Lots of collectors here, records, audio gear, booze, guns, knives...why not chainsaws? You juggle?
Nope, no juggling! I would like to blame it entirely on the fact that the saws I collect weigh (powerhead only, no bar/chain or any fluids) upwards of 25 pounds each and I don't have the physical stature for such an activity . . . but the truth is that I pretty much lack the necessary coordination as well.
I’m active with several collectible categories beside watches. Haven’t previously thought of Stihl chainsaws even though I’ve used several of their products over the past 30 plus years. This puts another light on the next time I pick up my chainsaw . Wondering what your backstory is to be attracted to Stihl…
Well since there has been no pictures in this thread yet of a chainsaw (hint hint.. love to see a nice example or 2 of your vintage ones), here is my modern and well used Stihl with an Omega 1968 chronograph.
Chainsaws in generally are widely collected and Stihl is certainly one of the most popular/common brands to collect due to the history alone as well as global distribution going back many decades.
My backstory is that I'm a tinkerer by nature. I'm blessed with a high level of mechanical aptitude and that couples well with a strong need to keep my hands and mind busy in my free time (you know what they say about idle hands!). I've always fancied myself a person who can fix anything, so a decade or so ago when my crappy little Poulan chainsaw shit the bed I was on the hunt for a replacement. I found a Craigslist ad for "Chainsaw in a box - $15". I could see that it was a disassembled Stihl, which is the brand my father essentially branded onto my brain, so I figured even if it wasn't repairable I could at least sell the parts and come out ahead. It was unfortunately not complete, so I sold the parts individually on ebay and netted $180. That quickly became a new game of buying junk saws and parting them out. After doing that for a short time I knew the various models inside & out and then started buying junk saws to repair and resell. I built/repaired and flipped over 500 chainsaws and somewhere along that path I started collecting. My goal all along was to fully fund my saw collection with money generated from saws. Fast forward 10 years and I managed to amass a world class collection of chainsaws and parts worth many tens of thousands of dollars all with a $15 initial investment out of pocket. I'm a hardcore numbers geek so I kept meticulous spreadsheets of every saw I ever touched, serial numbers, work done, net profit, etc. My wife always thought it was a bizarre hobby but just couldn't argue with a self-funding hobby since so many are just dollars out!
As for photos, a little explanation first. The two Stihl models I am most passionate about are the 090 as well as historic first version of Stihl's modern formatted one-man chainsaw (yes, there were once many models of two-man chaisaws!) called the Contra or Lightning, depending upon whether it was being marketed and shipped to an English speaking part of the world. The story behind the Contra/Lightning is that they were rushing to get it to market so they basically released a prototype-quality saw made from a sand casting process (as opposed to die casting which produces a much superior result). These "sand casts" as we call them were only produced on six days in 1959 with a total production 1,180 machines. After that they switched to die cast. And for the record, the cases were cast out of magnesium. Those sand casts are difficult to find, and what remains of them are sought after by droves of collectors around the world. At the moment I have a total of 10 of these in my collection. As far as I am aware, I have more than any other collector who has come forward as well being the only known person to own at least one one from all six production days. To most they look like junky old saws ready for the dump, but to those who know (care) they are incredible! Here are nine of my ten.
Now, when it comes to the other model I referenced, the 090, that is the largest displacement one-man chainsaw Stihl ever produced at a whopping 137cc making an advertised 13hp. Like a typical American this got me obsessed with displacement so I also sought out the only other four marketed production level one-man chainsaws with a larger displacement than the Stihl 090, which are all fairly rare and challenging to find. I'm going to pretend you care, so the list is this (and represented as right-to-left in the photo):
1) Champion Universal @ 160cc. Produced (and sold only) in Australia starting in 1955. Weighs in, dry with no bar/chain at 42 pounds!
2) Solo Super Rex @ 142cc. Produced in Germany starting in 1963.
3) It's a "tie" here. Red top saw in the photo is a Power Machinery (PM) 390 and the brown top saw is a Skil 1690 @ 139cc. Produced in Canada by Skil Corporation based out of Chicago starting in 1969. These are identical saws, manufactured by Skil Corporation but PM sold a rebadged version as well.
4) Stihl 090 @ 137cc. Produced in Germany starting in 1968 and is basically the predecessor of the Contra/Lightning noted above.
