Anybody ever heard of a Big Chief saw?

[charlesfarm]

When I was a little boy about 6 years old, I went out to cut firewood with my dad and my grandpa. My dad brought his 020AV, and my grandpa had this giant beast of a saw that I believe was named a "Big Chief". Had a picture of an Indian in a headress on the recoil housing. The saw was a dark gold color, and to a 6 year old looked like it had a ten foot bar on it.

I was wondering if anybody here ever heard of such a saw? I'd love to find one just to restore it. Grandpa's been gone since I was only 8 years old, but that saw is one of the things I remember quite vividly.

God bless,
Chris

 

[lawnmowertech37]

When I was a little boy about 6 years old, I went out to cut firewood with my dad and my grandpa. My dad brought his 020AV, and my grandpa had this giant beast of a saw that I believe was named a "Big Chief". Had a picture of an Indian in a headress on the recoil housing. The saw was a dark gold color, and to a 6 year old looked like it had a ten foot bar on it.

I was wondering if anybody here ever heard of such a saw? I'd love to find one just to restore it. Grandpa's been gone since I was only 8 years old, but that saw is one of the things I remember quite vividly.

God bless,
Chris

hey chris i kind of remember a lawn mower that was called lawn chief it also had a picture of a indian headdress on the emblem


its very possible it was made by the same manufacture


as far as i recall homelite echo montgomery ward sears partner poulan mcculloch were some of the older saws manufactures back then


i remember seeing all them back then well im back to trying to inventory some new parts i got n today 4 huge boxes of Homelite parts

thanks
calvin

 

[bookerdog]

was the lawn chief a western auto brand?

 

[Urbicide]

Chainsaw Collector's Corner is our saw bible. Mike Acres has formed a data base with a tremendous amount of information. Unfortunately it is not complete. A number of the entries have a picture of the particular model at the bottom of the page. There is a listing for Indian Chainsaws.. The few pics I looked at did not show an Indian wearing a headdress. If you feel ambitious you could click on every entry in the data base and you might get lucky. Good luck to you.




http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.nsf/GasbyManufacturer?OpenView

 

[Hugenpoet]

During the 1920's to the 1959's the Indian Motorcycle Company in Springfield, Mass. made a motorcycle model called the Chief, which featured a headress on the tank. The company also manufactured many other products including compressors, boat engines and air conditioners. It may have knocked out a few chainsaws, but I don't have any specifics.

 

[charlesfarm]

Thanks for the info guys! Looks like it must have been some obscure saw.

I probably won't ever find one ... but maybe it's for the best. In my mind, my grandpa could have cut down a redwood forest with that saw all by himself. If I had one, that image in my mind would undoubtedly change.

I'd just like to see a photo of one ... so I'll keep my eyes open and keep looking.

 

[Hugenpoet]

Forget what I said abiut the Indian Motorcycle Co, being a possibility.

There was a compnay called Indian Chainsaw Company located in Crystal Lake, Ill, that rebranded some Clinton chainsaws as Indian chainsaws. The only model that I found was called the 351d that had 4.7 c.i. displacement engine.

 

[JohnL]

Tecumseh was an Indian leader. They used to use the indian in the headress in the logo if I recall. They were previously Lausen/Power products. Then there was Clinton used to use the arrowhead in thier logo before they went under.

 

[fubar2]

Ugh. My guess is you were looking at a rendition of Chief Tecumseh.

 

[lawnmowertech37]

now that i recall tecumseh did have 2 cycle engines back then

 

[oakman]

you are probably talking about a Clinton saw. i have a '59 D-35 that has a dark gold paint, and is called the Supercut. it has an indian in a headress on the right tank side, together with the word "Chief". part of the decal is missing, so it may have been "Bigchief" i've never seen any of them with a decal on the starter cover. and i believe Indian made their own saws. alot of these older saws look the same, and followed the same basic design, i.e. forward tilted cylinder, top rear mounted gas and oil tanks, open clutch/ chain adjuster, et., so its easy to confuse one brand with another. plus, often there were several different colors used by the same manufacturer. there is a pic on here of my clinton under the best sounding saw thread, and also on mike acres site under clinton/D-35

 

[charlesfarm]

The logo might not have been on the recoil cover.

After looking at pics of the clinton saws, I do believe it was one of those. Pretty cool looking saw. Now I wonder if it was just the word chief on the side. Anyway, thanks guys for helping me figure out what in the world I'm trying to look for.

By the way, a couple years ago, I asked my dad if he still had that saw -- it used to be on the floor under his workbench in the garage ... I wanted to get it cleaned up and running. He told me he threw it away when he was cleaning stuff up in the garage :jawdrop:

 

[charlesfarm]

Hey oakman,

Is this the post you were talking about with the pics?

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=7152&highlight=clinton

The pictures are all gone from that thread. Anyway you might still have a couple you could post here?

Oh ... by the way ... nice signature. Now I've got Rush songs swimming in my head this afternoon LOL!

Thanks,
Chris

 

[oakman]

no it's under the "best sounding saw" thread. if i can figure out how to get the link into this thread i will. otherwise search for it. i don't know what happened to all those other pics. i can post another if you can't find it. or you can look at mike acres site under clinton saws, d-35. that is my saw down at the bottom.