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New tool purchase(circular saw)

Started by sawyerkirk, September 26, 2002, 04:19:29 AM

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sawyerkirk

I'm going to buy a new hand held circular saw, and was looking for input from everyone, I need the biggest baddest, most wood eating machine available. any thoughts?

HORSELOGGER

Hi Kirk,   If you need muscle you might look at a worm drive type saw. I have a 7 1/4" Makita that has lasted me 14 years and am using almost daily still as I am building a house. I am using 8x8 posts and beams and bought a saw called a Bigfoot, which is a Skil wormdrive saw modified by a company out west that puts a 10 inch blade and guard assy. on it. The max cut is 3 7/8" so I could square up my beams in two passes and just break off the little bit of wood left in the middle with a hammer blow. The Skil saw seems a little smoother and more powerful to me. If you are buying new, try Tool crib of the north at Amazon.com. They have comparisons and details on all the main brand names amd good prices too.  Have fun 8)
Heritage Horselogging & Lumber Co.
"Surgical removal of standing timber, Leaving a Heritage of timber for tommorow. "

Scott_R

I have a 8" black and decker super sawcat that has been used hard for the last 24 years. I have been a carpenter/builder for that long. It won't last much longer. The nearest saw that I have found to it is the Dewalt 8" saw. It looks like dewalt used the sawcat as the model for their saw. The only downside is the "improvement" to the front handle which now gets in the way of the leftside sightline. Don't think you can go wrong with this saw.  Scott

sawyerkirk

Most of the tools in my shop are Dewalt, so I am leaning toward the Dewalt 8" What's this about a "retrofit" to accept a 10" blade?

Bro. Noble

milking and logging and sawing and milking

sawyerkirk

Um.....Noble, That might be just a bit bigger than what I need..

ADfields

Back when I was young and dumb (now I'm just dumb) a did a good bit of time on a framing crews.   Now the onley saw thay would not pick on you about was a wormdrive and if it had Skil on it all the beter!   I now have some Skil stuff from Wall Mart and dont think much of it (cheep junk) but I bet the good old Skil wormdrive is still very good if not the best.

Dewalt is Black & Decker's pro line now so a bit beter stuff.  I have a lot of Makita stuff and it's all great stuff but no circular saw's of thers but it's got to be good if it's like the other stuff thay make!   That rim saw of Noble's could be a tember framers dream come true  ;D
Andy

Tom

I have a craftsman circular saw and it isn't worth two toots.  The bushings/bearings don't hold up.   I have a Makita circular saw that my wife gave me for Christmas several years ago and it almost crawls out of its carrying case at night looking for something to cut up.  Man it's a nice saw.

I always wanted a worm drive saw because the framers that worked for my Uncle used them.  Then I had the opportunity to use one and I don't think I could stand the weight if I were to use one regularly.  They are Hea-avy.  The one nice thing is that a right handed person can see where the blade is cutting without looking over the top of the saw.  I'll take my Makita any day.

HORSELOGGER

Noble, I see you got yer milkin boots on,   Is that thing what you use to round em up and chase em in the barn? :o
Heritage Horselogging & Lumber Co.
"Surgical removal of standing timber, Leaving a Heritage of timber for tommorow. "

Bro. Noble

HORSELOGGER,

Thats an idea.  They can sure try a guy's patience.  They are like a bunch of teenagers-----always fussing with one another, trying to see what you will let them get by with.  They know exactly what you want them to do but will just give you a stupid lookuntil you pick up a stick.

At least some horses are co-operative.  I've had a couple of both kinds.

Noble
milking and logging and sawing and milking

HORSELOGGER

Noble,  Most of my co-operative horses got that way after some extensive use of the stick :D
Heritage Horselogging & Lumber Co.
"Surgical removal of standing timber, Leaving a Heritage of timber for tommorow. "

ADfields

Noble you know how them DanG cows will get out just so you will chace them all over the place to get them back in.  One day when I was a kid I was the onley one home and a hole string got out (75 head). ::)   I ran those gals all over for an hour and I'd get some in but thay would make a brake for it when I went for the others. >:(   So I was set to just shoot them all and felt I needed to go have a pop in the house befor I did just that.   After 15 or 20 minuts of cooling off I steped back out ther to have a 2nd go at them.   Thay were all standing just inside the gate watching the house for me to come back and play some more.   Just as I get neer the gate off thay all go with ther tailes sticking up and just having a ball.  >:( >:(   I went back to the house and got that 12gage all set to kill me some cows.   I shout once up in the air and thay all walked right in the gate just as nice as could be!  ???   Thay knew the fun was over and thats all thay were doing, having fun.   From that day on I never ran after cows and played ther game thay love!
Andy

ADfields

HORSELOGGER
You would like my brothers websight I bet.   He is a draft horse kind of guy.   Well he is just a horse kind of guy.   He and I both used to brake and train horses to ride and drive.   I stoped after I got hert kinda bad at it and the wife sead "your to old for it and the doctor just took all the money you ever made at it."   Take a look at my brother's sight, a lot of cool stuff ther.
Andy

 http://www.angelfire.com/az3/mikefields/

Don P

On the saw thing, I've been through 3 or 4 Makita 7" saws, I love 'em. probably the best power to weight around. I fight with my neighbor over drop foot...his super sawcat's and swing table...my Makita's all the time. Being a lefty I don't like most worm drives although some are made backwards now. Gave away my dad's old skill worm drive that still had life after a generation of use. I've since gotten the milwaukee worm drive to hook to a prazi beam saw. For other cuts we have the Skil 8", 60 degreee cut saw...kind of a dog but the table lays over farther than any other. And a Makita 16" that has a 6" depth of cut.

TJACK

My 2 cents is Milwaukee.  My father was a contractor for many years and nothing would last like a Milwaukee.  I have one now and love it.  The company I work for makes parts for Porter Cable and I can tell you they are tough on quality.  I have only used their Tiger Saw and liked it too (reciprocating not circular).

TJACK :D

Bro. Noble

Along in the early 70's I had a Wright chainsaw.  They made a saw with an identical looking head but a reciprocating blade.  It was a little slower than a chainsaw, but so much smoother and easier to make a precise cut. Seems like that would sell now with all the log and timberframe construction.

Noble
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Haytrader

Noble,

My father in law at the time had one of those. I don't know the brand name but it was brown in color. I ran it a little and you are right, it cut smooth. The thing I remember was it was slow.

Several years ago, before he retired and later passed on, the blacksmith here had an old reciprocating saw with a blade about 6 foot long that was powered by an open cooling system gasoline engine. He used it to cut chunks of logs to burn in his shop. If I remember correctly, it would take an hour or so to cut through a three ft. log. Almost all the tools in his shop were home made, including the small tractor with gin poles and tongs he used to put those big chunks of wood in the stove with. He would always ask "When do ya need it?" when you brought him somthing to repair. If you said "Whenever you can get to it Kenny" it would be high on his list, especially if you bought a pop from one of those old slot type pop machines Bibbyman talked about earlier and stayed to visit. On the other hand, if you replied "I need it right away" and hurried off, you were the topic of discussion that morning and your repair didn't get done.

sorry, got a little off the subject line....... ;)
Haytrader

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