The STIHL Liliput was a pre-war electric chainsaw introduced in 1933 and, per STIHL’s own history, it was the first one-man electric saw in the company’s range.
That matters because STIHL had already built a much heavier two-man electric saw in the late 1920s; the Liliput was the step that made electric chainsawing substantially more portable for a single operator. STIHL’s official history also puts the Liliput at about 25 kg, which was “light” for its day, even though it sounds massive now.
STIHL Liliput
Historically, the Liliput sits between STIHL’s first two-man electric chainsaw and the company’s famous 1929 Type A gasoline tree-felling machine.
STIHL says the early electric saw could only work on already-felled timber, while the gasoline Type A could also fell standing trees. That makes the Liliput an important transitional machine: not yet a modern all-purpose forestry saw, but a major ergonomic and practical advance in getting power sawing closer to true one-person use.
Its quirks are exactly what make it fascinating. It was still a corded, mains-voltage machine, so mobility depended on access to power. Even at 25 kg it was heavy, long, and awkward by modern standards, and it belongs to the era before the safety systems people now expect as normal. In spirit, though, it is clearly an ancestor of today’s STIHL electric and battery saws.
As a collectible, the Liliput is highly desirable because it checks three boxes at once: pre-war STIHL, electric-saw pioneer, and first-of-kind one-man significance.
Public market evidence is thin; one Austrian listing from 2021 asked €980 for an example, but that is only an asking price, not a solid market comp. In practice, condition, completeness, provenance, and whether the correct bar/chain and handles survive will matter more than any single price reference.
Details from the 2021 listing include:
- Model: STIHL Liliput Typ STD
- Year: 1933 (example machine in listing)
- Production period: 1933–1937
- Serial example: Machine no. 5866
- Included parts: extra handle + STIHL A4 oiler + bar and chain
- Asking price: €980 (negotiable)
- Seller location: Hadersdorf am Kamp, Austria
The ad calls it “die erste Einmann-Kettensäge von Stihl” (first one-man chainsaw from Stihl) and said it was produced in small numbers at the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt workshop.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | STIHL Liliput / Type Liliput |
| Production | 1933–1937 |
| Power | 1.5 kW |
| Voltage | 220 / 380 V AC |
| Motor | Universal electric motor |
| Weight | ≈25 kg |
| Operation | One or two-man electric chainsaw |
| Intended use | Bucking felled timber |
To understand the Liliput, it helps to look at what came before it.
| Year | Model | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1926 | First STIHL electric chainsaw | 48 kg, two-man operation |
| 1929 | STIHL Type A gasoline saw | lighter but still heavy |
| 1933 | STIHL Liliput | first practical one-man electric saw |
| late 1930s | various electric / petrol models | expanding product line |
The Liliput represents the step where STIHL moved from large stationary or two-man electric saws to portable single-operator machines.
1930s: The first of its kind
Boasting a total weight of “only around 25 kilograms” and a “universal electric specialized motor”, the STIHL Liliput – the first one-man electric saw – is added to the company’s product range in 1933.
Compared to modern chainsaws, the design is very unusual.
Major quirks:
- Universal electric motor — allowed operation on AC or DC power
- External oiler on some examples
- Extremely heavy drive housing
- Very long bar for log bucking
- No chain brake or modern safety features
- Industrial power cable
Despite weighing 25 kg, it was considered very lightweight for the era.
Collectors often group the Liliput and Typ 37 Electrosäge together, however, documentation is sparse.
What is likely:
- The Typ Liliput was part of STIHL’s early electric chainsaw development program
- During the mid-1930s STIHL produced multiple electric saw variants
Some collectors believe the Typ 37 Electrosäge was either:
- a later electric design, or
- a designation used in catalogs
But primary STIHL historical pages do not explicitly confirm the Typ 37 relationship, so it remains uncertain without a catalog or factory literature.
The saw is extremely rare, because:
- short production run (≈4 years)
- pre-WWII industrial tool
- electric infrastructure limited in forestry areas
- many were scrapped during wartime
Most surviving examples are:
- museum pieces
- private collector items
More historic STIHL Chainsaw articles:
