History of the “K12”

Welcome back to my blog! I went down a bit of a research rabbit trail the other day and came across some information regarding the legendary K12 style of rescue saw and wanted to share!

Brief backstory: AB Partner (AB is the abbreviation for Aktiebolag in Swedish which is a rough equivalent to an Limited Company or a Corporation here in the US) was formed when AB Bergborrmaskiner and Göteborgs Lättmetallgjuteri AB merged around 1955.

On to the fun part! Under the name AB Partner, the company released the Partner C6 chainsaw which was based on the outdated Be-Bo the two companies had previously worked on. In 1958, Partner released the R11, which was the first completely in house design done using the name Partner. Interestingly, it was the “world’s first direct-drive saw with automatic lubrication”[1]. In the same year, the Bromma Airfield Rescue Service approached Partner and asked about cutting into aircraft fuselages, one of the employees experimented by replacing the chain and bar of an R11 with a circular cutting blade or “kapklinga” in Swedish. This prototype worked very well, and the attachment was quickly ordered by many fire departments and rescue agencies, and around 1960 this configuration was called the K11.[2] The 11 coming from R11, and while not found in a specific source other than an employee at Husqvarna, all materials seem to point to the “K” in K11 and later K12 standing for “Kutter”. In 1962, Partner released the R12 and along with it the K12. In 1978, Partner was merged into Husqvarna who still produces this type of saw. Husqvarna currently offers the K770, K970, K1 PACE, and more in their “Power Cutter” category. All of the current Power Cutter models have roots in the original K11 prototype and what would eventually be the legendary K12.