I have a coworker that gave me a McCulloch D44 the other day, got it at a storage unit sale and its just been sitting for a while. Her father heard that I like to work on saws....and brought me a 1947-ish Reed-Prentice (Craftsman) 1200b (351.23001) 103cc chainsaw with a McCulloch Aviation engine and a 5/16th scratcher chain.
It has been sitting outside for quite a while, my coworker had to dump the water out of the fuel and oil tank (caps are missing) before bringing it to me. Everything is pretty well set, throttle does not move, chain does not move, pull cord is missing...and lots of rust.
This is my first time seeing a saw with 5/16" chain (below, 3/8" chain next to it)...good thing the 5/16 chain takes a flat file to sharpen!
The serial number is odd, looks like the 437 U might be a re-stamp as the font is different, others I have seen on-line the letters are all the same font and nice and orderly looking.
Lots of rust!!
I was thinking that after I get my 2100 rebuilt that I would lay off the expensive-to-repair saws....but I can't help myself, I want to get this one running too!! A quick search for parts yielded up almost nothing available on the typical sites, so I will need to take my time and disassemble with care. Service manuals and IPLs also seem to be non-existent so I will be taking lots of pictures to make sure I get this back together correctly. It looks to be mostly complete, so far only missing the fuel cap, oil cap and muffler (from what I read, it ran better without a muffler - and without the air filter too...).
I found a site with some restored units....they look really nice (
Chainsaw Collectors - Craftsman 351.23001 (Reed Prentice) )