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Pioneer chainsaw history: dated facts from a Canadian museum page and four Norwegian museum catalogue records

Dated facts about Pioneer chainsaws from 1940 to 1970, drawn from a Thunder Bay Museum object page and four Norwegian museum catalogue records of saws made in Peterborough, Ontario.

Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It sets museum records side by side, and nothing here ranks one maker against another. The Norwegian texts are in Norwegian: the wording here is our own summary of them. The engine, power and weight figures come from a note, a manual or a website that the museum names, not from a test.

Dated facts

Pioneer chainsaw facts in date order, with the page that dates each one
DateWhat the source says
1940The Thunder Bay Museum in Ontario describes object 2010.175.4 as a green Pioneer 650 chainsaw from 1940, with a tree on the top and the blade and chain attached, and says it was used in bush camps for pulp cutting. The same page names Samuel J. Bens with one of the earliest patents for a wood-cutting chainsaw in 1905. Source: Thunder Bay Museum object page.
1961 to 1964A Norwegian forestry museum record catalogues a "Pioneer NU-17" made in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1961 to 1964. It has a copper coloured finish and the oil and fuel fillers at the front of the body. The handle bar is a light metal tube covered in black rubber. The record quotes a Swedish website for a centrifugal clutch, a weight of 11.7 kg with full tanks, a 16 inch bar and chain, a 0.75 litre petrol tank, a 0.25 litre oil tank and a pin-based ignition system. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.13851.
1966 to 1967A record catalogues a "Pioneer 11-50" made in Peterborough in 1966 to 1967. It has a horizontal cylinder at the back with the muffler on the right, a fuel tank at the front, a pistol-grip rear handle, a throttle lock button, and chain oiling that is both automatic and manual. From a note with the saw and other sources it lists a two-stroke engine of 58.5 cm3, 2.7 hp, a 0.8 litre petrol tank, a 0.2 litre oil tank and 8.3 kg with full tanks, bar and chain. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.13997.
1970A second "Pioneer 11-50" record, dated 1970, is a forestry saw with a yellow and white body, a rust-brown air filter cover and a bright aluminium handle bar. It came with a loose carburettor part marked as made in the U.S.A. by Tillotson. Three printed items came with it: a Norwegian instruction booklet for the "Pioneer 11-50" and two English booklets on care and upkeep. The Norwegian booklet gives a single-cylinder two-stroke engine of 55 cm3 and a chain speed of 16.5 metres a second. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.11963.
1970A "Pioneer Holiday" record, dated 1970, describes a light one-man saw, grey and yellow, with the makers' name and a stylised spruce tree logo raised on round covers at both sides. It has a throttle button that locks and releases with a press, a rope start, a scoop-tooth chain and a pulley wheel on the bar tip a little over 5 cm across. The record reads the small tanks as meaning short running times. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.11964.

The first patents and the other makers' dated records sit on the chainsaw history timeline. The standards that later set noise and vibration tests are on the page about saw noise and vibration values.

To correct or remove an entry, write to the address at the foot of this page.

Sources