Sabre

[Tony Snyder]

Does anyone know the story on what actually happened to Sabre?

Was the plant actually closed? Or are they still there but making chain under another brand?

I heard they were owned at one time by John Deere.
Did John Deere close them, or did they sell them?

Why do you suppose Deere bought Homelite/Sabre and then gave up on them so relatively quickly.

 

[artwood]

Tony,
The GB distributor told me that all the tooling was sold to an asian company overseas. So now I'm selling Carlton chain instead!
Eric

 

[GeorgeWLogger]

Have any deals on Carlton chains?

 

[eyolf]

Somebody said (here?...) that the machinery had been dismantled and sold at auction. Some went to an Oregon plant in Canada, but not all.

 

[Bill G]

Tony,

You asked why JD gave up on Homelite so quickly ? If my memory serves me correct Deere has owned Homelite for 10 years or so. If you are not making money after 10 years then you probably never will. I hate to see it as I have always loved the good Homelites and never been a huge fan of Deere.

Bill

 

[Tony Snyder]

Bill G ,

I didn't realize it was that long. Did they actually try to do some new designs in that era?

What do you think of the new Efco (Italian) built JDs ? I sell them as Efcos.

 

[John in MA]

Are you sure it was that long? I have a Homelite trimmer and blower from the mid '90s that are Textron machines.

I think JD introduced the "streamlined" Homelite saws like the Ranger and all those cheap models. Never saw much else.

 

[gatkeper1]

John Deere aquired Homelite in 1994
Sold it to Tech Tronic Industries in 2001

 

[Bill G]

John,

I am sure your trimmer does still say Textron. I would bet there are still some products in the stores yet. It takes several years to sell out of some inventories. I am pretty sure there were a few SXL'S sold as late as 1998.


As for the actual year JD took them over I will not split hairs. As I originally stated "10 years or so". If it was 1994 I am certain it was early 1994. In a few days 2003 will make it 10 years since they purchased them. I can dig out old parts receipts and get real technical.

Bill

 

[Tony Snyder]

I have thought, maybe mistakingly, that the issue was that because Homelite was so far behind the industry design wise that the engineering tasks would have been overwhelming both technically, monetarily.

If Homelite would have had world class saw designers on staff they surely would have caught themselves up with the world before the JD purchase. Maybe the design talent was just out of date. They hadn't had any designs truly competitive since the mid 70s.

Everyone blames their demise on the discount stores. I think the other significant contributors was, out of date design.