475 New Hope Road, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30245.
In 1910 my dad’s uncle purchased a wood saw with a five
horsepower Economy gas engine mounted on steel trucks. It was
equipped to be moved by two horses hitched to it. He used it for
about ten years and my dad bought it from him. My dad used it,
sawing wood for kitchen stoves and heating, until his death in
1954.
After Dad’s death the unit was sold to a relative for
$35.00. The man used it very little and it was stored outside until
1989 when I finally persuaded him to sell it to me.
The entire machine was in very poor condition at that time. It
was very rusty and much of it was almost disintegrated, including
valves, some parts of the wheels that sat on the ground, and many
other parts.
I spent many hours disassembling, scraping, using wire brushes
and cleaning until I was growing tired of the whole thing. Finally
it appeared I might be able to finish it. This was the boost I
needed to make me continue.
Many parts were purchased from advertisers in GEM, others I made
and had made in a machine shop. After much effort, painting parts,
pouring babbitt and assembling parts, it was ready for the big day.
It was started without too much difficulty. This moment made all
the hard work and frustration worth the whole effort. After that it
was a comparatively simple matter to secure the original colors of
red, yellow and black paint and spray the whole thing.
Old and pretty, it is very much like it was 80 years ago and
sounds as I remember it when I was a boy in the 1920’s and
30’s. I intend to keep it running and pass it on to one of my
sons when I can no longer enjoy it.
