Re: O/T (but old-school!)...


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Posted by David Sherman on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 12:26:51 :

In Reply to: O/T (but old-school!)... posted by Dana on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 10:36:36 :

Are they drag saws?

A drag saw is basically a one-lunger gas motor with blade that's similar to what you'd have on a misery whip (two-man bucking saw) except shorter and a bit stiffer, but the teeth are cut and filed the same way. My grandfather used to run them, but had gotten rid of them by the time I was old enough to care. I have a spark coil that he said was for a drag saw, which is basically a buzzer-type coil just like on a Model T. I've only seen one complete drag saw and it was just sitting by the side of a shed in the suburban neighborhood where I grew up. I wish I'd asked if the guy wanted it. It would be kind of neat to have, if just to illustrate how the obvious way of solving a problem (a motorized hand saw) is not the best way (a chain saw).

I would think the old guys that run the one-lungers at the fairs would know about drag saws and how to fix and get parts for them. There's probably not much that you couldn't make yourself in a machine shop if you had to. It seems like the priming and starting of these things is the trickiest part. Bearings are poured babbit, so buying them isn't even an option. If the journals are rusty, you turn or grind them to a smooth surface and pour thicker bearings around them.

Of course I might be thinking of something completely different from what you have, but "heavy" and "reciprocating blade" sounds like a drag saw to me. I think the drag saws came with two long arms that you spiked to the log you were cutting to hold the machine in place, and then you set the saw to work and went and did something else while it cut. I believe they were only used for bucking, not falling. I suppose at the time the bosses thought they were cheaper to feed than a pair of Swedes, or at least that's what the salesmen told them, but as soon as chain saws came out, the drag saws were scrapped.



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