Headquartered in Waiblingen, Germany, Stihl is a German corporation best-known for its chainsaws and manufacturing other power and handheld tools. Founded by Andrea Stihl in 1926, he made and hand built the company’s first product – a chainsaw. Sales for the chainsaws were initially slow due to it being sold during the Great Depression. In 1930, the company made the first petrol-driven chainsaw which could be operated by one person. This started the company’s continued growth and boosted their sales. During the 1970s, Stihl expanded its product range by entering the brush/weed trimmer market. They initially contracted a Japanese company as their supplier until the company was able to build their own model. Being one of the largest chainsaw manufacturing companies they started to expand and built manufacturing plants in the US and Brazil. Along with chainsaw, their product range also started to diversify by making blowers, line trimmers, edgers and other home-use equipment. The company started its first acquisition in 1992 by acquiring Viking, an Austrian company that manufactures garden equipment. In December of 2008, the company had also acquired Zama, a manufacturing company of carburetors. Through the late 00s to 2010s, Stihl continued to innovate and improve their products. This saw them release their first multi-tool equipment powered by only one engine in 2000. And in 2009, the company entered the cordless power tool market highlighting their trimmers for being quiet. They also released a chainsaw that had a self-tuning engine in 2010 and in 2011, a new range of cordless garden power tools were introduced.
With such a rich history, it’s no wonder the company has so many products out there, from new to used. Finding the right documentation can be difficult, especially in the English language. This is the reason why we opened up a section dedicated to Stihl User Manuals, where you can view or download each PDF.