecting is an Illness

[Rene Elliott]

Looked at a nice, complete Mall 2 man that would turn over by hand, (possibly a model 6 c. 1948?) this weekend, always kept indoors, but not a 2 man Disston as I had hoped. We already have a Mall 1 (12A) and 2 man and an electric, I'm trying to collect "different" ones to display, and my father reminds me about lack of storage (or rather all my stuff is stored in his space). So I stopped to see another guy I know who had some saws buried behind the work bench, I got a c. 1951 325 McCulloch (since I already have the manual, may as well get the saw?), a Craftsman 2 man c. 1947 (built by Reed Prentice Co.) model 1200B, and a small Power Machinery Co. Vancouver BC chainsaw to round out the collection. Since I'm just using the Toyota pickup to haul to shows that should give me a full load, I'm looking at getting another (used) Toyota and will get a trailer hitch setup so I can haul more to shows.

[John Delbert Hidy]

Rene==I picked up a mall two man saw today a man wants to sell to me. The blade is about 5 ft long. Motor is stuck and all there. What is it worth I don't know a thing about chainsaws. Thanks===John in missouri

[petesoldsaw]

Hi Rene
I live only about 45 minutes from Vancouver.At one time I think ther were 3or4 saw makers in VancouverIEL was another which became Pioneer.
Lawrence

[petesoldsaw]

Hi Again Rene
Do you collect sales brochures of old chainsaws?Have anything about the Pioneer's?I have started collecting them,and plan to restore ones that would be good prospects.
Lawrence

[Rene Elliott]

Well the Mall owner opted to put it in an auction, then, if you have at least two people bidding, you will find out what it is worth to at least one of them. It's something you really can't use, takes up a lot of space, and most people only need one or two of them. Fifty years ago my grandfather brought home an old Edwards 25' single axle box trailer to store hay in, now that my village has banned horeses and livestock, I can't use it for that so I'm building shelves in it to store saws and leaving room to roll walking and garden tractors in, so I have the room. I hope to go south to NC sometime and look around for another Toyota truck, so have to save up money, but in the meantime am going to look for the saws I don't have, but particulary want a Disston 2 man if I run across one.
I only have manuals on my Homelite 20MCS, my (new) McCulloch 325, a Disston 2 man (why I need the saw), the 2MG Mall one man (don't yet have, saw a complete one for $75 at Constableville, don't want it that bad), and sales brochure for the Remington-Mall line of equipment, which includes the little electric we have (Dad says he is going to hook up battery jumper cables to it with a sprig of a Currant bush in the clamps for display). I don't mind making copies of manuals and shipping them at cost as I try and xerox off a set for myself anyways, put them in sheet protectors and into a 3 ring binder so I can refer to that and put away the original.
NBut really I need to take a break, just clean up what I have, figure out what's missing and what is surplus. I have 3 extra chains for the Lombard GS, they measure about 103", figured at some point I would try swopping for literature, but then how many people are lacking a chain?
It's my understanding (from reading a chainsaw site) that a Don Smith imported Stihls into Vancouver in the 1930's, cloned it and sold out to Reed Prentice (who built my Craftsman 2 man), who sold out to IEL. What little I know about IEL is they were sold by A.C. Lamb up in Liverpool, NY, who supposedly sold their own brand at one time, but they were one of teh first big dealers and service shops around here (April 1956 ad attached). And of course the Power Machinery saw was from Vancouver, there are a couple like it on ebay now for a price that makes me feel good about my purchase. But then they are only worth it if someone is willing to pay it and shipping charge. Your best bet to sell a saw, is have it loose so it pulls over if possible, and get it identified as to age, model, etc. because the right guy looking to complete his collection has to be out there. I don't intend to run them, but would like them complete anyways, I don't like having to repaint them but if all paint and decals are gone it looks better and helps preserve them. I don't know anything on Pioneer, a guy had one in a bunch at Constableville and I didn't ask price as I was focusing on 2 mans, Planet Jrs, Briggs, etc.

[Rene Elliott]

IEL (and other saws) history here:

http://vintagechainsawcollection.blogspot.com/

[Rene Elliott]

Well I went to look at a 2 man Mall yesterday, again upstairs in a barn (come to think of it the first one we bought was too), and got both a one man and two man Mall 2MG (which I have the lit. for), and old Homelite Whiz minus bar, and a IEL Pioneer but not the same as in the above ad, for $50, all turn over, at least one of the 2MGs ran as the guy switched the bars around. Had hoped to display them sunday at Brookfield Wheel Days if the weather is good (have an auction to attend saturday/tomorrow, to see what I can save from the scrappers, and maybe bid on more saws). I talked with a guy in Sideny, NY who has two big Remington one mans (took over Mall c. 1956) he wants $50 for the pair, but I'm really aiming at older, two man saws, (my father wants a bow saw, I'm looking for the early 2 man Disston, or maybe a Lamb), that guy said years ago he had an old Lamb saw that weighed 33 lbs. and was kick start, wished he still did!
Will try and post a pic of my latest when I get a chance & have cleaned them up a bit.

[Rene Elliott]

The engines on the 2MGs were swopped, the one man now has # GT 29924 and the two man # 63833,the Pioneer IEL # 28391 the C51 Homelite is 2513575, the Blue "Whiz" Homelite body no # yet, I went to an auction today that advertised a Disston and a "Border" saw, that turned out to be a Porter Cable, I took stuff down to the truck as the saws were three tables back from where they were selling, and they sold them as soon as I left, but a friend who felt sorry for me gave me one of his two just like it (he has a ton of old saws, my bad influence) a Disston one man DO-100 #289751 3.5 hp. Have to see how the weather looks tomorrow, if too wet to paint the garage, but not too wet hope to display at Brookfield.

[Bruce The Mac Hopf]

Hi. That Sickness does in fact have a Name. It's called Chain Saw Addition Disorder. CAD for Short. Bruce. P.S. Once I get time, I'll place my Signature here too, but it'll take me a While to list all my Chain Saws. May 30th of this year, I had Only 5 Chain Saws. Now I have 14.

[Rene Elliott]

Not counting the "usable" McCullochs, I had only the one 7-19 Homelite (and my father's 3 Malls) but now have 14 antique saws, the one 10-10 was my Grandad's that I only used as a last resort but was completely rebuilt c. 1985,, I was given a duplicate recently, the mini-macs I must have at least a half dozen in various states of repair (bad sign when you lose count), I used to buy them up for $20 or so whenever I could if they had a good coil. Coils seemed to be teh McCulloch's weakness, I had a Montgomery Ward label one that worked half the time, seemed like once I lugged it out the woods it would never work and a wiseguy told me the problem was it had "Woods Fright", when we had a microburst blow down (1994?) I ran it almost 24 hrs straight and in hindsight should have used a higher oil mixture as I seized it up tight, (and went back to the 10-10), I finally got it unstuck but gave it to my brother for spare parts and have used Husqvarna ever since.