Equipment

Some interesting information about the equipment used in the STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS® SERIES.

Axe

Made from special steel, the axe is hand-ground, weighs approx. 2.5 – 3 kg and is approx. 80 cm long.  The axe is made specially for the competitions.  These axes are not suitable for normal use.  The price of a competition axe is between €300 and €400.

The athletes maintain and sharpen their axes very frequently.  Whether it’s true that they use the blades to shave with at home will never really be known.  It could certainly be done, though.

Hot Saw

   

A Name of one of the six competition disciplines
B Tuned chainsaw used in the Hot Saw discipline

The tuned chainsaw has a single-cylinder two-stroke engine of up to 62 hp.  This may be a snowmobile or high-performance motor bike engine, for example,  The tuned special units are only used in competitive sport, as it takes a tremendous amount of strength on the athlete’s part to hold the saw still.  Weighing approx. 27 kg, it spins the chain at approx. 240 km/h.  The value of such racing machines is merely conjecture.  The basic investment for a hot saw is at least €5,000.

Single Buck

A Name of one of the six competition disciplines
B Big one-man cross-cut saw used in the Single Buck discipline

The 2 m-long saws used in the Single Buck discipline are specially made in the USA, Canada or New Zealand.  The metal is laser cut and the 10 cm long teeth are hand-ground.  The saw weighs approx. 5 kg and the basic price is at least €1,500.  At a good two metres long, it is only suitable for competitive sport.

Springboard

A Name of one of the six competition disciplines
B The actual springboard.

This is a spruce or beech board 1.70 m long which is used as a springboard in the discipline of the same name.  The boards are inserted, without using tools, into hand-cut notches in a trunk.  As the athlete, standing on the board at a height of 2.80 m, wields his axe, the free end of the board bounces gently up and down, rather like the movement of a springboard.

STIHL MS 660


The STIHL MS 660 chainsaw is a standard model.  With power of 7.1 hp and displacement of 91.6 cc, it weighs a good 7.3 kg.  This is the saw used in the STIHL Stock Saw discipline.