I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam
saw would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of
references to circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century,
including ganged circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:56:07 -0500, Don Stauffer
wrote:

I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam
saw would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of
references to circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century,
including ganged circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

I've always heard that the circular saw was a Shaker invention, though
that may be a case of local chauvinism -- the last active Shaker
community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine is close by.

These pages say that the first saws came much earlier, but that the
Shakers were the first to use circular saws in saw mills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_saw
http://inventors.about.com/library/i...rs/bltools.htm

--
Ned Simmons

"Don Stauffer" wrote in message
...
I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam saw
would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of references to
circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century, including ganged
circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

The Miller saw, which was a patented power circular saw (I don't know if the
power was specified) goes back to the 18th century. Supposedly that was the
first circular saw. I recall seeing woodcuts of it when we were working on
the 100th Anniversary issue of _American Machinist_ in 1977.

Hand reciprocating saws go back to the dawn of history but I don't know if
anyone knows when power was first applied to them. Saws made of bone and
shell have been found in prehistoric digs.

--
Ed Huntress

Don Stauffer writes:

I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam
saw would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of
references to circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century,
including ganged circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

The DC Building Museum has an extensive collection of saws, donated
by Mr. Hechinger. I don't recall if there were any rotary ones but
you could check with them.

[Hechinger started as a 1911 hardware store & became a post-war chain of
home improvement stores in the DC region. They folded in 1999 after Home
Depot & Lowes moved into the area.]

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

Reciprocating "gang" saws were run by various forms of power - the
"gang" aspect was that you set the thickness of planks by spacing the
blades, and sawed several planks at once using 4, 5 or more blades. They
leave a distinctive pattern on the cut plank.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

I have a 1901 Sawyer's handbook by the Covell Co. It is mostly about large band saws. It goes on
abut the superiority of band over circular as if the circular saw was on the way out.

Bob Swinney
"Don Stauffer" wrote in message
...
I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam
saw would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of
references to circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century,
including ganged circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

In article ,
"Robert Swinney" wrote:

I have a 1901 Sawyer's handbook by the Covell Co. It is mostly about large
band saws. It goes on
abut the superiority of band over circular as if the circular saw was on the
way out.

They might not be on the way out, but my general impression (I've only
ever run a band-mill) is that the circular mills kill a lot more folks,
and generally have more waste as well. Probably faster, I guess.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:56:07 -0500, Don Stauffer
wrote:

I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam
saw would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of
references to circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century,
including ganged circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

Doesn't really answer your question, but they have a working
old vertical drag-saw mill he

http://www.mackinacparks.com/histori...iscovery-park/

The first video link at the bottom of the page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag4ZCFn7NJA

Has some video showing it in action. A similar mill to this
would have been working at this location around the 1780's.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Mar 16, 11:56*am, Don Stauffer wrote:

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

Holtzapffel book II from 1875 omits the historical detail he had given
for the lathe, but he does give these references:
Gregory's "Mechanics", 1807, vol ii, p.324
Hassenfratz's Traite de l'Art du Charpentier, Paris, 1804
Oliver Evans "Young Millwright and Millers Guide", Philadelphia, 1821
Belidor's "Architecture Hydraulique", Paris, 1819
Rees's "Cyclopedia", Machinery for Manufacturing Ships Blocks

Holtzapffel mentions a steam-powered linear saw at the Portsmouth
Dockyard and illustrates and describes two steam-powered circular saws
there as the invention of Marc Isambard Brunel, who escaped the French
Revolution to England and designed much of the late-1790s ships' block
making machinery.

Jim Wilkins

On 2009-03-16, David Lesher wrote:
Don Stauffer writes:

[ ... ]

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

The DC Building Museum has an extensive collection of saws, donated
by Mr. Hechinger. I don't recall if there were any rotary ones but
you could check with them.

[Hechinger started as a 1911 hardware store & became a post-war chain of
home improvement stores in the DC region. They folded in 1999 after Home
Depot & Lowes moved into the area.]

And I miss them.

Interestingly enough, I needed to replace the kitchen faucet
assembly recently, purchased at Home Depot, and when I got my bank
statement back, I noticed that I had written the check to "Hechingers",
and Home Depot had accepted it, and the bank had cashed it. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Mar 16, 7:34*am, Ecnerwal
wrote:
Reciprocating "gang" saws were run by various forms of power - the
"gang" aspect was that you set the thickness of planks by spacing the
blades, and sawed several planks at once using 4, 5 or more blades. They
leave a distinctive pattern on the cut plank.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

There was a History Channel (maybe Discovery Ch) show about Classical
Rome or one of the other classical civilizations. They showed a stone
that had been partially sawn by a gang saw of around 8 blades.
Karl

On Mar 17, 6:41*am, kfvorwerk wrote:

There was a History Channel (maybe Discovery Ch) show about Classical
Rome or one of the other classical civilizations. They showed a stone
that had been partially sawn by a gang saw of around 8 blades.
Karl

The stones for the Pyramids were cut with saws, presumably made of
copper although this piece of iron was found tightly wedged between
large stones:
http://www.gizapyramid.com/hidden.htm

Leon Fisk wrote:
On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:56:07 -0500, Don Stauffer
wrote:

I had been told when visiting an old lumber camp tourist attraction that
the circular saw was a mid-nineteenth century invention.

I have been trying to determine what an early Nineteenth Century steam
saw would look like. In doing a google search, I find a lot of
references to circular saws even in Seventeenth and Eighteenth century,
including ganged circular saws in Eighteenth Century.

Anyone know when the circular saw was invented, and did a reciprocating
power saw precede it? I realize the first power saws were water powered
rather than steam, so I guess power saws could go back quite aways.

Doesn't really answer your question, but they have a working
old vertical drag-saw mill he

http://www.mackinacparks.com/histori...iscovery-park/

The first video link at the bottom of the page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag4ZCFn7NJA

Has some video showing it in action. A similar mill to this
would have been working at this location around the 1780's.

Wow, that was great! Thanks, Leon. Answers my question, and gives me a
good idea of what such powered saws looked like.

On Mar 17, 12:59*am, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Mar 17, 6:41*am, kfvorwerk wrote:



There was a History Channel (maybe Discovery Ch) show about Classical
Rome or one of the other classical civilizations. They showed a stone
that had been partially sawn by a gang saw of around 8 blades.
Karl

The stones for the Pyramids were cut with saws, presumably made of
copper although this piece of iron was found tightly wedged between
large stones:http://www.gizapyramid.com/hidden.htm

Never saw that before. Thanks.