Hello All,
So, as a back story, I have been trying to find some big old Stihl Saws, and after getting offered some really crapped out 660's and an 084 for $1000 each, I had looked at getting a regular 056AV from another guy, but the deal wasn't quite sweet enough and the saw was very rough; every casting cracked, recoil messed up, very little compression.
I decided that it was a dog and that I would pass on it.
Fast-forward to last Friday; I am cold-calling every repair shop around and I found a listing for an old shop that does lawnmower repair. I call and talk to a shop guy and he says the boss is out, call back tomorrow. I called back the next day and talked to "the boss". The boss was a seemingly friendly guy after I told him I was just looking to buy some old project Chainsaws that people had left behind, or, for some reason or another, had never come and picked them up. His answer was, "Hmmm.... I think I might have some you can come look at, but they ain't gonna be cheap!" ...........I paused, then answered back, "well I would like to come see them, when would work best?"
The best time was today, around lunchtime. I got there and met the shop guy named Mike whom I had spoken to earlier on the phone. There was an older guy on the phone ordering parts, so I assumed he was the boss (I was right, I later learned). I was led into the back of a very old building, up a set of plywood ramps into the attic, where all the old stuff was kept. Mike led me to the rafters and there was where I first spotted them. There was a sea of cream sickle covered in 20 years of dirt and dust and forgotten ownership. To the left of them, the all-to-familiar yellow and black of some 3200 series Macs. As he pointed to the stack of dead bumblebees Mike said, "these are the only ones the boss said I could sell."
I think he could hear the disappointment in my voice, even though I was gracious for his time and efforts. I asked him with a melancholy tone, " I really don't mess with that series of Mccullochs, do you think he would sell any of these old Stihls?" He turned on his heals and looked down to where the boss was sitting, paused, and said "hell, I dunno, but why don't you see if you want any of them and we will bring them down and see if he will let them go." I was hesitant to tote down a bunch of saws to only be told no once I got them downstairs, but with high hopes, I pointed out which ones I liked, dodged the oil spilling from one of them missing an oil cap, and Mike helped me get them down from the dark attic rafters.
Once downstairs, I noticed the boss was off the phone and staring at us coming toward him.
We laid out 4 saws on the grease-stained-carpeted floor; staring at our find, I had numbers racing through my head, trying to figure what he would want for them once I could see them in the light and I could read the numbers clearly. He glared at me and I smiled at him, he instantly grinned back and I knew he could see that I was excited about these and that I wasn't just in it for the money. I told him that I used to build hot rod cars and I grew up working on small engines with my Dad back in Texas, I was fixing chainsaws for a hobby to do something mechanical and for a little extra money if there was any in it. He growled out "alright, how much do ya want to give me for these dirty old projects?" He had a smile on his face, so I took a risk and said a low number, he countered with a very slightly higher number and then said "Can you do that?" I smiled and answered back "Yep, I am happy with that, and I will be back for more later if that is ok with you?" He was smiling and so was I.
When I was leaving with my new treasures, I turned to Mike and asked him when they normally sold their saws for scrap, and he said to come back in a few months. I asked him to keep them for me and I would call and check in with him periodically, and he was happy to oblige. This was a much bigger find than the other saw shops I have talked to so far, and it proves that not everyone of these shops is just in it for the money or is too stupid to see that selling saws to a guy off the street for more than the scrap value is a smart move in many ways.
After a bunch of failures, it just took a few shops that worked out well for discovering some old Magnesium treasure.
Here is a little teaser of what I found..... Thanks to this site, I had read a lot about the 056 series saws and I knew this was something special even before I found the specs on it. I did not clean this one up yet, any more than just wiping it off with an old rag before the pics. Looks like no spark, but DAYUM does it have some compression even without any oil squirted in it. Anyone got tips for the cheapest and best way to get another ignition setup on this one? I have read several different ignition options but the threads are all old.
So, as a back story, I have been trying to find some big old Stihl Saws, and after getting offered some really crapped out 660's and an 084 for $1000 each, I had looked at getting a regular 056AV from another guy, but the deal wasn't quite sweet enough and the saw was very rough; every casting cracked, recoil messed up, very little compression.
I decided that it was a dog and that I would pass on it.
Fast-forward to last Friday; I am cold-calling every repair shop around and I found a listing for an old shop that does lawnmower repair. I call and talk to a shop guy and he says the boss is out, call back tomorrow. I called back the next day and talked to "the boss". The boss was a seemingly friendly guy after I told him I was just looking to buy some old project Chainsaws that people had left behind, or, for some reason or another, had never come and picked them up. His answer was, "Hmmm.... I think I might have some you can come look at, but they ain't gonna be cheap!" ...........I paused, then answered back, "well I would like to come see them, when would work best?"
The best time was today, around lunchtime. I got there and met the shop guy named Mike whom I had spoken to earlier on the phone. There was an older guy on the phone ordering parts, so I assumed he was the boss (I was right, I later learned). I was led into the back of a very old building, up a set of plywood ramps into the attic, where all the old stuff was kept. Mike led me to the rafters and there was where I first spotted them. There was a sea of cream sickle covered in 20 years of dirt and dust and forgotten ownership. To the left of them, the all-to-familiar yellow and black of some 3200 series Macs. As he pointed to the stack of dead bumblebees Mike said, "these are the only ones the boss said I could sell."
I think he could hear the disappointment in my voice, even though I was gracious for his time and efforts. I asked him with a melancholy tone, " I really don't mess with that series of Mccullochs, do you think he would sell any of these old Stihls?" He turned on his heals and looked down to where the boss was sitting, paused, and said "hell, I dunno, but why don't you see if you want any of them and we will bring them down and see if he will let them go." I was hesitant to tote down a bunch of saws to only be told no once I got them downstairs, but with high hopes, I pointed out which ones I liked, dodged the oil spilling from one of them missing an oil cap, and Mike helped me get them down from the dark attic rafters.
Once downstairs, I noticed the boss was off the phone and staring at us coming toward him.
We laid out 4 saws on the grease-stained-carpeted floor; staring at our find, I had numbers racing through my head, trying to figure what he would want for them once I could see them in the light and I could read the numbers clearly. He glared at me and I smiled at him, he instantly grinned back and I knew he could see that I was excited about these and that I wasn't just in it for the money. I told him that I used to build hot rod cars and I grew up working on small engines with my Dad back in Texas, I was fixing chainsaws for a hobby to do something mechanical and for a little extra money if there was any in it. He growled out "alright, how much do ya want to give me for these dirty old projects?" He had a smile on his face, so I took a risk and said a low number, he countered with a very slightly higher number and then said "Can you do that?" I smiled and answered back "Yep, I am happy with that, and I will be back for more later if that is ok with you?" He was smiling and so was I.
When I was leaving with my new treasures, I turned to Mike and asked him when they normally sold their saws for scrap, and he said to come back in a few months. I asked him to keep them for me and I would call and check in with him periodically, and he was happy to oblige. This was a much bigger find than the other saw shops I have talked to so far, and it proves that not everyone of these shops is just in it for the money or is too stupid to see that selling saws to a guy off the street for more than the scrap value is a smart move in many ways.
After a bunch of failures, it just took a few shops that worked out well for discovering some old Magnesium treasure.
Here is a little teaser of what I found..... Thanks to this site, I had read a lot about the 056 series saws and I knew this was something special even before I found the specs on it. I did not clean this one up yet, any more than just wiping it off with an old rag before the pics. Looks like no spark, but DAYUM does it have some compression even without any oil squirted in it. Anyone got tips for the cheapest and best way to get another ignition setup on this one? I have read several different ignition options but the threads are all old.
