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Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
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September 2021 #13266 Page #10
Sixty Years of Machines Part XXII: Linear Saw Convergence Joe Kannapell
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n the 1990s, two small town entrepreneurs tackled vexing cutting problems, but from very different angles, and their innovations set the table for today’s linear saw industry. Jim Urmson, working in Mt. Dora, Florida, population 14,000, started from the ground up, aiming to automate his radial arm saw. Kip Apostol, working in Heber City, Utah, population 20,000, started from the top down, intent on automating his heavy timber cutting. Jim focused on the cuts common to all CMs, while Kip addressed the cuts that were common to no CMs. In the end, they addressed the full range of off-site wood cutting requirements, and both made an indelible mark on our industry. The market for Jim’s broadly focused approach would seem to dwarf the market for Kip’s niche approach. But, for Kip, fashioning mortise and tenon joints was so tedious that automating those cuts would have a huge payback on every job. But how many U.S. shops were like Kip’s? Not many. Surprisingly though, Kip’s solution spilled over to resolve other cuts that were challenging more and more truss plants. Kip was a Timber Framer who put up wood structures straight out of the Old World – without metal fasteners, no less! He practiced true mortise and tenon carpentry that is most prevalent (and appreciated) in the Northeastern states, and is awesome to behold, especially to this lifelong wood engineer. How could he do it without automation? But, for many years, Kip did it the hard way. That is, until 1995, when he flew overseas to meet Hans Hundegger and he discovered that German technology could do most of it. Then Kip figured out how to adapt his joinery methods to work with Hundegger’s machinery and installed a Hundegger K1 in his operation. Over the next five years he achieved considerable success with the K1. However, few others in America seemed interested in Hundegger saws. Hans Hundegger was incredulous. His saws weren’t selling in the U.S., but he had deployed over 1000 in Germany. In 2001, he asked both Kip and Steve Shrader, Kip’s project manager, to help him understand the reasons. After their collaboration, Hans went to work on a smaller saw that could still do joinery, but could also process I-Joists, 2x4s, and small glulams or LVLs. In 2003, Hundegger sent Continued next page
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