YORKTON - Scattered over a large chunk of grass sat a number of unusual machines.
If one stopped for a closer look they would have seen some that were recognizable as chain saws.
But others looked foreign, maybe alien, unusual for sure, with some downright weird.
Then Kevin Kortenko would begin priming and pulling starter chords and you would realize all the machines were indeed chain saws.
The collection on display at the 65th Threshermen’s Show and Seniors’ Festival in Yorkton, were just a small sample of a collection Grotenko, who hails from Pelly, Sask. has accumulated over some three decades of collecting.
“Absolutely I’m a logger,” Krotenko told Yorkton This Week after demonstrating a number of his saws Saturday.
Interestingly, it wasn’t exactly his own experience logging that started his collection, but rather it was a gift.
“I had an uncle gave me what I would say was an antique saw,” said Krotenko. “I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever saw."
At the time the Mall 12A model chain saw was a neat gift.
“It was sold in the Macleod’s Store in Preeceville. At least that’s what he (the uncle) told me,” said Krotenko.
The old saw however would turn out to be the start of something much bigger.
It turned into a passion for old saws.
“That one saw turned into over 400,” he said.
While Krotenko admitted the collection started to grow by gathering some other older saws in the Pelly area, he soon began to look farther afield.
“I’ve been in every province in Western Canada (looking for saws). I used to make three trips a year to B.C for 15 years,” he said, adding on one trip he brought home 120 saws. “. . . That’s kind of sad and cool.”
As a collector Krotenko has done chain saw shows “all over the place,” adding he loves meeting and talking to people with an interest is old saws almost as much as collecting itself.
The hobby has become international for Krotenko too. He belongs to a collector group based in Sweden with more than 6000 members, a group that includes those with just a cherished saw from a grandfather to those like himself with hundreds of pieces.
Some of Krotenko’s pieces are from Europe too, typically acquired in a trade, he explained. He might find a saw he already has, but buys it anyway, knowing because it is a North American model he can likely trade it for something in Europe.
“And Canada Post makes the money,” he said with a smile, adding mailing a saw can cost literally hundreds of dollars.
Of course as a collector Krotenko said he is used to doing things out of the ordinary to get a saw he wants. He recalled a piece of Ebay he wanted, but it was for local pick-up only – local being in Ohio. He said his wife – understanding his passion said “’let’s go get it’.”
The couple sis return via Niagra Falls, but on the way back to Pelly he admitted he found six more saws.
As for the ones in Yorkton, they were the ones Krotenko said he could pack in his trailer, “and there’s something eye-catching about them.”
For example there was a saw that operates off an industrial compressor.
“It was the first time in my life to get to saw with that one,” he said, adding it’s not everyday someone brings out a compressor for him to use.
Another saw has a nine-foot chain bar, which Krotenko said he found at Cowichan Lake, B.C., adding it is one of two he knows of that still exist.
While Krotenko’s collection is a large one, there are always more to gather. The Holy Grail would be a Dow ‘low stump’ saw, which is so large it is mounted one wheels, “and you needed a team (of horses) to get it to a tree.”
