From 1915 until his dismissal by injuries in 1917, Stihl fought in the First World War in the German Army.
[2] In 1923, together with his friend Carl Hohl, he founded an engineering firm in Stuttgart, which was dissolved in 1926.
[3] Stihl founded a new company, for steam boiler pre-firing systems, in the same year.
[1] He also patented the "Cutoff Chainsaw for Electric Power" in 1926, which weighed a hefty 64 kilograms and had a one-inch gauge chain with handles at either end.
He was not called for military service during the war, and instead ran his company as the "A. Stihl Maschinenfabrik" in Bad Canstatt.