This was a project ranging from February to April 2015, back when I was running EvilDeadChainsaws.com. Early in February 2015, I was contacted out of the blue by the art director on a new TV show based on the Evil Dead Trilogy to be shot in New Zealand called Ash Vs Evil Dead. I ended up supplying them four non working and two working 'Medieval' style chainsaws, all assembled but without any painting or ageing, plus a rough stunt saw as well, which took six weeks to make.
Initially the production sent over designs for a highly modified chainsaw. I explained that my chainsaws were produced from moulds, and doing modifications to this extend would mean virtually starting from scratch for some sections. I just had enough time to make stock chainsaws, but had nowhere near enough time to prototype & mould a new chainsaw design. I did think about it for a day or so, though, how I might make the new parts, and even ordered the black plastic pull-starts.
Ash Vs Evil Dead early 2015 concept chainsaw design
The four standard 'Medieval' saws were made first, completed in around three weeks. Two had real metal guide bars & chains, and the other two had lightweight plastic versions. While you'll see the lightweight versions don't look overly realistic, especially unpainted, they were the same design as the bars I used to make for Evil Dead: The Musical, and I knew they could really take some punishment, while being a fraction of the weight of a real bar & chain. I offered them up as something I had made before, and the production ordered some. The four standard saws were then crated up and sent out once completed, with the working saws following three weeks later. I mean working in the sense that the chain moves round, the muffler blows smoke, and the pull start retracts. Motorizing them was tricky as I had never intended the 2013 design chainsaws to be made to work, so the space inside was even tighter. You can see from the progress photos, having the motor running through the centre handle, takes up the minimum of internal space, but it's still tight. The internal design was quite different to the Deluxe working saws I used to make back in 2005 to 2009. I wrote the production a rough user guide to help them get to grips with the working chainsaws, and give them a head start on any modification work they felt needed. I then used this to update my 2008 'Deluxe' working chainsaw instructions, which you can download via the link below;
You won't see my chainsaws on screen, however. It was only once the order was completed that rights issues with Army Of Darkness became apparent, which left the production with a problem as they couldn't use my 'Medieval' chainsaws exactly as they were without having copyright issues, as they're identical to the Army Of Darkness screen-used chainsaw design. Further to this, as Bruce Campbell's stuntman's hands were quite big, as are Bruce's for that matter, this meant they needed to re-orientate the inside of my saws to make it an exact custom fit for Bruce & the stuntman's hands. My chainsaws tend to be a one-size-fits-all, and aren't a custom fit for every customer, plus there is only so much internal space. The third issue was power. The 5:1 Geared 15v DC Motor I used, while about as powerful as I'd want to go on a chainsaw attached to my hand and next to my leg, was nowhere near enough for the production's needs of cutting though prosthetic rubber limbs and such. The motors I used were meant for cosplayers. You touch the chainsaw to your trousers and it would bite into the fabric and stall rather than cutting though anything (which is exactly what I designed it to do). That's not to say I would want to have the spinning chainsaw pushed into my face, there is still some power there, it would cause some damage, but it was never going to cut though a plank of wood. A loaf of bread would probably be the limit. After three series of R&D, they eventually re-tooled the internals of Makita circular saw, which with a real blade, would have been approaching the power of a real chainsaw. They also made them cordless, custom made rubber chains from cast pieces fixed to car timing belts, and cast the body sections in carbon fibre.
This combined with the copyright issues meant they basically had to completely dis-assemble my chainsaws and virtually start from scratch re-orientating the interior and changing the outer look to negate any copyright issues. That said, it was always unlikely that a big budget TV production was going to be able to buy such an involved and complex prop from an amateur cosplay prop-maker, and have them fit all their requirements perfectly, for the show's entire run, so some modification was always going to be needed regardless. I was told they used modified parts from my original chainsaws to make their first prototype chainsaw, but once they got this all sorted, they basically re-moulded everything and made their own chainsaws from then on, and are no original parts from my chainsaws used on their own screen-used chainsaws. That said, I'd be surprised if the production literally scrapped & remade 100% of my chainsaws from scratch; the plastic moulded parts of course, but the real blades & chains, top handles, pull-start, wristbands, brackets and all the fixings? Either way, at least it was all sorted and they got what they needed to get done in the end.
As my parts were re-moulded, one part of my contribution which was carried over to the production's chainsaws, was the parts I made from scratch, such as the exact design of the lid & side grill, and the additional measurements & angles of fixings like the wristband, handle and such, which has now become canon to the Evil Dead universe. An anomolus example of that would be the screen-used top lids in Evil Dead II & Army Of Darkness, which were made from welded sheet metal. I knew making a metal lid from scratch for each chainsaw would be hugely time consuming. I could have emulated details on the metal lid (welds, gaps in the sheet metal edges, etc...) into my plastic one, but I decided to go for something more in keeping with the rest of the body, which looked clean and neat. There is also the element of me wanting to make something which looked properly professional for my customers. You now have the strange situation where the Ash Vs Evil Dead lid, is accurate to my inaccurate lid, rather that being modelled correctly off the original Evil Dead II & Army Of Darkness sheet metal lid.
As a last aside, I was contacted a few months later in June 2015 by Starz Entertainment, with a view to buying ten chainsaws for a marketing campaign. Their budget was $400 (£260) per chainsaw, and I replied that it would be difficult for me to make saws at, what would have been, less than half of full price (my saws were £550). I explained that my process is fairly regimented, and didn't lend itself to making rougher/cheaper versions, as well as the fact that I'd not be keen on putting my name to something which isn't of the high standards I normally work to, especially as they'd be using them for advertising purposes which means lots of people would see them. I made an offer of five chainsaws at (just about) full price and a sixth free, for the assumed $4000 (£2600) budget, but they didn't go for it.
Producing the Chainsaws (February to April 2015)
Below you can see a gallery of in-progress project photos, which you can click to enlarge. They are presented in chronological order and were taken at various intervals over the six week make. The four standard chainsaws are first, then the two working chainsaws last.
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Working 'Medieval' Chainsaw Video
This is the video I created for the production, to showcase the 'working' elements of the working chainsaws. The battery pack is on a wire, outside the saw, to keep the internal weight down, but the rest is self contained.
The Completed Order
Below you can see a gallery of completed chainsaw photos, which you can click to enlarge. The grey stunt/test chainsaw is first, then the four standard chainsaws; two with lightweight plastic blades, and two with real metal blades, and lastly the two working chainsaws, along with some spare parts I sent.
