K940 - innovation and accuracy

Set up by Gary Firman 30 years ago, Firman Joinery is the largest joiner in Oamaru, with 15 staff and large, new premises on the city’s Northern boundary. Hamish Kane joined the Firman team in 2000, eventually joining Gary as Co-owner 12 years later.

Today Firman Joinery have a history and reputation for craftsmanship that extends well beyond Oamaru and deep into the Central Otago region. Working almost exclusively with a regular group of building companies in the area, Firman’s are well known for their quality work in high-end residential joinery, with plenty of Master Joiner awards in their showroom to prove it.

It’s easy to see how the stack of awards came about, because Firman Joinery’s staff are all trade qualified or in the apprentice programme – even the project managers/detailers in the office have a trade (builder, joinery). With such a high level of skill available then it’s no surprise that quality comes as standard from the Firman Joinery team. But good skills need to be paired with good tools, and Firman’s Felder panel saw is certainly a good match.

Felder’s K940 X-Motion, supplied by Jacks, offers all the renowned features and innovations of the Austrian woodworking group’s panel saw range. The K940 has a 3.2 metre sliding table with Felder’s “X-Roll” system - a precision guiding system that handles maximum loads without compromising the smooth and accurate movement of the table. Named after the ‘X’ shaped configuration of the roller bearings, the X-Roll system prevents wear, eliminates maintenance and provides playfree accuracy over the lifetime of the saw.

Also maintenance free, the ‘EasyGlide’ saw unit tilt mechanism features a highly durable synthetic material that sits between the cast iron guides. This eliminates the need for grease to lubricate the guides and is therefore completely unaffected by dust (not that you see any in Firman’s near spotless factory!). Easy-Glide provides smooth and precise tilting of the saw unit over the long term.

“Accuracy was a key reason for buying the Felder,” says Hamish. “We were looking for a quality cut - something that enabled us to take material straight from the saw and assemble it, every time.” With a powered rip-fence controlled from an overhead touchscreen panel, the K940 X-Motion provides powerful, fast and programmable cutting. “For the right job, the overhead controller and powered fence certainly saves us time” says Hamish. “And we’re getting repeatable results and consistent quality.”

A 7.35kW (10hp) motor means the K940 X-motion is equally at home working with panel or solid timber – an important factor given Firman Joinery’s wide variety of work, from high-gloss panel kitchens through to recently completing a complete house-lot of solid timber joinery for a 900 square metre build.

With Oamaru and the wider Central Otago’s residential market booming, and an order book just about to stretch into 2023, Gary and Hamish are confident about Firman Joinery’s future. “I’ve never seen Oamaru so busy in my lifetime” says Hamish. “We’ve been lucky in the South Island - even at Level 3 we were able to work nearly as normal.We’ve needed to because business is booming.”

Cut at Full Speed with RazorCut Circular Sawblades

In furniture production, high feed rates and perfect machining results are required for sizing individual panels. Especially when support materials and coatings are constantly changing.

RazorCut and RazorCut PLUS circular sawblades make it easy to cut panels in finish cut quality at high feed rates. A wide variety of panel materials and surfaces can be processed perfectly - regardless of whether the saw cut is edged later or remains unprocessed.

Your benefits due to...

Perfect edges, finishes free of marks, high feed rates

Finish cut quality and perfect cutting edges

Consistently high machining quality

RazorCut PLUS: Best cutting quality due to special edge geometry, smooth running and suitable for production lines with high part outputs due to long tool life

A tool for a wide variety of materials

Suitable for sizing panels in batch size 1 production Best results even with matte, glossy and structured surfaces

Advantages for people and the environment

Can be resharpened several times due to large resharpening zone

High tool life thanks to wear-resistant cutting material and vibration dampening

Less noise and vibrations using irregular tooth pitch and adapted gullet areas

Welcome to our Team

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our new Leitz ANZ team member, Kane Mayo. Kane is joining us as our Service Representative for the greater Auckland region. Kane previously worked as a joiner in the timber industry for the last 18 years and has a huge passion for woodworking and all the tools that go along with it.

Freephone: 0800 578 665

+50 % BETTER PRODUCTIVITY*

Irregular tooth pitch

Use in combination with DP scorer recommended

Can be resharpened several times

For processing individual panels or flat panel stacks up to 60mm thick Available from stock Cutting material HW

-4 Db(A) LESS NOISE*

-100 % FINISH-PROCESSING IS NOT REQUIRED*

A New Range Of Sinks