Absolutely worth the trip - Videos of 056 Super and p61 race saws added

[Definitive Dave]

EDIT: direct link to race saw vids on page two
http://www.arboristsite.com/communi...61-race-saws-added.311233/page-2#post-6293569


So I went to California to see a man about a chainsaw…..

Along time ago in a galaxy far, far away I met a guy online named Mike @rupedoggy. We had some kind of minor business dealing that is long forgotten but at least a year later I ended up buying one of his former race saws through an intermediary.

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/064-man-saw-hot-saw.297352/#post-5870481

It was a beast of a saw, an old school 064 with a beautifully ported 066 cylinder and two piece head and a motorcycle pipe from a dirt bike.
It had so much compression I literally couldn’t pull it over, even once.
It was a fascinating trip to get it running again and with a lot of help from @SquareFile, it is now a runner and a ton of fun.

https://youtu.be/bsRyeqlCOQA
https://youtu.be/omNIbyMkbsI
https://youtu.be/wRzLBvKKU8I
https://youtu.be/Dl_d9KyOmXg
https://youtu.be/2mCHntNXHJg

http://************/threads/064-pipe-saw.3011/
http://************/threads/064-pipe-saw-conqueors-dave.3053/
http://************/threads/piper-064-first-run-vid-because-you-asked.3092/
http://************/threads/piper-064-lives.3215/

More recently Mike let me know he had a trio of race saws he was putting up for sale and I happily snatched them up.

Being an impulsive Stihl fan boy who is learning to love fast huskies I parted with the PP475 before I ever got to run it, heck it’s a Poulan, it’s gotta be junk right?

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/three-racing-chainsaws.305943/

 

[Definitive Dave]

https://youtu.be/_D-6MZH0pwc

My buddy Shawn has it now and it is a bad mamma jamma.
I know of another Rupley saw, a 2100 that my buddy Adam has that also runs like a beast.

https://youtu.be/4qT4etxR4nc


Recently, on Arboristsite, Brad @blsnelling said he was looking for a roller bar (he did find one) and Mike mentioned he had “a few”, with a picture of at least 10 of them.

I sent him a message asking to buy whatever Brad didn’t want and he told me I would have to come out to California, to see what he had.

A couple months and a couple chainsaw GTGs and a lot of planning later, I got together with expedia.com and planned my trip out to sunny California.

Pre dawn take off and then landing in LAX, the armpit of airports, a pretty run down facility.

Three hour layover and breakfast at 1:30 in the afternoon and then the short flight to Sacramento.
Where i was greeted by this sculpture in the lobby


Shuttle bus to the rental car terminal and out to a jeep grand Cherokee from Alamo


About an hours drive to Mike’s beautiful home nestled in the foothills of beautiful mountains


Mike and his wife made me feel very welcome and we immediately fell into bullshitting like old friends.

He showed me all kinds of saw related goodies while we told stories in his garage. He spent many years racing in California and south Western Canada and was friends and competitors with many other luminary contemporaries who used to be the stalwarts of online saw racing and porting forums.

We looked at stock and race saws and hundreds of bars and probably 600+ chains and more than 30 race chains, all sorts of oddball large size chain, new and used, boxes and bins of parts, all available for the picking!!!

I was like a maniac, everywhere I looked was something I wanted and was allowed to buy, in short order I had a pretty good pile going in the driveway and knew this couldn’t all be shipped back to Ohio in cardboard boxes. But the picking continued… Mike has a great memory and told me stories and history on dang near anything I touched.

Q: what’s that gold colored long roller bar with numbers on it?
A: Well that was a bar Art Martin machined to exact specifications for racing on a Husqvarna 2100.

Q: what is that gigantic chain hanging over there ?


A: They call that Pond Chain, back in the olden times they would float the giant logs out into and across the pond and a guy with a huge saw would cut them to length before they were sent downstream or loaded on barges. Mike wasn’t sure if the machine was really a chainsaw or more of a harvester, having only heard stories and seen the chain. And yes the pond chain was for sale and yes I couldn’t resist buying it.

Q: what’s the story on those two 056 Magnums over there

A: I built one (the Top Dog) to beat Husky 2100’s in big bar cant races (30”) and had some help from Mark Ekhart and then Mark built the second one but it needs a new ignition now. The Top Dog won a lot of races back in the day with an Art Martin chain. Yes they were available and yes I bought them J

 

[Definitive Dave]

We paused from scouring over his horde to head into town and have dinner at Poor Reds BBQ, a world famous, local institution from the turn of the century, recently renovated but with tons of original character and pieces.

Delicious Ribs and onion rings, I tried a Golden Cadillac for which they are famous but it tasted like anise so I tried some other foo foo concoction that tasted great, Mike and I split a rack and I was stuffed like taxidermy. His lovely wife genuinely didn’t seem annoyed that we were talking chainsaw stuff nonstop.



While driving, the two of them are like an encyclopedia about all things California and local history, gold mining, the trees and how they completely change with the elevation, like a story book come to life with all the personal touches that make it fascinating. Time just flew by and we were back at their home and picking again.

As it got dark we agreed on a total for everything I had picked so far, I gave him all my cash, made plans for the next day and I set off for my hotel.

As I arrived I got a call from my wife back in Ohio who was going to bed, it was midnight Ohio time and I had gotten up at 5AM. I wasn’t tired, my mind was racing at all the fun waiting back at the garage.

Sleep came slow and I was awake at 2 AM, which is 5AM back in Ohio and when I would normally be getting up to cook breakfast. Nothing in town opens till 6AM so I read forums and try in vain to get back to sleep.

6Am I can finally get breakfast at the Hilton next door, my hotel doesn’t serve till 7 and time’s a waistin’

I have to stop at Lowes and buy a utility knife, duct tape, cardboard boxes a packing tape gun, rolls of bubble wrap, some black sharpies, painters tape and a pallet.

 

[Definitive Dave]

I headed back over to Mike’s house where he is getting ready to head out to play a softball double header and suggests maybe I can kill some time by going to visit his brother Jon J

Oh boy a second picking spot with a second badass chainsaw guy !!!


I took a quick drive over to meet my new buddy Jon at his house.

Mike had mentioned that Jon is the quiet thoughtful type and might not like me because I am such a tremendous asshat. Well no worries there, Jon is a terrific guy and knows a ****-ton about saws and chains and definitely seems to have a few favorites of the 2100 variety. We got along great.

While Mike is intent on selling off all (or nearly all) of his vintage and race saw stuff and is officially “retired” from racing, Jon isn’t quite as ready to let go J

We took a look at a lot of race saws from 056 to 2100 to P61 and a bunch of others in between.

We managed to drag out maybe another 20 + roller bars and a chrome Windsor speed tip still brand new that was apparently a dealer promo item.

Then he mentioned he had a few race saws built and ready to go J

He pulled a pair of Pioneers and a Jonsered out for me to look at and immediately quoted prices that made me a little dizzy. The two 4 cubes and a 6 cube sat there unloved as I tried to politely figure out a way to say “hell no those are too expensive for saws that old”. Jon basically told me stop messing around and fire up the P61 in a log….well….then I made a cut with it ….and then I had to have it.

I gotta quit judging race saws by their cover, or by what I think I know.



So now I am into a decent little tab with Jon so he starts showing me some NOS stuff and some modified race carbs, each thing he pulls out is one more thing I want.

In the end I ended up settling on a NOS 2100 cylinder kit (thin ring), a NOS 281 cylinder kit and a bunch of other stuff.

If anyone is looking for a race ready 2100 or NOS 084 or NOS 385 cylinder give me a hollar I know a guy in California who has what you need J

By this point I was north of my usual pocket change so I had to head to a bank to replenish my chainsaw fund. Since my wife works at a bank I haven’t been to one in more than a decade and don’t have a signature card on file. So my wife talks me through writing a withdrawl slip with all the right numbers etc. Now the teller is trying to verify my identity well enough to justify handing a stranger from another state a big wad of money. Drivers license and credit cards from the same bank weren’t quite good enough without a signature to verify on file.

They asked my wife’s birthday which I knew because I am still married after 28 years so I have at least got that down.

Then they needed any piece of specific info about any transaction in the previous month. Thankfully that was easy with my wife’s help and I was back on my way to Jon’s to trade dirty green paper for luscious chainsaws and parts.



While his cute dog looked on Jon treated me to homemade sweet wax peppers of a local derivation and smoked sausages. Sitting on the shaded porch, cool breeze, eating yummy food and knowing I was about to load up a pile of fun saw stuff, I was pretty dang content J

After loading up and saying my goodbyes to Jon, I headed to find the softball fields to meet Mike for lunch.

 

[Definitive Dave]

I could get lost in a wet paper bag with a pocket knife, a flashlight and a GPS, so finding a park without an address in a foreign land was pretty comical.

Eventually I found Mike and Mike and Jim, swapping stories and enjoying a cold post game beverage in the parking lot and we headed off to Pete’s for a little lunch.

Food : giant hamburger sent down from the heavens to nourish me, so tasty and a potato salad that was equally righteous. I met a bunch of good guys who play softball with Mike weekly. When he set his wallet down on our table, I passed it off to this group of total strangers J

When he noticed it missing and I told him one of his buddies now had it he commented there was money in there and I told him “there was”. Such a good group of guys.


We headed back to Mike’s place and I tried to package up some of the parts and bars, and chains, but every time I would glance in any direction I saw something else I wanted to buy and Mike nearly always said yes J

So easy to get distracted with good company and swapping stories. I had gotten the bars bundled up in bunches I could easily lift and some of the stuff boxed up.


As I am making progress in packing some chains Mikes says “I’ve been holding out on you” and he has an ammo can in his hand. Well there wasn’t any balls or brass in there, it was his personal race chains from his days of competition. I left a ½” chain behind and the one chain Mike wanted to keep which might be the thinnest, most badass chain I have ever held. Damn thing felt weightless. He told me it was the one he spent the most time on and it was a great chain but might be too far modified for the type of east coast racing in cants where we wind the saw up full revs and slam it into the log three times like it owes us money. I wouldn’t run it, it’s too beautiful to look at and I let Mike know he has a buyer if he ever changes his mind about keeping it.



Like most of the chains he showed me it has stuff going on that I haven’t seen elsewhere and while I haven’t fondled chains from all the Timbersports guys, I have seen a decent number of race chains from small to bike saws.

Next we decided to head out to see brother Jon and some other buddies at a small local classic car show.

It was close by and there were some cool cars and even though I am not a car guy, I appreciated the hell out of the Nomad and Jon’s Galaxie, both stunning cars in immaculate condition.



I found a great paint scheme for my 090G restoration project on a car out back (might have been an impala?). two tone metal orange with just a subtle shade difference, gorgeous in the sun, but hard to capture on camera.

 

[Mac&Homelite]

Wowsers! Sounds like a fun trip! I have almost as much fun reading it as you probably did going there. I really hope to meet one of the old timers in my state at some point. Oh the stories they could tell...

 

[Definitive Dave]

Dinner time arrived and Mike took me out to a local cantina type restaurant that had delicious Mexican food. I ate a ton of fajita burritos and totally yum. (FYI - totally yum is not a food) Despite it being well after bed time back in Ohio, the sunny day left me feeling not even tired at all.

I said goodbye to Mike and headed back to the hotel, I slept like a baby, but again woke up at 2AM ready to face the day.

Breakfast at the Hilton again and then back over to Mike’s. I finished packing and started packing the boxes and bars into the Jeep.




I called Fastenal and managed to get the online forms filled out to ship my pallet of treasure back home, but the response e-Mail said they would get back to me in 24 hours!! Argh my flight was leaving in about 8 hours.

To kill time while we were waiting on the Fastenal logistics office to open up Mike suggested we go visit a couple local Stihl dealers J I’m always up for visiting a saw shop. Bi-Coastal Picking !!!

On the way we stopped at a garage sale a neighbor was having, and while we didn’t buy anything, I can say I covet his building most sinfully and his dog is awesome.



The first shop we stopped at was friendly and had a picture of @RotaxRobert and @sawracr (Jon) on the wall running the Predator, too cool!! Not a ton of inventory but a few decent saws waiting on repairs including a 2100 and a 2101, I saw more 2100s in California in two days than I have seen in the rest of my life J It seemed like a typical shop, and we didn’t stay long though they did have a couple nice signs I would have liked to acquire.



The second shop was a horse of a different color, Camino Power Tool wasn’t a big place but it had an energy like everyone there was happy. Larry at the counter, found me a 044 dual port muffler cover in stock that I have been out of for more than a year back home in Columbus and when I spied some Harvester bars on the wall, he helped me find an obsolete bar for @spencerpaving back in New York and gave me a great price on both. Mike knew these guys well and we got the VIP treatment, they let us go back to pick the bone yard. All kinds of Stihls and Huskys but nothing I absolutely had to have and I had already finished packing so I tried to keep my natural impulses in check

 

[Definitive Dave]

Their shop area had four workbenches with four guys who actually knew how to work on saws!!

Each one nicer than the last and competent. The rack of customers saws waiting on pick up was immaculate, many of them looked nice enough to be collectible. Sadly they wouldn’t let me buy another customer’s 3120, but that was my only complaint.

Mike suggested we buy the guys Pizza, and of course it’s no problem to get me to agree to food.

It took us a minute but we settled on Pizza Factory and it was divine. Fresh ingredients, no rubbery canned mushrooms. We hung out in the Camino shop area and wolfed down the pizza. I did not lose any weight on this trip.


Finally I got a confirmation e-mail from Fastenal saying I needed to print a form and sign and fax it back and they would then get back to me with a price.

After heading back to Mike’s, we said our goodbyes and I headed off to find a Staples to print the email so I could sign it and they could fax it to Fastenal. Next I headed to Fastenal. I had to estimate the weight so I figured it had to be less than 1200 pounds. They charged me $200.00.

For those unfamiliar, Fastenal will ship a pallet for you from any one of their locations to any other location as long as both are large enough to have a forklift. @jimmyinNC taught me this when I bought a pallet of 1111 parts from him a few years back that eventually turned into Brutus.




They make no delivery time guarantee other than “within two weeks”. This is absolutely the best way I know of to make heavy stuff move around the country.

I got a pallet loaded tightly with the boxes and stacks of bars and shrink-wrapped the heck out of it, and headed back to the airport with my fingers crossed.



I am going to miss California and the beautiful people I met there.
Mike, his wife and his brother, Jon all made me feel welcome a couple thousand miles from home. And it would be awesome if our paths would cross again.


I was able to sleep a little on the flights back to LA and Columbus, and arrived back in time to catch a cab home before my wife and I headed out to breakfast Saturday morning.

And Then… JET LAG…which I had heard of and assumed was an exaggerated thing.

Well despite not feeling tired in California, I slept for 26 hours with the exception of three meals. Jet Lag is Real.

The wait for the call from Fastenal was like being a little kid on Christmas morning, except I didn’t even know what day Christmas would be.

Fast forward to Wednesday and I get the call from my local Fastenal branch that my pallet is here J

I was at their door at 7:31 this morning with the flat bed and in pretty short order I had the truck loaded and back to the shop to unleash the treasure.





the local guys insisted on moving everything to a new pallet as the one we shipped on had been damaged somewhere between California and Ohio, luckily nothing was damaged or missing.

Unloading reminded me of the great time I had in California and I figured it might be worth sharing my trip with you guys. The stories and items themselves are like a trip back in time. Mike has likely forgotten more than I will ever know about saw racing and seeing those times through his stories was simply magical.

Thank you Mike, sincerely.

 

[Definitive Dave]

Because I know some of you want to know more about the swag than the journey, here is the best I can remember after unloading and unboxing.

I will try to answer questions or post pics and videos as time allows and hopefully Mike will chime in with corrections as well, my memory is far from perfect.

If there aren’t good pictures of something it may be something that will be remaining secret as there is still some special stuff out there that will hopefully be an advantage in my future racing.

If you want to see a pic of something speak up

Please Note: none of this is for sale, I am pretty sure I NEED it all for myself.



A pair of 056 race saws build by Mike Rupley and Mark Ekhart
Enough nice parts to build maybe 1 ½ more 056 saws.
A Pioneer P61 Western race saw built by Jon Rupley
50+ roller nose bars including new old stock and belly as well as custom race bars and all sorts of long and short in various mounts.
Partial rolls of old school 3/8” chain
Pieces both large and small of .404 thru ¾” chain of all sorts and flavors
An assortment of uncommon pistons both stock and modified
A 36” engraved McCulloch hard nose bar
A few sweet bars that aren’t rollers
Roller tips and Windsor speed tips
Assorted chisel, triangle and goofy files
NOS cylinder kits for rare Husqvarna models
Some good used cylinders
A pile of carburetors and some race carbs
A box of rings including “thin” rings
Un-plated, un-sharpened cutters for making race chain
Oregon chain samples of large unusual rare chains
Race chains from Mike Rupley, Jon Rupley, Art Martin and a pair from another west coast guy whose name escapes my feeble brain.

The Art Martin chains include a ½” pitch full house race chain, and a ½” race chain with the AM belly bar that goes with it for big saws.

All told a little less than 900 pounds of chainsaw history and badassedry.

I am pretty sure that in the parlance of these forums “I SUCK”.

 

[Mattyo]

Jeepers. ..what a trip!

 

[Jacob J.]

Very cool Dave- I'm glad you ended up with a lot of cool stuff from the Rupely brothers. They've sent me a lot of cool stuff over the years.

 

[Khntr85]

Drooling, can't say nothing!!!

 

[Definitive Dave]

Very cool Dave- I'm glad you ended up with a lot of cool stuff from the Rupely brothers. They've sent me a lot of cool stuff over the years.

oh crap, dont tell me that after finally learning their name is Roo Pleee instead of Rup-lee, now i spelled it wrong 15 times in the last hour of posting DOH

If you made it through all that story, did you catch the picture of the Sandvik Full house chain, hidden in there ?

 

[blsnelling]

WOW!!!!!!!!! You have redefined CAD! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Duane(Pa)]

You are one crazy happy Buckeye! Thanks for letting us in on this acid trip you took...lol

 

[Sportfury70]

What a fun way to spend a long weekend! Jet lag does indeed suck, but only if you have to work through it. Sleeping it off doesn't count!

As fun as it was to read this little adventure, it kinda made my wallet hurt a bit.

 

[bulletpruf]

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for sharing.

 

[chipper1]

I am pretty sure I NEED it all for myself.

Good for you Dave, it's no good to have it if you can't enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing .

 

[Del_]

Awesome!

 

[drf255]

Incredible Dave.