Oregon chainsaw

The Oregon chainsaw company was founded by logger / inventor Joseph Buford Cox. One day as he was shopping firewood in Autumn of 1946, he paused for a while to look at the curious activity in a tree stump. Within the tree stump, a timber beetle larva was easily chewing its way through the solid timber, going both with and against the wood grain.

The main problem of chainsaws back in those days was the amount of time it took to maintain and sharpen the chain of these instruments. Joseph decided that the answer must lie in nature and he would find it by observing the timber beetle and it’s methods of cutting wood.

Basically, Joe wanted to duplicate the alternating C-shaped jaws of the timber beetle and began going to work on the idea in the basement shop of his Portland, Oregon home. This is how he came up with a revolutionary new chain that was then produced in 1947. This chain was called the Cox Chipper Chain. Much of the basic design of Joe’s chains remain the same to this day.

In 1948 the company moved from Joe’s basement to a large facility and Joe hired his sixteenth employee, John Gray. John was a graduate of Harvard Business School and excited about being in on the ground floor of something with so much apparent potential. John saw the business grow from $300 thousand to $300 million over the years that he worked there.

Sales exceeded $1 million in 1951 and the company became a multinational corporation in 1952. This was accomplished with the acquisition of Planer Chain Ltd. in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Joe eventually sold the Orgeon company to John Gray in 1953 and the extensive growth continued. After the company moved into its first genuine plant in 1955, a new plant was built for the Canadian branch of the operation.

Some of the largest innovations made by Oregon include improved kickback safety measures and designs. This company put a lot of research into the kickback problem and came up with some great innovations to aid the problem.

Today the Oregon chainsaw company is still working to deliver innovation to the chainsaw and timber industries. There continue to be innovations that increase productivity and safety as well.

In the early 1990s many of the Oregon company’s cutting chain products were upgraded because of some overall design changes. New, advanced products were also introduced as the company continues to respond to current innovations and needs.

Oregon chainsaws are unique and time tested works of art that continue to provide safe and accurate cutting power on the go. But don’t take my word for it, check out some of the user forums of various woodworking and timber sites. Read and ask around. You’ll quickly see just what a great reputation the Oregon chainsaw has.