Learn how a machinery enthusiast went about restoring a Wade drag saw.
The enclosed is an interesting account of restoring a
Wade drag saw. The picture was taken at the Hemlock Fair Gas Engine
Exhibit, Hemlock, N.Y. July 23, 1966. It is of Mr. Hammond standing
beside the restored drag saw he tells about in the story. A
beautiful job!
I built an airplane engined snow plane but took up Skiing so had
no time to use it and decided to sell. I advertised and a gentleman
came to look it over and at the same time noticed my old engines.
He told me he had a drag saw which was in running condition that
had a two cycle engine on it and wondered if I would be interested.
We made a “deal” and I took the drag saw in trade on the
snow-plane. It would run but the flywheel wobbled excessively and I
found out why later. I had never heard of one like it but did
remember seeing one similar lying on the floor at the Mendon museum at Harry Schoff’s place. The man I bought it
from had bought it for the engine and intended to use the engine
for pumping water for irrigating his garden but never got around to
rigging it up. The man who owned it before had bought it new and
used it for many years. The last time he used it he claimed he cut
over 500 cords of wood that winter with it. He said the crankshaft
had been broken and welded but it worked all right with the
weld.
I wrote to the company shown on the nameplate and got a prompt
answer much to my surprise. They told me it had been shipped and
sold February 22, 1936 and that the frame was painted green, the
cast iron parts were all black, and the water and gas tanks were
both painted red. They also stated they would do everything in
their power to get me a new set of decals but I haven’t
received them as yet. The operator’s manual I received was most
helpful in timing the engine as I could find no timing marks.
The gentleman who originally owned the engine said he had a new
connecting rod, manual, and new crankshaft which arrived after he
had had the old one welded and that he would find them and give
them to me. I guess he never found the manual or crankshaft but he
did send down a connecting rod a few days ago.
I started the restoration by taking all sorts of pictures,
making sketches and noting any item which might help in
reassembling. I disassembled everything, cleaned all parts and wire
brushed them to the bare metal. I found the crankshaft had been
broken right at the main bearing where the flywheel fastens onto
it. The so-called welder had Vee’d out both sides of the shaft
and, of all things, brazed it together. He had not only used braze
but since he had no way of aligning it the job ended up badly out
of alignment and he had built up one side with brass and filed off
the other side of the shaft to attempt to make it run somewhere
near true. How it stayed together at all I’ll never know but it
had up to this time at least. I put the crank in the lathe, cut it
off square and bored a hole in the end. Secured a piece of good
tool steel and turned a dowel on it to fit the hole in the shaft
and then arc welded it with some special chromium nickel rod
designed for such application. Ground the whole journal with a
tool-post grinder and then turned the rest of the shaft for the
clutch attachment parts. I found the main bearings were pre-cast in
a mandrel but designed an aluminum device to hold things in place
and poured and scraped new bearings. I had honed the cylinder and
found the rings to be in good shape. The piston pin was badly worn
along with its bushings so new ones were in order. Since the
crankcase is split I could pour a new rod bearing with the parts
assembled and with a little scraping it fitted fine. The frame of
the machine had some cracks which had to be welded and it was
necessary to make new wood handles. The log dogs were rather “beat-up” so it was necessary to reforge them. The gas and
water tanks were full of ‘goop’ and the gas tank had some
holes which had to be repaired. The clutch is composed of several
plates made of sheet steel and since two of them were worn paper
thin had to cut out replacements. New countershaft bearings had to
be poured, the cam bearing on the slide adjusted and the saw blade
gummed, set and filed. All parts were painted with primer and at
least two coats of enamel, the pin striping was done and the
assembly started. Everything went together well but the timing of
the engine was a guess and by gosh situation.
Finally the day came when it was time to attempt to start it,
This engine is started by pulling against compression, turning the
flywheel by hand backwards and it started the second try. The
manual suggests that it can be run on straight gasoline but it is
better to mix the oil with the gasoline and still use the drip
oiler provided. The main bearings are lubricated with grease cups
and I suppose the drip oiler could lubricate the connecting rod
bearing and the piston pin bearing but it seems like the rings
would run rather dry on straight gasoline. The crankcase is
provided with a drain cock so one can easily drain off any “flooding” when attempting to start the engine.
The rig vibrates a great deal and is rather heavy to move so it
appears to me that it would work best on large diameter logs where
one wouldn’t have to move it often and it could work to
advantage. The company that built the rig is located in Portland,
Oregon and has been in business since 1865 though I don’t know
what they are manufacturing at this time.
This is a 20-40 Rumely and Pitts bean thresher owned by Leonard
James, threshing beans 5 miles west of NaDoleon, Michigan, on the
Raymond Hyatt farm in 1963. The engine was built in 1918 and the
separator in 1906. Bob James is feeding the separator.
The Oliver Corporation is on a hunt for old Hart-Parr stationary
(oil cooled) No. 1. They have no trace of it after it left the
University of Wisconsin Museum. We give a photograph of it here.
Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated by this company.
You may write to Mr. G. R. Gregg, Jr., Oliver
Corporation, Charles City, Iowa.
