Thread: Big circular saws

Because the Australian building industry has no real need for them as we dont build large framed wooden houses.

hi weaver. have you looked at protool.com.au

also, try searching the forum here, this was discussed a few weeks ago.

regards, justin.

Harry has a good point. There is a lot of wood construction tradition in Western Europe, much of it going back to the 16th or in some cases even the 11th century. Western Europe was then covered in thick forests containing pine, oak and beech. As a handy resource these forests explain much of the solid house wood framing and wooden ship building that went on in many European countries for a long time. There is still a lot of new wood building going on, and of course a lot of restoration work, but the forests have all gone now and oak of a decent age and growth diameter has to be harvested as far away as the Slavic and Balkan countries. There is just a bit of Black Forest left and the wood in Austria and Switzerland isn't was it used to be as well. Oak depletion is starting to get a few people worried; old thick trees are becoming rarities and oak grows very slow. Even the wine and spirits barrel and vat industry are uneasy, even though the staves they need can be made from younger and thinner trees. Several imported tropical (with a trend toward sustainable) timber varieties have been used as replacements for indigenous hardwoods for some decades now. But for renovation projects oak and beech are still favoured and sought after, regardless of much higher cost.

In spite of all this, the related wood industries do their best to defend their bread and to keep up a smiling face. Just to give you an impression of the construction dimensions that are common in Europe:

Wernigerode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
handles about the ancient German city of Wernigerode. Just look at the beautiful and complex town hall, which has an eleborate wooden frame and roofing construction, hidden under its stucco and tiling shapes. Or take a look at this, in the German city of Hildesheim:
Knochenhaueramtshaus Home

Dutch housebuilding has much similarity with German building techniques. This is the website of the Dutch woodbuilding and restoration firm Assink:
Constructies assinkhout hout houtzagerij - Assink Hout - Rietmolen Gelderland
Just check the link "Voorbeelden"(examples) and choose for instance the option "Restauratie Amsterdam"(the restoring of a 17th century merchant's canal house in Amsterdam). There you see this guy selecting an oak trunk for copying a worn down element from a section with a suitable shape, first with a chain saw and then with various large electric tools to obtain the final shape. You can see the finished elements including ornaments and readymade jointing systems, to be brought on site by a canal barge and hoisted and mounted in place.
Also take a look at the option "Authentieke Boerderij" (authentic eastern Dutch farmer's house, which combines living quarters and cattle stables under one roof) and look at the lovely traditional lip joints, the holes for which are cut with electric chain mortisers. You can also picture the large circular saws coming in handy at such jobs.
Beautiful is also the option "Brugleuning" (ornate wooden bridge railing, as renovated for a Dutch castle estate). Imagine the sawing and planing and routing equipment that was needed for this job.

And of course there are the famous Dutch merchant vessels, of which several copies have been made over the last decades:
Bataviawerf | Startpage
I already entered a post about the electric tools they used for these replicas in some other threads in this forum.

regards

gerhard