I'm now a proud owner of a Hawk!

[JimErn]

Congrats, Looking forward to both initial impressions and a comparison between the hawk and the EX

[Rolf]

Does this Hawk have the barrel clamp on the bottom? Take your time selling the other saw.  The Hawk will be an adjustment, especially coming from a Dewalt or EX. The blade clamps are very different.  And as I said earlier wipe the surface of the table until you get no more black on the wipes, or you will have black marks on the back of your projects.

 

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, Rolf said:

Does this Hawk have the barrel clamp on the bottom? Take your time selling the other saw.  The Hawk will be an adjustment, especially coming from a Dewalt or EX. The blade clamps are very different.  And as I said earlier wipe the surface of the table until you get no more black on the wipes, or you will have black marks on the back of your projects.

 

No. The blade clamps are the newer style. The main reason for selling the Dewalt is, no space. Besides, I have an EX and the mechanisms are similar. I wanted a saw with a different mechanism mainly to have a comparison. I tried a Hegner but the one I had didn't work the way I thought it should so I sold it. I have heard/read so much about the Hawk that I just had to try one. If I find that I don't like it, I'll sell it too. So far, I love my EX and it will stay. I'm hoping to "love" the Hawk too. I have to find a project to try it on. Time will tell.

 

[OCtoolguy]

Well, I did a good clean-up on the Hawk yesterday. I took the table off so I could work on it outdoors. It polished up pretty well. I used some 220 paper on it to get the 17 years worth of oxidation off. Then I took my chrome wheel buffer and metal polish to it. Then a couple of coats of Johnson's paste wax. It is really slick now. I brass brushed all the corrosion I could find and gave all the red painted surfaces a wax job. The saw looks like new. It seems to have a vibration in a couple of speed ranges. I haven't loosened the legs yet so it can "settle" into it's relaxed position. I know that is supposed to be important with Hawks. I'd like to hear more about that from you Hawk owners. All-in-all, the saw works/cuts great. I now need to figure out what type of cutting it prefers. I'm still getting used to the blade changing/tensioning system also. If anybody has and words of advice, I'm all ears. Or eyes as the case may be.

 

[Scrappile]

How about some after pictures.....

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

How about some after pictures.....

I was waiting for that. Here ya go Paul. It looks just like this, except different. LOL.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by octoolguy

[Scrappile]

You are cheating!!

[OCtoolguy]

19 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

You are cheating!!

Ya think? I'll take a couple of pics later today. I'm busy doing my wifely duties right now. Vacuuming etc.

 

[teachnlearn]

Jazz it up. V8 engine, turbo, dual headers, chrome wheels. Really give it some cutting power! Should be able to go to town while your scrolling! RJF

[teachnlearn]

Must be Saturday cleaning. I can't breathe and my wife can't take chemicals. It's warm and I fired up the steam cleaner, works fantastic but it takes 45 min to heat up so I can play for that time. AHHHHH! RJF

Edited March 23, 2019 by teachnlearn
word modification

[OCtoolguy]

5 minutes ago, teachnlearn said:

Must be Saturday cleaning. I can't breathe and my wife can take chemicals. It's warm and I fired up the steam cleaner, works fantastic but it takes 45 min to heat up so I can play for that time. AHHHHH! RJF

What are you steam cleaning? Working on a car?

 

[teachnlearn]

1 minute ago, octoolguy said:

What are you steam cleaning? Working on a car?

 

Its a 'professional' steamer for commercial and home. Started with a home model and used it up then got a heavier duty on wheels. Has attachments for, floor with mop head, squeegee for mirror/ glass, brush tips, nylon, steel, brass for scrubbing 'most used' bathroom toilet, bathtub, kitchen cabinets, sink counter, 'walls at times ', inside the car, car engine, The attachments can take regular cloth steam goes through melts any grease, grime, dust, and the cloth picks it up. The routine of hit steam button, release, go back over to let cloth pick up. Also uses a microfiber cloth. For heavy grease, I just leave it over the spot and steam the dickens out of it. Its a cost up front, but the chemicals are gone. RJF

[OCtoolguy]

5 minutes ago, teachnlearn said:

Its a 'professional' steamer for commercial and home. Started with a home model and used it up then got a heavier duty on wheels. Has attachments for, floor with mop head, squeegee for mirror/ glass, brush tips, nylon, steel, brass for scrubbing 'most used' bathroom toilet, bathtub, kitchen cabinets, sink counter, 'walls at times ', inside the car, car engine, The attachments can take regular cloth steam goes through melts any grease, grime, dust, and the cloth picks it up. The routine of hit steam button, release, go back over to let cloth pick up. Also uses a microfiber cloth. For heavy grease, I just leave it over the spot and steam the dickens out of it. Its a cost up front, but the chemicals are gone. RJF

I'm still confused. What are you cleaning

 

[teachnlearn]

6 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I'm still confused. What are you cleaning

 

The entire apartment. RJF

[kmmcrafts]

I use a home version of the steam cleaner.. nice units that require no shelf full of expensive chemical cleaners that if you drink them you'll die, LOL Not that I drink them.. but at one time I had little kids that might try, LOL 

[kmmcrafts]

Here is a bit of info that they didn't put in the older saw manuals.. I bought a replacement tension mechanism for my old 220VS.. and the basic info on adjusting the cam lever tension is in the first bit on this page.. Might check that.. as the cam gets worn and needs adjusting.. I found about every saw I've looked at was out of adjustment.. Bushton now recommends dry lube for the wedge and the front cam tension.. you'll see that info farther down on this sheet..

[heppnerguy]

If I were you, I  would take my time selling my DeWalt. I bought a Hawk and never liked it as well as my DeWalt. I gave mine to my daughter and now I have 2 Excaliburs and I wouldn't trade either of them for another Hawk. I am not saying one is any better or worse, just wait, in case you feel the same as I did with my Hawk. It looked exactly the same as yours. Good luck with your new saw, I sincerely hope you love your Hawk, but I am just cautioning you to wait a couple of months before you sell your DeWalt. 

Dick

heppnerguy

[OCtoolguy]

52 minutes ago, heppnerguy said:

If I were you, I  would take my time selling my DeWalt. I bought a Hawk and never liked it as well as my DeWalt. I gave mine to my daughter and now I have 2 Excaliburs and I wouldn't trade either of them for another Hawk. I am not saying one is any better or worse, just wait, in case you feel the same as I did with my Hawk. It looked exactly the same as yours. Good luck with your new saw, I sincerely hope you love your Hawk, but I am just cautioning you to wait a couple of months before you sell your DeWalt. 

Dick

heppnerguy

Thanks Dick. My problem, I don't have room for it. If it turns out that I don't like the Hawk, I'll sell it and buy  pegas.

 

[heppnerguy]

10 hours ago, octoolguy said:

Thanks Dick. My problem, I don't have room for it. If it turns out that I don't like the Hawk, I'll sell it and buy  pegas.

 

I do hope that you really like it a  lot. It is a well built saw, I just never got comfortable with mine and it seemed like more work to use then pleasure. I probably needed to give it more time. For me the DeWalt and especially my EX was way more pleasurable to use. I remember how excited I was when I found my Hawk at an estate sale and it was only $65. I thought I had found the buy of the century, but when it turned that I did not enjoy using it, I was so disappointed. Have fun with yours, my friend

Dick

heppnerguy

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, heppnerguy said:

I do hope that you really like it a  lot. It is a well built saw, I just never got comfortable with mine and it seemed like more work to use then pleasure. I probably needed to give it more time. For me the DeWalt and especially my EX was way more pleasurable to use. I remember how excited I was when I found my Hawk at an estate sale and it was only $65. I thought I had found the buy of the century, but when it turned that I did not enjoy using it, I was so disappointed. Have fun with yours, my friend

Dick

heppnerguy

My only complaint, at this point, why is it so tall? Why not have a couple of lower position options? A few extra holes in the legs is all it would have taken. I may build a wood stand for it since leg position seems to be so critical with these saws. I am not comfortable sitting so high. It makes using a foot switch not easy. I'm 6' 1" with long legs too.

 

 

[Foxfold]

1 hour ago, octoolguy said:

My only complaint, at this point, why is it so tall? Why not have a couple of lower position options? A few extra holes in the legs is all it would have taken. I may build a wood stand for it since leg position seems to be so critical with these saws. I am not comfortable sitting so high. It makes using a foot switch not easy. I'm 6' 1" with long legs too.

 

 

Well you can always ship it over here, I'm 5' 2"  , it would fit me perfectly 

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, octoolguy said:

My only complaint, at this point, why is it so tall? Why not have a couple of lower position options? A few extra holes in the legs is all it would have taken. I may build a wood stand for it since leg position seems to be so critical with these saws. I am not comfortable sitting so high. It makes using a foot switch not easy. I'm 6' 1" with long legs too.

 

 

These saws are either a love hate with others.. I hated how high it stood when I got my first one.. I also hated how slow it seemed to cut.. but now that I'm used to it.. I don't like the DeWalt.. too aggressive.. but the EX is way too short for me.. way shorter than the Hawk or DeWalt.. the Dewalt is high as well but I put my foot switch in the lower portion of the stand on the DW so it was comfy to use.. the Hawk doesn't have a spot lower for a foot switch to set on.. I have a cutoff of on of the 6x6 post from when my shop was built.. I set that off to the outside of the stand and put my foot switch on that.. then it's all perfect height..  Hawks cutting style took me forever to get used to.. I was determined to like them so I cut everything on the one for a good 6-9 months I'm guessing it took me a good 4 months of production cutting to really get used to and like the saw.. I wanted to like it because of how simple they are made and easy to work on.. Funny how I changed because I remember complaining a lot about how slow they cut etc etc.. But finding the right blade to use and just getting comfortable sitting at that saw was hard to get used to the change after running the DW for 8 straight years of production cutting.. I can cut about as fast on it as I did on the DW now that I'm used to using it.. maybe faster because tight corners and blade changes are much easier once you get it down... Maintenance is quite a lot faster too LOL..

But a lot of it is just what we're used to using.. and I'm learning that first hand.. They sure have a different style / feel of cutting compared to the short link arm style saws..     

[OCtoolguy]

34 minutes ago, Foxfold said:

Well you can always ship it over here, I'm 5' 2"  , it would fit me perfectly 

You could put your chin on the table.

[OCtoolguy]

20 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

These saws are either a love hate with others.. I hated how high it stood when I got my first one.. I also hated how slow it seemed to cut.. but now that I'm used to it.. I don't like the DeWalt.. too aggressive.. but the EX is way too short for me.. way shorter than the Hawk or DeWalt.. the Dewalt is high as well but I put my foot switch in the lower portion of the stand on the DW so it was comfy to use.. the Hawk doesn't have a spot lower for a foot switch to set on.. I have a cutoff of on of the 6x6 post from when my shop was built.. I set that off to the outside of the stand and put my foot switch on that.. then it's all perfect height..  Hawks cutting style took me forever to get used to.. I was determined to like them so I cut everything on the one for a good 6-9 months I'm guessing it took me a good 4 months of production cutting to really get used to and like the saw.. I wanted to like it because of how simple they are made and easy to work on.. Funny how I changed because I remember complaining a lot about how slow they cut etc etc.. But finding the right blade to use and just getting comfortable sitting at that saw was hard to get used to the change after running the DW for 8 straight years of production cutting.. I can cut about as fast on it as I did on the DW now that I'm used to using it.. maybe faster because tight corners and blade changes are much easier once you get it down... Maintenance is quite a lot faster too LOL..

But a lot of it is just what we're used to using.. and I'm learning that first hand.. They sure have a different style / feel of cutting compared to the short link arm style saws..     

I also think that the location I have it in, in my tiny shop, may have something to do with it. I am cramped in a corner so it feels "weird" to me to be back in a corner perched on a tall stool with my foot waaaay down on the floor. I'll fix all of that. Some way, somehow.

[teachnlearn]

13 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I also think that the location I have it in, in my tiny shop, may have something to do with it. I am cramped in a corner so it feels "weird" to me to be back in a corner perched on a tall stool with my foot waaaay down on the floor. I'll fix all of that. Some way, somehow.

May have been a SDGood Video, or another. Mounted the pedal to a wooden box. RJF