VINTAGE CHAINSAW COLLECTION: THE MISSION

THE MISSION

January 2007 .......The beginning on the "WEB".

I created this site as a hobby and an informative source about chainsaws for pleasure for the chainsaw enthousiast and for entertainment.

My goal is the preservation of the history of the logging industry from the early beginning of the industrial revolution that made possible the invention of the chainsaw.

Today we dont hear anymore the sound of those machines that have been replaced by "timberjacks"...heavy "loaders" and sophisticated equipment.

This era is from the past and this is the only remains that could bring some good memories of the old logging camps.

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THE STEAM DONKEY

THE STEAM DONKEY:An endless variety of steam, gas, diesel, or electric power plants, plus drums to hold wire rope; all used to haul logs from the woods, to load at landings, move equipment, rig up trees, and in the old days , to lower cars down inclines... The most common makes were Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, named after iron works in those cities, Vulcan, Smith and Watson, and others named after the company which built them... 26 different types of steam donkeys were built in the Pacific Northwest by one firm alone. In 1913, one company built 51 donkeys in a 49 day period, all sold before they left the plant to fill rush orders...Donkey was a term originally applied to a little steam engine of less than one horsepower. A man by the name of Dolbeer adapted a ships capstan for his logging rig, and it is possible that he also brought along the seafaring term for the engine itself.Steam logging equipment has marked our journey through time as the West Coast became part of national industrialization. The use of steam donkeys in particular were machines that typified the heyday of logging in the West, machines whose power and grace left a mark on the men as well as the mountains. Those steam donkeys that still exist create a three dimensional scrapbook of history. Donkeys are, in fact, a link to the "glory days of logging," as one writer put it. Those who worked the "big woods" around the steamers speak of a time, now gone forever, with reverent nostalgia. However, it is not necessary to be a steam logging equipment lover to morn the demise of steam donkeys. You don't even have to like donkeys or logging history, but it is important to realize that: (1) of the thousands that were built during the age of steam, only thirty some remain in Oregon. (2) Of those remaining in Oregon, few are anywhere near operating condition. (3) Only a few donkeys built during this time period up to 1930, were not steam powered. How could these machines have disappeared so fast? Why have the traces been almost totally erased? Were the Willamette Two-Speeds, the Lidgerwood skidders, and the duplex loaders only devices used to transport logs from stump to railroad, useful then, but now forgotten? ...MERV JONHSON.

ECHO CST 610 EVL Twin Opposed.

The last twin-cylinder production chain saw only available for a couple years.

MANUFACTURED:ECHO (KIORITZ CORPORATION)TOKYO, Japan INTRODUCED:1984
DISCONTINUED:1986
DISPLACEMENT:61.0 cc (3.72 cu. in.)
BORE:36 mm (1.417 in.)
STROKE:30 mm (1.181 in.)
CYLINDERS:2
INTAKE:Reed valves
CONSTRUCTION:Die cast magnesium
CARB:Walbro HDA OIL PUMP:Automatic with manual override SPARK PLUG:NGK BPM7A, Champion CJ6Y
PITCH:3/8 in. Oregon 72DP
TECHNICAL:TWO horizontal-opposed simultaneous firing
pistons

INDIAN KB

New acquisition...saw under restoration..........

Model: KB

MANUFACTURED BY: ORLINE PRODUCTS CO.LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.
SOLD BY: INDIAN CHAIN SAWS, CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
YEAR INTRODUCED: 1970
YEAR DISCONTINUED:
ENGINE DISPLACEMENT:1.34 cu. in.
NUMBER OF CYLINDERS:1
CYLINDER BORE: 1.250 in.
PISTON STROKE: 1.096 in.
INTAKE METHOD: Reed valve
MANUFACTURER ADVERTISED H.P.: 1.2
WEIGHT : 10 lbs.
OPERATOR CONFIGURATION:One Man operation
HANDLEBAR SYSTEM:Rigid
CHAIN BRAKE:none
CLUTCH:Centrifugal
DRIVE TYPE:Gear reduction
CONSTRUCTION:Die cast magnesium
MAGNETO TYPE:Breaker point flywheel magneto
CARBURETOR:O & R
STARTER TYPE:Automatic rewind
OIL PUMP:Manual
IGNITION TIMING:Position is fixed
BREAKER POINT SETTING:0.020 in.
FLYWHEEL/COIL AIR GAP:0.010 in.
SPARK PLUG TYPE:Champion CJ-8 (originally used CJ-14 but changed)
SPARK PLUG GAP:0.030 in.
CRANKSHAFT MAIN BEARINGS:Roller type
FUEL OIL RATIO:16:1
RECOMMENDED FUEL OCTANE:Regular
MIX OIL SPECIFICATION:SAE 30 MS automotive type
CHAIN PITCH:1/4 in.
CHAIN TYPE:Oregon #12

SKILSHOP 1716 TYPE 1

SKILSHOP 1716 TYPE 1 MANUFACTURED BY: SKIL CORPORATION CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.INTRODUCED: 1969 DISPLACEMENT: 4.2 cu. in. (69cc) CYLINDER BORE: 2.0625 in. (52.3 mm) PISTON STROKE: 1.25 in. (31.7 mm) CYLINDER TYPE: Aluminum with chrome plated bore INTAKE METHOD: Piston ported Built in Vancouver, BC Canada same as PM model 340 History:The SKIL was designed by Power Machinery Ltd. and built by them originally as the 340. It was 4.2 cu. in. (68.8cc) The SKIL version was introduced in 1969 right after SKIL Tool Co. bought out the chain saw division of Bristol Aero-Industries Limited. (PM) in Vancouver

JONSERED 75 (HM75).

MANUFACTURED BY:JONSEREDS FABRIKERS ABPARTILLE, SWEDEN

SERIES OR ASSEMBLY NUMBER:XM 75

YEAR INTRODUCED:1967

YEAR DISCONTINUED:1968

ENGINE DISPLACEMENT:75cc

NUMBER OF CYLINDERS:1

CYLINDER BORE:50mm

PISTON STROKE:38mm

CYLINDER TYPE:Aluminum with chrome plated bore

INTAKE METHOD:Piston ported

MANUFACTURER ADVERTISED H.P.:2.9kW @ 7000 rpm

WEIGHT :6.54kg

OPERATOR CONFIGURATION:One Man operation

HANDLEBAR SYSTEM:Rigid

CHAIN BRAKE:none

CLUTCH:Centrifugal

DRIVE TYPE:Direct

CONSTRUCTION:Die cast magnesium

MAGNETO TYPE:Pagani

CARBURETOR:Tillotson HS-21D series

MAJOR REPAIR KIT:RK-23HS

MINOR REPAIR KIT:DG-5HS/T

AIR FILTER SYSTEM:Nylon mesh screen cylinder

STARTER TYPE:Jonsered automatic rewind

OIL PUMP:Automatic, worm gear driven

OPERATING RPM:9,400

IGNITION TIMING:2.5mm before TDC

BREAKER POINT SETTING:0.30 to 0.40mm

FLYWHEEL/COIL AIR GAP:0.3 mm (0.012 in.)

SPARK PLUG TYPE:Champion CJ7Y

SPARK PLUG GAP:0.5mm to 0.6mm (0.020 to 0.024 in.)

CRANKSHAFT MAIN BEARINGS:Ball

FUEL TANK CAPACITY:1.1litres

FUEL OIL RATIO:25:1

RECOMMENDED FUEL OCTANE:Regular

MIX OIL SPECIFICATION:Two-cycle chain saw mix oil

CHAIN PITCH:3/8 in. or .404 in.

CHAIN TYPE:Chipper

BAR MOUNT PATTERN:18 link

SHORTEST GUIDE BAR SUPPLIED:38 cm (15 in.)

LONGEST GUIDE BAR SUPPLIED:60 cm (24 in.)

COLOUR SCHEME:Red and Silver Enamel

INDIAN 351D

MOTORCYCLE COMPANY (First model built by Indian).MANUFACTURED BY: INDIAN CHAIN SAWS CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.INTRODUCED: 1955 DISPLACEMENT: 4.7 cu. in. (77 cc) CYLINDER BORE: 2.0 in. (50.8 mm) PISTON STROKE: 1.5 in. (38 mm) CYLINDER TYPE: Aluminum with cast iron sleeve INTAKE METHOD: Reed valvesADVERTISED H.P.: 3.5 HISTORY:Indian Chainsaws began in 1953 when Luther Corp. began to sell a rebadged version of the Clinton model 3A as their own Luther chainsaw. In 1955, Magnaflux Corp. the owners of Luther Corp. created a new division called Indian Chain Saw Company. The first Indian chainsaw was the 1955 model 351D. You can see one in my collection. In 1956 Magnaflux created two more new divisions to produce the Cobra and Trams brands of chainsaws.

BOLENS CS 3500

BOLENS CS3500 MANUFACTURED BY: BOLENS CHAIN SAWS PORT WASHINGTON, WISCONSIN, U.S.A.YEAR INTRODUCED: 1957 DISPLACEMENT: 4.7 cu. in. (77 cc) CYLINDER BORE: 2.0 in. (50.8 mm) PISTON STROKE: 1.50 in. (38.1 mm) CYLINDER TYPE: Aluminum with cast iron sleeve INTAKE METHOD: Reed valves ADVERTISED H.P.: 4 used Power Products AH-47 engineOfficial story from Bolens BrochuresFounded in 1850, Bolens has grown to become the most respected name in outdoor power equipment. Milestones in the Bolens heritage include the introduction, in 1919, of the first power-driven garden tractor. Seven thousand of these early machines were sold to enthusiastic customers, and Bolens outdoor power equipment was on its way to becoming famous.Immediately following World War II Bolens was acquired by FMC Corporation and specialization continued in production of outdoor equipment. A progressive engineering program was begun and new designs met growing new demands as Americans in increasing numbers discovered Bolens power equipment as a means of reducing the time and effort required for yard care. In 1947, Bolens introduced the first compact tractor. The Husky 600 made its appearance in 1961 and set a new standard for all compact tractors. Bolens again startled the industry in 1963 with introduction of the Estate Keeper; a unique and years-ahead concept in compact tractors.Each product bearing the Bolens trademark is backed by this 150 year heritage, and by the extensive research and development facilities of FMC Corporation. Today, as in the past, the name Bolens stands for proved dependability, advanced design and the highest standard of quality.

BOLENS 3010 (THRIFTY).

MANUFACTURED BY:BOLENS CHAIN SAWS PORT WASHINGTON, WISCONSIN, U.S.A. INTRODUCED:1961 DISCONTINUED:1962 DISPLACEMENT:4.7 cu. in. (77 cc) BORE:2.0 in. (50.8 mm) STROKE:1.50 in. (38.1 mm) TYPE:Aluminum with cast iron sleeve INTAKE:Reed valves CLUTCH:Centrifugal DRIVE:Direct CONSTRUCTION:Sand cast magnesium and aluminum MAGNETO TYPE:Phelon CARBURETOR:Tillotson HL STARTER:Fairbanks Morse OIL PUMP:Manual RPM:4,500 TIMING:0.175 in. (4.4 mm) before TDC POINT SETTING:0.020 in. (0.51 mm) PLUG TYPE:Champion J8J, Autolite A7X, AC M45 PLUG GAP:0.030 in. (0.76 mm) Power Products (TECUMSEH ) AH-47 engine

HISTORY OF THE SAW:

I am glad that the saw arrived in good shape. As I told you on the phone, the reason I bought the saw was because I felt like it was a safe one for me. I have a bad leg and I fall often and I through that not having a chain runing on the top side would be better. I bought the saw in

1958 and used it until I bought a new Homelite in 1982. We had a fireplace and burned wood in it most of the winter. I hope this makes addition to a nice your collection. I enjoyed the showing of your collection, thanks for sending it to me. Lynn

LOMBARD 3C (WOODLOT WIZARD)

LOMBARD 3C(WOODLOT WIZARD):YEAR INTRODUCED: 1953 DISCONTINUED: 1954 DISPLACEMENT: 4.7 cu. in. (77 cc) CYLINDER BORE: 2.0 in. (50.8 mm)PISTON STROKE: 1.5 in. 938 mm)CYLINDER TYPE: Aluminum with cast iron sleeve INTAKE METHOD: Reed valves...............Lombard brief history: Orginally named, Lombard Govenor Corp.Made carbs, parts for Homlite, and other companies.Name changed to, American Power Equipment. Bar & chain easy to obtain.....Windsor is the, 'UXL' bar mount. Very common.Oregon is the, #176 bar mount....standard .050 guage.

HUSKVARNA 45

MANUFACTURED BY: HUSQVARNA VAPENFABRIKS AB HUSKVARNA, SWEDEN.INTRODUCED: 1987 DISPLACEMENT: 44cc (2.7 cu. in.) BORE: 42mm (1.65 in.) STROKE: 32mm (1.26 in.) CYLINDER: Aluminum with chrome plated bore INTAKE: Piston ported H.P.: 2.7 hp (2.0 kW) BRAKE: inertia activated CLUTCH: Centrifugal CONSTRUCTION: Die cast magnesium CARBURETOR: Walbro WT-17A, 17DZama C1Q-EL1, C1Q-EL5. RPM: 12,500 SPARK PLUG TYPE: Bosch WSR7F/WS7F, NGK BPMR7A, Champion RCJ7Y SPARK PLUG GAP: 0.5mm (0.020 in.) MAIN BEARINGS: Ball TANK CAPACITY: 500 ml (16.9 fl. oz.) PITCH: .325 in. COMMENTS: CSA 1994

Kioritz CS60S(Super)

The first model of Japanese chainsaws (KIORITSU NOKI COMPANY LIMITED) to enter the American market as a competitor in 1963 was the model CS80 and introduced the ECHO BRAND. This second model the famous Kioritz CS60S(Super) was an engineering classic and a revolution for a production chainsaw in 1965. MANUFACTURED BY:ECHO (KIORITZ CORPORATION) TOKYO, Japan INTRODUCED: 1965 DISCONTINUED: 1983 DISPLACEMENT: 61.5 cc (3.75 cu. in.) BORE: 48 mm (1.89 in.) STROKE: 34 mm (1.34 in.) TYPE: Aluminum with chrome plated bore INTAKE: Piston ported CONSTRUCTION: Die cast magnesium MAGNETO: Flywheel point system CARBURETOR: Tillotson HS-25A

REED-PRENTICE AIR SAW

REED-PRENTICE "TIMBERHOG" Air saw.
AIR-SAW (pneumatic) REED-PRENTICE Description:The front helper has a knob at the end of the handle to add tension to the chain.The lever on the left of the "helper handle" is a hand pump that you unscrew and pumping action is used to built pressure inside the oil tank.The on/off rotating button is selected for "cutting" or "felling"...one button on each side to allow different oil passages lubrication to the chain.The unit can be opened on the side using a "slider/wing nut" and thus allowing to open a trap door mounted on a swivel.The quantity of chain oil is controlled by a screw valve on the side.The head has a variable air control and a lock on full load position.Operation requires 75PSI to 95PSI at constant 70CFM(Cubic feet per minutes).

Air saw facts!!!!

There are no information about air saws to my knowledge simply because the production was not intended for common residential use or commercial use. This is currently under development…….
http://quasiturbine.promci.qc.ca/EProductQT75SCChainsawPneu.htm

Reed-Prentice/Timberhog were made only on special order request mainly for industrial use with specific contracts and quantities for the military (WW2) and underwater tree cuts when flooding an area for hydro-electric dam in the north. Contractors used them to salvage good trees cut to sell in the paper mills.
To operate, they required around 70 cfm and were hook up to a portable engine/compressor/ air hose on a trailer attached to a “jeep” or an “all terrain vehicle”.
For the military , they used them for land and road access in the wars …. building temporary bridges for crossing rivers and cutting trees underwater.
This is why they are so rare and finding a good one in decent shape is a bit tough.The “Wright” air saw (and gas saw) since it had reciprocating blades needed no oiling and was used by butchers and ice block cutters on lakes…..again mostly for industrial use.

The new "green solution" is to salvage all the trees that have been left uderwater when doin hydro dam contruction. Using mechanized robots (deep water recovery) or pneumatic saws is the way to go.

UNDERWATER TREE CUTTING INFORMATION.

A submersible robot called the Sawfish can harvest healthy timber from long-forgotten underwater forests. Clear-cutting never looked so green.
Up From the Deep: Piloted by a joystick jockey at the surface of the water, the Sawfish can cut 250 trees in eight hours. 1) COMMAND AND CONTROL: Lowered into the water by a crane, the sub connects to a diesel generator on the surface with a 720-foot cord. Inside a container on the barge, a pilot (inset) scans video from eight under-water cameras and maneuvers the Sawfish with a joystick. 2) ROAM: The ROV has a 75-HP engine and seven directional thrusters, allowing it to move safely through treacherous terrain. 3) CUT: To fell a tree, the Sawfish clasps the trunk with its steel pincers so its 54-inch chain saw can rip through the wood. 4) RETRIEVE: Waterlogged wood doesn't float, so the Sawfish screws airbags into the tree trunks using a hydraulic ratchet. The buoyant bags raise the trunks to the surface. 5) STORE: A tugboat rigged with a pair of hydraulic claws drags cut logs onto one of several floating storage bunks.
I’m standing on a steel barge in the center of Ootsa Lake, a 154-square-mile reservoir in northwestern British Columbia. A chafing wind blows from the west, where the snowy, nearly treeless slopes of the Kitimat Range vanish into overcast skies. I jump as a voice booms over the outdoor PA system: “Clear to cut!” A few seconds later, a massive spruce tree erupts from the murky water.Two hundred feet below, a remotely operated vehicle dubbed the Sawfish is wielding a 54-inch-long chain saw. On the deck of the barge, an operator sits inside a cramped, dimly lit control room made from a shipping container. He’s maneuvering the Sawfish with a joystick, and his eyes are locked on a video feed of footage from eight underwater cameras embedded in the contraption. A generator delivers power to the sub through a 720-foot-long high-voltage cable that also encloses a set of fiber-optic lines to transmit guidance commands from the pilot.If you’re on the shoreline or live nearby, underwater timber harvesting is remarkably quiet: no screaming chain saws or smoke-belching heavy machinery. In a steady, splashing procession, tree after tree bobs to the surface, where a small tugboat rigged with a pair of hydraulic claws grabs the trunks and tows them into something called a bunk, a partly submerged U-shaped cradle. I can see three bunks from the barge. Each stores up to 300 trees and can be raised onto a second transport barge that holds up to 1,000 logs. The Sawfish and its four-person crew will fill it in just four days.This unusual harvesting method is made possible by a submersible that can probe the deepest reservoirs for under-water trees to cut and deliver to the surface. It was developed by Chris Godsall, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of Triton Logging. The company is based near Victoria, but the principal underwater logging operation is at Ootsa Lake, almost 750 miles to the north. The lake was formed in 1954, when Alcan, the world’s second-largest aluminum producer, built a hydroelectric dam here to power its smelter. The water behind the dam flooded millions of lodgepole pine, spruce, Douglas fir, and hemlock trees, leaving some $1.2 billion worth of timber preserved in a kind of suspended animation. In the cold, dark, oxygen-poor water, tree wood won’t decay for thousands of years. And Ootsa is one of 45,000 spots around the globe where dams have inundated valleys and submerged vast forests. By some estimates, there is $50 billion worth of marketable timber at the bottom of these man-made lakes. Godsall is quick to point out that he has the only technology able to retrieve it.To gather up a few logs, it might seem like lunacy to deploy the same kind of sophisticated and pricey ROVs used to explore the Titanic or investigate 9,000-foot-deep geothermal vents along the mid-Atlantic seafloor. But do the math and Godsall’s method starts to make good financial sense. Operated by just one person, a so-called feller buncher—the fastest and cheapest way to harvest timber on land—can cut at least 500 trees a day. But then it takes an additional three-member crew up to three weeks to trim and load the trees for transport. A single Sawfish is more efficient. It may clear only 250 trees in an eight-hour shift with four crew members, but there’s no need to skid the logs down a hillside and truck them to a mill. Instead, a barge delivers the trees to the mill faster and more cheaply, and because they’ve been submerged they’re generally already stripped of foliage and bark. A Sawfish, including the control room, tool shop, and power generator, costs $800,000 to $1 million, depending on the gadgetry packed into the ROV. That’s significantly less than the onetime equipment cost of roughly $1.5 million needed to run a comparable feller buncher operation. Add up all the numbers and, while conventional harvesting costs about $50 per cubic meter of wood, Peter Keyes, an executive at a global timber wholesaler and marketer, estimates Godsall’s cost at closer to $40. “Sure, there are big R&D costs to pay down,” Keyes says. “But the technology has given Godsall access to all these trees as if they were on land. It’s like finding a new penny.”There are environmental advantages to the Sawfish method as well. Conventional aboveground harvesting contributes to deforestation, a cause of global warming that’s responsible for the release of 25 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. But because underwater trees are already dead, cutting them down doesn’t worsen the situation. And with underwater logging, there are no unsightly clear-cuts and no spotted owls to worry about.I first meet Godsall when he arrives at my motel in Burns Lake, a soggy, desolate logging outpost about a two-hour drive from Ootsa. Tall and lean, with neatly combed brown hair, he’s wearing tennis shoes, faded jeans, and a blue windbreaker. Later, as we drive through dense forestlands in his rented sedan, Godsall tells me how he got interested in trees. Nine years ago, while working as a marketing consultant in Toronto, he took on a client in the log salvage business. Wet Wood Underwater Fibre Recovery employed loggers to search riverbeds and shallow lakes for sunken timber with potential market value. Eventually, Godsall signed on with Wet Wood full-time as general manager. He soon realized that hunting for a log here and there wasn’t exactly the way to rake in the dough. It was akin to collecting soda cans for the five cent return deposit—profit margins were slim, and the work was tedious and time-consuming. Also, it could be unpopular with the public because scouring lake beds can upset ecosystems, churning up silt and debris that then threaten fish and wildlife.One day during a meeting, a client showed Godsall an image of an underwater forest at the bottom of a reservoir. “I had become so obsessed with retrieving lost logs that the picture of a whole forest of trees under-water seemed at once surreal, obscene, and too good to be true. I was convinced it was trick photography.” But the photo was genuine, and a few weeks later Godsall approached his bosses with a question: “Why are we hunting for sunken logs when there are entire forests waiting to be reclaimed?” Godsall suggested they build technology to go after all the standing underwater timber in the world. Everyone just laughed. Godsall resigned two days later, and in May 2000 he launched Triton.Godsall is from a clan of overachievers—his father, he says, is a “compulsive entrepreneur”; his mother, an “extremely creative” art gallery owner. One brother is a Hollywood director; another battles infectious diseases in Africa. But building a new, unproven technology from scratch made him nervous. “I am not an engineer,” he admits. “It was one thing to have a good idea, quite another to execute it.” He assembled a design team from a cross-section of fields, including commercial aviation, undersea exploration, and marine biology—there was even an engineer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.During his years as a consultant, Godsall had seen all sorts of contraptions and schemes for retrieving sunken logs—submersible cranes, scuba divers with pneumatic chain saws, and a “tree mower” that was dragged like a straight razor along shallow lake beds. Most didn’t work, some were extremely dangerous, and very few could go much deeper than 60 feet. But Godsall knew that in Ootsa, nearly three-quarters of the good timber is more than 60 feet below the surface. “We had to make that our territory,” he says.The team needed to invent something totally new—like the Sawfish. About the size of a VW bus and painted bright yellow, the sub can dive to 1,100 feet—deeper than any reservoir on earth—and fell a tree in two seconds. Besides advanced video imaging, sonar, and GPS capabilities, the ROV has a 75-horsepower engine and seven directional thrusters, making it extremely agile. And the vehicle is robust enough to withstand an errant tree toppling on it underwater. The Sawfish has a set of 52-inch-long lobsterlike steel pincers used to attach the ROV to the base of a tree while cutting. A powerful waterproof chain saw, mounted on a hinged mechanical arm, can slash through trunks up to 8 feet wide.Perhaps the most ingenious innovation, though, is Godsall’s solution for bringing trees to the surface. Underwater timber is waterlogged and doesn’t float. So the Sawfish attaches airbags to each tree before cutting it. Using a mouse, keypad, and joystick, a remote pilot can load an airbag on a chain-driven conveyer belt located inside the belly of the Sawfish, then engage a hydraulic ratchet that ejects the bag, screws it onto a tree trunk, and fills it with 5 cubic feet of air. After the log floats to the surface, a tugboat drags it into a storage bunk, and a crew member removes the reusable bag. The Sawfish can deploy up to 50 airbags before engineers have to raise it for a refill.In August 2002, preparing for its maiden voyage, Triton engineers loaded the Sawfish onto the back of a semi and hauled the sub 14 hours to Ootsa Lake. “We cut the first tree and everybody cheered,” Godsall recalls. “We cut another tree and everybody cheered. Then we cut a third tree and the Sawfish broke and everybody went home.” There were other setbacks—airbags exploded, the Sawfish got its tether lines wrapped around branches—but Godsall persisted. To work out the kinks, he raised more money (for a total of roughly $1.2 million) and built a floating R&D lab on a reservoir near Triton’s headquarters.Triton now operates two Sawfish vehicles on Ootsa Lake, and Godsall plans to build 10 more. He aims to harvest 45,000 trees a year in Ootsa Lake and hundreds of thousands more in other reservoirs. The timing is perfect: Demand for decks, hardwood floors, and roofs crafted from sustainable timber is increasing. Just as organic food swept into grocery stores in the 1990s, Godsall is planning to line the lumber aisles of Home Depot and Lowe’s with underwater-harvested timber. He’s also talking to Ikea about an exclusive deal to provide wood for tables and chairs. And the Triton logo is becoming an “Intel Inside”-type seal that retailers can slap on products to attract green-minded buyers. A study by the Forest Stewardship Council, a nonprofit based in Germany, says the market for so-called good wood, which includes underwater logs, grew 25 percent in each of the previous two years to hit $5 billion in 2005.Godsall is also eager to expand operations beyond Canada. He recently met with reservoir managers in the US, Australia, South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia to broker additional deals. One project involves clearing trees from the bottom of Volta Lake in Ghana, where seasonal drops in the water level bring submerged timber dangerously close to the surface. Trees have punctured holes in boats and passenger ferries sinking them and killing hundreds of people in the past four years alone.Most salvage loggers believe that reservoirs conceal 200 million to 300 million trees worldwide. “That’s a low estimate,” Godsall says. “We’re continually discovering reservoirs with trees in them. There’s one in Brazil called Tucurui with $1 billion worth of timber.” Eastern Europe is another untapped frontier: “It has the largest reservoirs with the most trees.” But pinpointing underwater forests is tricky. Godsall’s team studies old maps that show where forests once stood. They also use specialized sonar to verify the existence of trees and underwater cameras to identify the variety—spruce, pine, fir, or rare hardwoods such as teak and ebony. Some species are more valuable than others, and Godsall wants the sticks that will bring in the most money.To snag the best logs, Godsall hires people who know trees and can make snap decisions about wood quality based on a quick scan of underwater camera footage. Take Josh Chernov, a marine biologist and one of Triton’s five pilots. He’s inside the Sawfish’s control room atop the barge, watching six LCD panels relay video from the submerged cameras. Sitting in a Star Trek-style captain’s chair, he uses a joystick to zoom around a stand of valuable lodgepole pines at the bottom of Ootsa Lake, ignoring nearby timber of lesser value. There’s a muffled whir in the corner from the 2.8-GHz off-the-shelf Wintel PC—that’s the Sawfish brain. Chernov clicks a button on the joystick to toggle between video feeds, panning a front-mounted camera across the lake bed. The scene is eerie: A lost forest beckons from the shadowy depths, ancient giants still standing proud in the 46-degree-Fahrenheit water.At the moment, however, Chernov is about to slice through the 3-foot-wide trunk of a lodgepole pine. He deftly glides the Sawfish to the base of the tree, where it hovers a few feet above the lake bed before clasping onto the trunk with its pincers. While the Sawfish clutches the tree, Chernov switches to a different camera, this time with a view from behind the hydraulic airbag ratchet. From this angle, I can see a column of fluorescent airbags stacked single file in a storage compartment. Another click on the joystick and the ratchet telescopes forward, snagging an airbag, bolting it to the tree, then inflating it.He radios over the PA: “Clear to cut?” “Roger, clear to cut,” a deckhand calls.Chernov starts the chain saw, which swings out from inside the nose cone of the Sawfish and slices through the trunk in seconds. Because the airbag is affixed to the base of the trunk, the tree inverts 180 degrees before beginning its ascent. I step out of the control room and onto the deck just as it bursts through the surface of the water. “It’s kind of like watching the Apollo rockets go up,” says Dave Menzies, a Sawfish operator who spent 20 years as a pilot for a commuter airline before joining Triton. Moments later, another log appears, then another. There is enough timber in Ootsa Lake to keep the Sawfish busy for 50 years—and plenty more lumber in Panama, Malaysia, and other countries where Godsall hopes to begin harvesting by 2008.“Mother Nature never intended for trees to be underwater,” Godsall says. But that’s where forest after forest has ended up. He still marvels at the perfect preservation of the submerged trees. Just waiting, he says, to be harvested guilt free and for profit, by the Sawfish.
Michael Behar (michael@michaelbehar.com)

VINTAGE CHAINSAW COLLECTION

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THE MISSION

The liars ...a bad apple ....