vintage chainsaws

[Kenty]

Theres one on ebay with 3 days left and its up to £175, worth a watch.

 

 

I'll keep an eye on that, thank you.

[Kenty]

Yes - except that that one may well be an 070....

 

 

 

If you are offered an 090 and confirm that this is definitely what it is, in full working order, freshly serviced, I would say anything under £450 is a very good price. The AV model would be more and if it has a sprocket or roller nose bar in decent condition that will also add a bit.

 

 

 

Worth noting, you can't tell age from lack of chainbrake (they never had them) or AV/non-AV as these options were run in parallel. There are some features which allow you to get a rough age, such as the colour/style of the top, type of badge on the starter cover and the arrangement of the badges on the top cover but these parts are also easily interchangeable.

 

 

 

Alec

 

 

Thank you for the info.

[agg221]

To explain why, and what to look for.

 

The 090 and the 070 share almost all components, to the point where you can quite reasonably turn one into the other and it is not 'fake'.

 

The parts which are different are:

 

The recoil starter. The one on the 090 is bigger so the housing fins are straight. The 070 has a concave starter housing.

 

The clutch. The 090 has a larger 6-shoe clutch whereas the 070 has a smaller 3-shoe clutch.

 

The barrel and piston. The 090 has a 66mm bore whereas the 070 has a 58mm bore. There is also an externally visible witness in that, although the decompression button is in the same side on both due to the shared top cover, the decompression lever runs front to back on the 090, parallel with the carb/exhaust and across the casting marks on the top. On the 070 it runs side to side, perpendicular to the ports and parallel to the casting marks. This also seems to hold true of all the aftermarket ones. You have to take the top cover off to see it, but this only held on with three screws - the two visible ones at the front and the one under the air filter cover.

 

Alec

[gnfencer]

I used to have a husky 65, from the early 80s,

The local husky dealer used to love having it to service, he said when husky stopped making the 65, they started making the $hit€.

 

That saw ran like a clock, though. Someone bloody nicked it.

[Kenty]

To explain why, and what to look for.

 

The 090 and the 070 share almost all components, to the point where you can quite reasonably turn one into the other and it is not 'fake'.

 

The parts which are different are:

 

The recoil starter. The one on the 090 is bigger so the housing fins are straight. The 070 has a concave starter housing.

 

The clutch. The 090 has a larger 6-shoe clutch whereas the 070 has a smaller 3-shoe clutch.

 

The barrel and piston. The 090 has a 66mm bore whereas the 070 has a 58mm bore. There is also an externally visible witness in that, although the decompression button is in the same side on both due to the shared top cover, the decompression lever runs front to back on the 090, parallel with the carb/exhaust and across the casting marks on the top. On the 070 it runs side to side, perpendicular to the ports and parallel to the casting marks. This also seems to hold true of all the aftermarket ones. You have to take the top cover off to see it, but this only held on with three screws - the two visible ones at the front and the one under the air filter cover.

 

Alec

 

 

Hi Alec, you know your saws.

This particular saw came into my friends shop for refurb & I was able to have a good look at it before they worked on it.

It's definitely an original 090 as it has had a new 6 shoe clutch, the recoil starter housing is huge although I thought it would be heavier than it was.

My friend remembers it used to come to his shop years ago for regular servicing so it has provenance.

Thanks once again for the info, it's been very helpful.

[agg221]

Hi Kenty, glad to help.

 

I thought this might be a useful case study on originality (note, this is not a criticism of the saw or the seller - this is a vintage workhorse and the odds of bits being changed is very high):

 

STIHL 090 137 CC CHAIN SAW GOOD WORKING ORDER | eBay

 

The first thing that stands out is that the saw is described as an 090, has the correct shape recoil cover and a 6-shoe clutch is mentioned. It is therefore almost certainly going to be one.

 

The date is quoted as 1973-76. It could be, however the recoil cover and top cover definitely aren't.

 

The recoil cover has a rivetted on Stihl badge, rather than a cast in old style Stihl logo. It also doesn't say 'Made in West Germany' so this is the very late model recoil cover, which is actually still available directly from Stihl.

 

The top cover is interesting. It is the wrong shade of orange for the stated date - should be red (but it does say there has been some repainting). However, for this date the main cover with the Stihl badge in it should have raised cast letters which were originally painted white. The one currently on there has the Stihl badge coming right to the edge, so it is designed to be a two-part badge. Note it is rivetted on. This is the 1980s pattern. The air filter cover however doesn't go with this top cover. There is a lip at the edge of the casting so the badges are not lining up. This is the case with both the earlier type, where the model number was printed on the reverse side of a piece of clear tape and stuck in, and the later type where a one piece badge was stuck on. However, the later type had a smaller rebated window with rounded corners, so this is the early type - it would actually be compatible with the 1973-76 date. The 090 badge however is a modern copy, probably bought from Ebay in the US. In theory it goes with the top Stihl badge - it is aluminium and has the cutout to fit around the spark plug lead, as it would if the air filter cover which matched the top cover was fitted. However, the font is wrong, and it does not have rivet holes so does not go with the Stihl half of the badge.

 

The clutch cover is, I believe, the slightly later. The earlier ones didn't have Stihl cast in, and in fact looked very like the Chinese copies.

 

The remains of the paintwork on the wrap handle are black, which is correct from about 1970 onwards.

 

Not a criticism of it in any way - if you were buying it to work none of this would matter and a collector would know anyway. I just find it interesting how much you can learn from a few photos and it may help someone trying to assess what they are looking at.

 

Alec

[shavey]

Hi Kenty, glad to help.

 

I thought this might be a useful case study on originality (note, this is not a criticism of the saw or the seller - this is a vintage workhorse and the odds of bits being changed is very high):

 

STIHL 090 137 CC CHAIN SAW GOOD WORKING ORDER | eBay

 

The first thing that stands out is that the saw is described as an 090, has the correct shape recoil cover and a 6-shoe clutch is mentioned. It is therefore almost certainly going to be one.

 

The date is quoted as 1973-76. It could be, however the recoil cover and top cover definitely aren't.

 

The recoil cover has a rivetted on Stihl badge, rather than a cast in old style Stihl logo. It also doesn't say 'Made in West Germany' so this is the very late model recoil cover, which is actually still available directly from Stihl.

 

The top cover is interesting. It is the wrong shade of orange for the stated date - should be red (but it does say there has been some repainting). However, for this date the main cover with the Stihl badge in it should have raised cast letters which were originally painted white. The one currently on there has the Stihl badge coming right to the edge, so it is designed to be a two-part badge. Note it is rivetted on. This is the 1980s pattern. The air filter cover however doesn't go with this top cover. There is a lip at the edge of the casting so the badges are not lining up. This is the case with both the earlier type, where the model number was printed on the reverse side of a piece of clear tape and stuck in, and the later type where a one piece badge was stuck on. However, the later type had a smaller rebated window with rounded corners, so this is the early type - it would actually be compatible with the 1973-76 date. The 090 badge however is a modern copy, probably bought from Ebay in the US. In theory it goes with the top Stihl badge - it is aluminium and has the cutout to fit around the spark plug lead, as it would if the air filter cover which matched the top cover was fitted. However, the font is wrong, and it does not have rivet holes so does not go with the Stihl half of the badge.

 

The clutch cover is, I believe, the slightly later. The earlier ones didn't have Stihl cast in, and in fact looked very like the Chinese copies.

 

The remains of the paintwork on the wrap handle are black, which is correct from about 1970 onwards.

 

Not a criticism of it in any way - if you were buying it to work none of this would matter and a collector would know anyway. I just find it interesting how much you can learn from a few photos and it may help someone trying to assess what they are looking at.

 

Alec

 

Great information Alec

I've got a question you might be able too help me with

Iam after a 72" Stihl duromantic bar new or a good used one for a 090

Thanks

[agg221]

Great information Alec

I've got a question you might be able too help me with

Iam after a 72" Stihl duromantic bar new or a good used one for a 090

Thanks

 

Afraid I have no specific leads to find one of these - I buy the odd thing from ebay.com in the US which is where I would go looking.

 

Alec

[Adamam]

Frontier 5L, but with the recoil on the right!

 

Call me a simpleton, but surely the 5R should have the recoil on the right, and the 5L on the left? Yet here we have a 5L with a right handed recoil. Meh. Stupid design anyway; at least when you're trying to figure out if the automatic oiler is working since you can't start the saw without the clutch cover on. 'Cos the clutch cover has the recoil in it!

 

Doh!

 

Runs awesomely well now the timing is fixed.

 

 

 

[swinny]

I was given an old stihl 041av the other week. It does run aswell