Info on these chainsaws?

[ebinmaine 70,810]

Trina and I and some other local folks have been helping a widow down the street clear some of her late husbands personal effects out. 

 

She has these two older Craftsman chainsaws. She doesn't feel like her late husband had touched them in quite a while and does not know if either one runs.

The smaller one resembles a McCulloch mini Mac to me but I'm no chainsaw expert.

 

Can anybody shed any light as to who may have made these? Are they worth putting any time into? Assuming they do not run I would imagine they're basically worthless monetarily at this point.

She would likely just give them to somebody particularly if they would be interested in fixing them up for use.

 

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,252]

Supplier 358 is 

Beaird - Poulan, Inc.

 

Manual

https://www.searspartsdirect.com/manual/3i8zxiq9wd-000247/craftsman-358354871-gas-chainsaw-parts

[Maxwell-8 4,366]

19 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Are they worth putting any time into? Assuming they do not run I would

Put some mixed gas in and see if they fire. 2strokes don't usually need a carb clean.

 

It appears like the top handle one has no antivibe. You are going to notice that when running the saw.

 

 

[Achto 28,806]

The little one looks a bit like a Homelite design, just after they went from blue to red. Dig the manual chain oiler on it.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Achto

[ri702bill 8,999]

Eric:

Check the tags for fuel mix info - I think the first one might need a 16:1 mix - others perhaps 40 or 50 to 1.

Had an old 16:1 one given to my son a few years ago with a bad coil - would start right up cold and die in about a minute and a half - no spark. Start right up when it cooled off.......

Put it on the upper shelf out of the way - its "sister" came our way a year or so later - owner ran it on straight gas, ruined the engine. Had a good coil though - switched the coil, grabbed the chain for a spare, tossed the rest.

[Pullstart 64,624]

I’ve cleaned up plenty of old chainsaws like that with a spray bottle of wd40 and a handful of rags… in and out.  You’d be surprised that it probably wouldn’t take much to fire them off!

[Maxwell-8 4,366]

3 hours ago, Achto said:

The little one looks a bit like a Homelite design, just after they went from blue to red. Dig the manual chain oiler on it.

Homelite XL2

[ebinmaine 70,810]

Any market value on the little one?

[Snoopy11 5,717]

1 minute ago, ebinmaine said:

Any market value on the little one?

  ...  

 

 

Don

[Handy Don 13,340]

The little one could be a Roper. There is a pretty lively following for them. My son got a lot of useful info off the inter web when he rebuilt our Craftsman.

[lynnmor 7,577]

Here is the little one.

[8ntruck 7,395]

The big one looks like my Craftsman 18" saw that I'm trying to revive after sitting for a decade except mine is green instead of red.  No idea who the actual manufacturer is.  Yes, they have an anti vibration handle and a chain brake.  The manual for that saw says it likes 40:1.  Check the air filter on it to see if it is starting to turn into dust before you start it - ask me how I know....  Remove three screws that hold the top cover to get to the air filter.

 

Good luck.

[ebinmaine 70,810]

4 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

chain brake

I think this one is built before chain brakes were standard. 

If it has one I'll keep it. 

No chain brake, not interested. 

 

 

[wallfish 17,515]

5 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

I think this one is built before chain brakes were standard. 

 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 70,810]

1 hour ago, wallfish said:

 

 

 

 

 

That right there is a perfect case of someone setting themselves up to fail right from the get-go.

On a ladder. No eye or ear protection. No gloves.  No hard hat. Body to saw orientation all wrong. Perfectly incorrect usage of a chainsaw. Sheer luck right there. Sheer luck.

 

 

When we started burning more wood four or five years ago I took the time to train myself muscle memory of my left wrist being in a good position to hit against the break lever if the saw moved that direction.

 

We've probably processed a dozen cord of wood since then and I have had the saw nose up on me a time or two.

Teaching myself that maneuver was definitely one of the better moves of my life.

 

[Pullstart 64,624]

My brother, cousin and some of their friends have a thing called “heat league” where they spend a Saturday morning a month or something like that cutting, splitting and delivering wood to each other’s houses.  It typically involves more beer than work.  My brother a good handful of years back knicked the tip of his chin cutting wood.  I’m glad he learned a lesson without a funeral involved.

[ebinmaine 70,810]

12 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

 learned a lesson 

 

I was 17 or so and I was carrying a chainsaw up out of the loose sandy steep hillside beside a foundation.

Chainsaw off...

 

I slipped in the sand going up the hill and although I didn't fall the one tooth on the end of the saw caught my inner thigh nice and even and square and took a chunk out of it that was the same size as the tooth.

 

I decided right then and there that for the rest of my life I was not going to push my luck with a chainsaw whether it was running or not.  

 

 

[Handy Don 13,340]

I still consider my chainsaw the most dangerous tool I own and that is it ALWAYS trying to maim me.

[Snoopy11 5,717]

My chainsaws are pretty ludicrous... but having a buddy who works for a tree service has given me knowledge and experience using a chainsaw. 

 

When I start a chainsaw, I want it to be completely in my control. This is the key. The problem is, you can't always control what the trees do when you cut them. I was cutting up a massive tree, and had just about cut a 3 foot long, almost 2 foot wide log. Somehow, I guess due to having branches underneath that were pinned like springs, the log catapulted after I cut almost all the way through it. It hit my right shin, literally turned my right ankle from the ground, upwards.

 

I still have a scar on my leg from that log. I never felt more pain then I did then. It ruptured a ligament (or something or another) in my ankle... which... when it happened, you audibly heard it rupture. The only thing you can do in that situation is lay on the ground and... holler....

 

I still have issues with my ankle... every time I step in a hole, my ankle tries to turn inside out. 

 

I guess, the bottom line is, don't let the chainsaw frighten you... it might be the tree that is more dangerous... 

 

I ain't never broke a bone, in my life, BUT, I have come pretty darn close... 

 

Don

[c-series don 9,454]

I took a class on chainsaw safety once and one of the things I remember is that if you’re going to take more than two steps with a running saw engage the chain brake. I got in the habit of doing this and now it has become second nature. 

[8ntruck 7,395]

10 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

I think this one is built before chain brakes were standard. 

If it has one I'll keep it. 

No chain brake, not interested. 

 

 

I took another look at the picture.  That saw has a knuckle guard, but no chain brake.

 

@c-series don I've never tripped a chain brake on a chain saw, but your habit of setting the brake when moving with the saw sounds like a good idea.  I've got lots of chain saw work ahead of me in our 20 acres of woods.  Think I'll start doing that when I am working and moving about with the saw on the uneven ground in my woods.  

[ebinmaine 70,810]

4 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

I'll start doing that when I am working and moving about with the saw on the uneven ground in my woods

Seems like a very good idea for me as well. Same reason.

 

 

 

[dcrage 629]

My cardinal rule when using a chainsaw is to keep the ground cleaned up (especially brush and small limbs).  I have ‘touched’ my pants leg 2 times in my chainsaw career (never drew blood!).  Both times I got tangled up in trash on the ground. 

[ebinmaine 70,810]

4 hours ago, dcrage said:

My cardinal rule when using a chainsaw is to keep the ground cleaned up (especially brush and small limbs).  

 

Excellent advice!

 

I do the same here.  I clear a walking path all the way around the tree to be cut then scope out 2 opposite escape routes.