Thread: J. Sagar 48" Rope Feed Circular Saw Bench

Some searching, and the internet is a small place after all....

That is one hell of a rip-saw you have there, I'm very envious, what a beautiful machine !!

What you have there is a Sagar, GD Saw bench.
Looking through the early catalogs I have, this machine appears in the 1890's Catalog, 1898 Catalog, 1902 Catalog, 1911 Catalog but is absent from any 1920's
Catalog, this is more that likely because of the popularity of saw benches with a radial arm roller-feed unit.
The oval Sagar symbol cast into the body says a late machine to me, possibly the last of that model before being discontinued the 1920's

Here are all the catalogue cuts I have below to hopefully be of some assistance with the workings and parts.
I am extremely curious to see all the other Sagar machines you have now, you have definitely wet my appetite with this one.
If I can be of any assistance or help dating any of your other machines please don't hesitate to ask, it would be a pleasure !!



1911 Catalog.


1902 Catalog.

1890's Catalog.

Melbourne Matty.

Thank you Matty, that is wonderful! I had imagined that the large bracket sticking up on the front corner of the bench was for a belt shifter lever; i was quite wrong there!
I am so glad to be able to see a clear picture of the third bearing outrigger, i don't have this and i will be able to make something appropriate looking now. You can also just see in the first picture that the drive to the winch first cone pulley shaft is by belt within the bench frame, this would not be possible on mine but i think i can be fairly certain from this that it was driven directly from the saw arbour, there is space there for an extra pulley.

It is a little shame that there isn't a picture of the front of saw as there is no detail as to how the belt shifter was operated, i wonder if you might have any pictures of similar saws which might give some indication as to how Sagar did this. I want to put it back as closely as i possibly can and all these small parts will need fabricating. Also, might you have a picture showing the little timber trolleys that would travel on rails on either side of the saw?

I will post later on a few pictures of my other Sagars, but briefly they include:
Builders Tenoner - flat belt drive
Smaller Tenoner - flat belt drive
24" Bandsaw - flat belt drive
36" Bandsaw - flat belt drive
Vertical Sander - not sure on this one, it's got a motor, but cleary fitted later.
Gfa Lathe, 48" - motorised flat belt
Spindle Moulder - flat belt drive
6" Surfacer - motorised, quite a late machine i think
12" Surfacer - a bit knocked about, probably would have been flat belt.
14" Surfacer - not sure on this one, been motorised
24" Thicknesser - fairly late i think, motorised
Small overhaed pin router
Dimension Saw - flat belt, but motorised

Looking for others all the time....

I have put a few pictures in the Sagar department at Vintagemachinery.org

- sion

I have recently set up a couple of websites, intended to be little blogs about my interest in and collection of vintage workshop machinery. Very early stages yet, they should be a bit more complete and up to date in a couple of months:

Sagar-Woodworking-Machinery.co.uk

And:
flat-belt.co.uk - intended for my collection of machine makes other than Sagar.

Hi Sion,

Great site, I enjoyed looking, pretty sure I have catalog Cuts of most of your machines, just have to find the time to get them up for you, been very busy of late.


Watch this space, you'll be hearing from me....
Thanks for sharing,

Melbourne Matty.

I got it up and running yesterday, on a very simple setup(couldn't wait any longer), and i have posted a couple of videos of it on Youtube:

Walk around:
First run of J. Sagar & Co type GD Rope Feed Saw Bench or Sawmill - YouTube

First time cutting a log (a small one):
J. Sagar & Co type GD Rope Feed Saw Bench or Sawmill - YouTube

Hope you enjoy, i did

that was cool

Sion, many would possibly criticise you on saftey, my observations are that you seem quite comfortable around your machines and to me this is a mark of expierence.
Thanks for showing your videos, its great to see that saw in action.

Melbourne Matty.

Sion,

Thanks for the post, really great to see this monster in action. To be honest I saw it a few days ago and have tried to reply a few times, without sounding like I was being rude about the possible safety concerns. Great to see it up and running, just read through the owwm post and looks like possibly missing some parts, but it's good to see it cutting timber again.

cheers,

Camo

Originally Posted by camoz

Sion,

Thanks for the post, really great to see this monster in action. To be honest I saw it a few days ago and have tried to reply a few times, without sounding like I was being rude about the possible safety concerns. Great to see it up and running, just read through the owwm post and looks like possibly missing some parts, but it's good to see it cutting timber again.

cheers,

Camo

Thanks, its a great saw, it is missing quite a few bits, mainly following its electricifation, the flat belt shifter will probably be a the hardest stuff to make a good effort of, and the outrigger bearing, apparently where it was setup before there was a baulk of timber running through somehow to carry the third bearing. I will have a go at making one one day when i will hopefully be setup to pour such things, in the meantime it will get a steel fabrication shortly.