Author Topic: Old Mercury 2 man chainsaw (Read 2817 times)

stevareno · « **on:** February 10, 2003, 07:18:39 pm »

Me and a buddy of mine decided we wanted to build a slabber mill. Since he works at a welding shop and I own a hardwood interior business, this seemed like a doable project. We found an old Mercury 2 man chainsaw with a 36" bar. Being the Tim Taylor sort of guy I am, I think we need a 72" bar. Anyone know where I can find a larger bar made for this saw or a custom chainsaw bar shop that will make me one? We are going to mount this saw on a guide similiar to a Lucas slabber mill. Has anyone else ever tried this? I can't see any reason it wouldn't work. I have a burled Oak tree that is 6' in diameter that would produce some very specail wood.

By the way, this is my first post here.. Great forum, good information, and nice people

Regards,
Steve

ADfields · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2003, 11:57:14 pm »

Welcome!
You could give Bailey's a shot. I know thay sell a BIG bar that you can put a big Stihl powerhead on ech end of so you can have 2 088's or what have you powering the same chain.
http://www.baileys-online.com/

Double end bars. (if the link works)
http://onlinestore.forestindustry.com/cgi-bin/baileys/506?mv_session_id=42RDTSMR&product_sku=46745

Also you should drop by Procut and look at the mill plans he sells and think about mabe blowing them up.
http://www.procutsawmills.com/advice.htm
Andy

carhartted · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2003, 12:29:45 am »

Check out Ralph at Foster's Sales

http://www.fosterssales.com/

He has some monster bars and is a pleasure to deal with.

and please keep us posted, this sounds awsome.

Jonathan
Fairbanks, AK

Jeff · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2003, 02:20:58 am »

Welcome there Mr. Areno.

J Beyer · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:08:31 am »

You must post some pics of your setup when completed. think it's mandatory to post pics here once a project is talked about. Keep us updated as ou progress.

stevareno · « **Reply #5 on:** February 11, 2003, 04:41:40 pm »

I will keep you guys updated with photos. I'm not sure of the horsepower rating on an old saw like this. I read in another article that they have alot of torque. We aren't trying to break any speed records with it anyway.. I just like the idea of being able to slab very large trees. It seems like they would be easy to come by being as other mills wouldn't be able to handle logs that are 5-6' in diameter. Would this be a good niche market for the guy that doesn't want to run a sawmill full time? I read somewhere that extra wide slabs bring 5 times more than the equivilent amount of smaller dimensions. Can any of you guys elaborate on how acurate that statement is?

I checked out the links.. Thanks guys! They really do make some MONSTER chainsaw bars.

Steve

J Beyer · « **Reply #6 on:** February 11, 2003, 04:45:29 pm »

Is the saw gear driven? If so then the torque factor is quite good.

Tom · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2003, 04:47:16 pm »

Steve,
There is a fellow in Waldo, Florida who has made slabbing big business. He finds big burls in Cal., ships them to Fla where he slabs them, puts them in a overseas container and sells them in Europe. He also slabs big cypress etc. here and ships it over there too. His market at home is small but lucrative.

Yep, its a good niche to try.

Kevin · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2003, 05:40:19 pm »

I had an niche.
Scratched it and it went away.

Tom · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2003, 05:58:43 pm »

Gro-a-n-n--n---n

Chet · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:23:28 pm »

Hey Steve, Would that old Merc happen to be a twin cylinder.

Bro. Noble · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:54:37 pm »

Chet,

Ya mean like dis?

Noble

Chet · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2003, 07:11:37 pm »

Exactly Back when I was in highschool I got a couple of old two-manners back in running order for our local museum. They were donated by the US Forest Service, a Mercury and an Evenrude. I remember dem ol 2 lungers sounding like a Harley when they idled.

Come to think of it they vibrated like h'll when ya gave'r da thottle too.

stevareno · « **Reply #13 on:** February 12, 2003, 07:19:51 am »

Yes Chet it's a twin cylinder and looks just like the one Noble posted. The bar can turn to cut in any direction. My welder friend said his brother put one of these motors on a go-cart and just about burned the wheels off of it!

There is a picture of the tree I need to slab posted at http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/forestry.pl?read=228126. We buzzed off some of the burls with a small 18" chainsaw but it's time to get down to some serious slabbing. The crotch section is about 6' diameter. That's why I'm wanting a 72" bar.. An 84" wouldn't hurt.

Steve

Chet · « **Reply #14 on:** February 12, 2003, 08:12:10 am »

Steve, when ya run her opt for the stinger end, let yur buddy run the powerhead. When ya pinch her you'll know why!

ADfields · « **Reply #15 on:** February 12, 2003, 02:17:41 pm »

Sounds like it could be a blinder thing going on fi it stops the chain?

It was made a day or two befor saftey was a big deal.
Andy

carhartted · « **Reply #16 on:** February 12, 2003, 04:45:54 pm »

Check out this bar on ebay, it is only 60in and the bar mounts are messed up but you will most likely have to make soem custom holes int he bar anyway.

BTW it ends real soon

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2306574539&category=20538

John_Boisselier · « **Reply #17 on:** April 03, 2003, 11:45:07 pm »

Hope you're having fun with the monster merc.. Where are you getting parts for the engine end? I've got one of these monsters, and it has a cracked distributor cap, and I haven't been able to find one for years of off and on looking. It is actually the predecessor to the mercury made in 1944 by Kiekhoffer corp. for the army.

Rusty · « **Reply #18 on:** April 17, 2003, 08:57:26 pm »

Hi, I'm Rusty,
After seeing the conversation about the Mercury two-man saw I found someone that has one and might sell it. It looks ok
not broken that I can see of. On the outside plate the date says 1945 or 1949. I pulled the cord and it has compression.
The chain turned and it looked ok. Whats a fair price to pay for it? Does anybody know anything paticular to look for on this thing that would make it not worth trying to fix if broken?
Any information would be helpful. Thanks!

Jeff · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2003, 04:35:10 pm »

Welcome Rusty. I see from your profile you are from Jacksonville. You don't know an old dude down there with a blue sawmill do ya? He has an orange one too.

Maybe Noble will no something about the saw. I think he has one.

Bro. Noble · « **Reply #20 on:** April 18, 2003, 06:34:52 pm »

Rusty,

I wish I could help you with the saw but we never have tried to start the one we have. Got to thinking about things you might want to check out however. We have and old Mercury outboard engine made somewhere in the 50's. Grandad bought it new and we used it off and on fishing. about 15 years ago we went to the lake and couldn't get the thing to fire. After a lot of searching we finally found a coil for it that a longtime dealer had laying around.

I'm taking a long time telling you to make sure it has fire-----old mags and coils are often fine but if it isn't you would likely have a hard time finding another.

You might also want to pack the thing around a little to see if you want to mess with it--------those suckers weigh a ton

You might want to look up an old 'chainsaw' thread titled 'Mercury Diston saw' if I remember corectly.

Welcome by the way and good luck

Noble

Tom · « **Reply #21 on:** April 18, 2003, 07:14:20 pm »

I went looking and found these threads. Click-em.

Re: Anyone remember Barker Saws?

Re: What is a "piston chainsaw"

stevareno · « **Reply #22 on:** April 18, 2003, 07:51:18 pm »

I ended up getting my hands on 2 of these saws and wouldn't you know.. I can't get either one of them to crank. We picked up some new condensors this week.. maybe that will do the trick. The 2'nd mercury that we got has a 4' bar on it. I've already had a couple of mechanically inclined friends to try there luck with it.. Very frustrating. Oh well, it's become an all out challenge now.. Anyone got a stick of dynamite!? I forgot just how draining it is to pull on cord like that! Who knows.. I may rig the bar up to run on an electric 3 phase motor.. Anyone got any ideas here.. I could hang it on the wall and curse it everyday from here on out.

Steve

John_Boisselier · « **Reply #23 on:** April 21, 2003, 07:23:37 am »

I believe that some things are put out there just to aggravate us

, educate us

, or just possibly to make us really appreciate more modern technology

. I've talked to those who have actually run these things, but I don't believe I have ever actually seen one run personally, much less cut anything. Definitely hope that you have better success. If you do get everything up and working, please get us a photo of the thing actually throwing chips. Incidentally, what pitch is the chain on that thing. Mine is 3/4" with 3 different styles of teeth. Not exactly off the shelf componetry. 3/4" Deck and Pond chain may be compatable. Check it out and Have fun.

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Author Topic: Old Mercury 2 man chainsaw (Read 2817 times)