Having been in the business of selling and repairing chainsaws since I was 12, I can aggree with the assertion that chainsaws are rarely decorated or painted to reflect the owners personality. Sometimes we see an owners name or numbers scratched into a saw to discourage resale after theft, but this is not the same as the glass bead decorated Argus I recently viewed.
It seems to me that the difference is that a chainsaw represents WORK, that we just don't want to do. Back breaking, shoulder burning, ear splitting, inherently dangerous work. This can seldom be said about photography (unless you've carried a Minolta XK motor). Photography is our creative outlet, our way to create and capture images in our world, so I guess it's more natural to lavish a little pride and our extend our personalities to our photographic tools.
