Gustharts was established in 1985 as Gustharts Chainsaw Centre by Jim and Robert Gusthart, a father and son team with over 92 years of chainsaw experience between them. Jim Gusthart started in the timber trade in 1938. His son Robert joined him at the age of 15 when he left school and went to work at H. Irwin Son, a local timber merchant, where they sold and repaired all makes of chainsaw. After working together for 16 years, Jim and Robert left H. Irwin Son to establish Gustharts Chainsaw Centre at the Milkhope Centre in Northumberland, where the business remains to this day.