Timed Cutting Hawk vrs Excalibur

[kmmcrafts]

Okay... thought it'd be fun to time my crosses since I'm making 10 of these  ( picture posted in case someone hasn't followed my other threads about this order or run upon this topic later down the road).. 

For those that don't know I added hour meters to all my saws.. I got an order for 10 of the pictured crosses.. Cutting from quarter sawn Red Oak using  #5 FD -UR blades.. So far I've got 8 of these cut.. 6 of the 8 came from the same board.. other 4 come from another board. 

Now.. I realize that the same board can have different densities throughout the board.. I've cut 3 on my 1998 Hawk 226VS Ultra... and 3 on my Excalibur.. The times are on the order I've done them.. (ie first number is the first one I cut on that saw.. last number last one I cut.. decimal is tenths of an hour (6 minutes for those bad in math LOL ) 

Hawk 2.3 - - 2.1 - - 2.0 Hours

Excalibur 1.9 - - 1.7 - - 1.7 Hours

Just for fun..... Times on the first couple I cut.. 

NEW Hawk BM-26  Pegas MG #5 first 1/4 of cutting then switched to FD-UR #5   2.0 Hours

Excalibur with Pegas MG #5 blade 2.7 Hours

The Pegas blade is typically my go to blade.. however cutting this Oak found to be too aggressive and it seemed to find the hard soft spots horribly.. like hard spots where slow so it naturally want to push a bit.. then the soft spot was like cutting paper.. real difficult on the Excalibur aggressive style cutting.. even though I have it tuned to be about as least aggressive as it can be set at.. Was much nicer cutting with that blade on the Hawk but still kept me on my toes.. LOL Cutting this quarter sawn Oak makes this grain very un-uniform.. like every couple milometers it's a soft or hard spot.. the soft spots might run a 1/8 - 1/4" then a couple millimeters of a hard spot.. There was a posting quite a while back about some sort of Pine - Fir type wood that was really bad cutting like this.. this is how the quarter sawn oak cuts.. LOL Nothing like regular cut Oak..  So getting these 10 crosses cut has been a challenge.. but challenge is fun.. also experimenting with the blades finding what blade ill cut this easier and the differences in the saws cutting it.. If I were still using the DeWalt to cut with it's real aggressive cutting.. I'd be saying a lot of bad words probably LOL Cutting these from a different type of wood.. I'm pretty sure these could be cut fairly easily in 1.5 or less hours.. 

Heading back out to the shop to cut the last 2 of these on the Excalibur.. 

  

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

So in the end what is the bottom line??? From this point forward will you be using one saw as the primary saw??? I do not see an advantage changing from styles of saws because each one cuts differently as you have proven. I know you did this as a test for fun. I have a Dewalt, Hegner and a 220vs and 226vs RBI saws. My every day saw is the 220. The Hegner is my bevel cutting saw, the 226 is my large project saw and the Dewalt sits and collects dust, not makes it. Have to say that is a way to spice things up cutting the same project that many times. 

[Scrappile]

Interesting.    I have always thought different saws, different blades.  One blade is not as good/bad on all saws.  It all depends on how aggressive the saw cuts.  I know it is definitely that way between my Seyco and Hegner.   

[Bill WIlson]

Interesting topic, but it just serves to remind me why I don't make stuff to sell.  I frankly couldn't care less how long something takes me to cut.  When I show people stuff I've made, they always ask; "How long did that take?".  I just shrug my shoulders and say, "No idea". 

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

So in the end what is the bottom line??? From this point forward will you be using one saw as the primary saw??? I do not see an advantage changing from styles of saws because each one cuts differently as you have proven. I know you did this as a test for fun. I have a Dewalt, Hegner and a 220vs and 226vs RBI saws. My every day saw is the 220. The Hegner is my bevel cutting saw, the 226 is my large project saw and the Dewalt sits and collects dust, not makes it. Have to say that is a way to spice things up cutting the same project that many times. 

The bottom line? I wrote all of this so those folks that think they need / want another saw can use my topic to persuade the spouse to let them have another saw.. and you just ruined it for them by saying you see no advantage of having two different styles of saws.. Shame on you  

From this point forward will you be using one saw as the primary saw??... No.. Heck no... I need more saws to use.. Hegner is next on my list..

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

There are always plenty of excuses to buy new toys. Hegner will give you better customer service so order it up.