kmmcrafts

Interesting video but I think I only understood a couple words he said..

Was going to tell you: I found a Hawk G4 in North Carolina on Craigslist.. Not sure how close to you that is.. I think they was asking $500 if I remember right. I use searchtempest to search craigslist by state instead of going to CL and searching each individual city.. Everyone says that about those Hegners.. I have a hard time paying $400 on a old, very old saw that looks like it was towed behind a car in the northern salt / snow / ice covered roads for about 8 years, LOL I looked at one a couple weeks back and even got the guy down to $300 from the 400 he was asking.. The rusty saw and tiny table just turned me off..

They use the paint from the dollar store I think.. every one I look at on craigslist etc. look like crap.. I've only ever seen one Hawk that looked like that.. LOL I guess it's a good thing the paint is the only thing they skimp on.. but being a used saw buyer.. sure turns me off when looking at them.. They look terrible.

Wish I had known, I have a bunch of Hegner clamps and some goofy looking zig zag looking springs that go at the back of the saw.. Came in a box of blades etc I picked up at a estate sale.. Must be 10 clamps in the box.. Of coarse the pack rat I am.. I probably couldn't find them now, LOL I was going to eBay them.. but I decided to hang onto them since i want to own a Hegner sometime just to play around with and see if I like them.. I'd have gave you those clamps for shipping cost.. Like I said.. probably 2 hours work just to find where i put them now though, LOL

Okay I’ll check messages. Since we are on the subject I thought I post images of what I have. I am out of stock on a couple styles and the larger two with Roman numbers are the last two I have. They sent me some samples and those were two samples. I don’t personally use any with Roman numbers. The only ones I have with stainless back covers is the 1-7/16 and 2-1/8. Some of the smaller ones have plastic bodies with stainless backer, the others are all metal. The 2-1/8 are all metal as well. The metal ones in the smaller ones have gold color hands. Was supposed to be black as that is what I use, but my last order they was out of black hands and I have to order certain quantities to meet the purchasing requirements so I took all the black hands they had and said to fill the rest with the gold. I have no black hands left and hopefully will be placing a order soon for them.

I’m actually working in the shop on making a T set up for my homemade set up right now. I’ll have to wait until I take a trip to town for some pieces I need.

I found the dust port on the EX to work quite well for me.. I think better than the Seyco on board dust collection system that I bought.. I just have too loud of a vac to use it all day long, LOL... and too cheap to buy a "new" festool or fein vac.. not found a used one yet that didn't look and act like it had been through a world war at a reasonable price.. But I really do like the dust port, think it'd be easy to put a T or Y in the piping to put a dust port up top side and have the saws bellows blower blow toward the above table vac port. Kinda wish I'd have went that route instead of the on board Seyco unit.. that doesn't seem like it'd have enough power to fix up a T or Y to collect from the top side..

Should just need to adjust the tension on the upper arm. At the back of the saw there should be a screw with a locking nut on it.. loosen the locking nut and turn the screw in just a small bit and adjust it to your stiffness to your liking. BTW, glad to hear you like it.. I'm also used to the barrel clamps.. Did Jet change the hole in the barrel clamps yet? The hole used to go all the way through the barrel.. and lots of folks were confused about how deep to insert the blade.. Hawk has a hole that the blade bottoms out in.. Just curious if they've changed that..

Yeah, send me a message of what you're in need of and I'll see if I have it in my inventory, I ordered a big batch of clocks at the beginning of the year.. I still have not inventoried what I have as I ordered a lot of different stuff than I normally do. I had someone here wanting some clocks and I was really busy at the time and now I forgot who it was.. LOL so if you see this send me another message, LOL. I order factory direct and specific order with Seyco motors, I do get both all metal framed and a few of the plastic ones as well as those plastic ones are good in some instances.. The all metal ones fit very tight and sometimes on real fragile pieces I'll use the plastic ones..

Yep, I've been tossing the idea of buying the 18" Jet.. IF / When I sell my old Hawk. The 18" has more table in front of the blade and the reverse tooth blade issues they have with the 22" was resolved on the 18". Dang good saw with a unique upper blade clamp. I bet those with arthritis in their hands would love this upper clamp.. The lower clamp might not like so much though..

Yeah, that’s kinda my thinking. These old Hawks in my area are on Craig’s List for 300+ But in my mind I wouldn’t pay that much for as old and the known problematic motor these have. The issue for me is I do know it’s a good saw “right now “ but moving it and jarring it around to the next home anything could go wrong. It’s old . Was used hard by the original owner and well worn when I got it. I took a chance on it at $100 . Then I got 2-3 years of use out of it. It doesn’t owe me anything but at the same time it’s a dam good saw and I don’t want to just give it away for a $100 either. But would really feel bad if someone paid a couple hundred and all of a sudden had issues with the motor or controllers that these old saws are known for. This would be a $400 ish saw if it had the better motor. The motor issues is what holds me back from even selling it. I just keep using it for the last couple years even though I’ve said I was going to sell it 3 years ago when I got the brand new Hawk.

I’m thinking about selling my old 1993 Hawk 220VS. This saw I gave $100 about 5-6 years ago. I did add needed parts $50 for upgraded front tension cam with the new style BM series front nose and blade holder. In un-needed parts included upgraded to the flexible air blower line kit $20 and also since the saw only had one lower blade holder barrel I bought 2 more so additional $40. Used the saw for a couple years until I found the 226 Ultra. Used it all last summer to give the other saws a break and at one point started making some squeak sounds that turned out to be the sealed bearings in the arm that connects the lower arm to the motor so another $12 in parts. I’ve put a total of about 400 hours on the saw. Runs great but is the older saw that has the problematic motor but I’ve never had any issues with the motor. The saw is a 1993. The saw does have a weird blade angle where the blade doesn’t go completely strait up/down but once you touch the wood it cuts strait, made about 200 puzzles with it last summer and every puzzle piece is square and go in both from the top and bottom so it’s cutting square. What is a good price to start out with? I don’t need to sell but also don’t need the saw. The upgraded tension system would work on either of my other two saws but taking this part off make the saw unusable and more of a parts saw in which not much else would work on the other saws.

@SCROLLERNATION Actually I did in my long book of a post I did in the first reply.. Like the 4-5th paragraph.. I mentioned a lot of people take off the dust blower and hook up a vacuum.. Maybe incorporate that into a new designed saw.. though it'd be pricey to have on board vac system..

I like easy to repair, durability, precision, large table, adjustable blade aggression, and poor customer support... Hawk! Who needs parts when they're so simple you could make them with a hunk of aluminum and a belt sander ( redneck style )..

Think that knob is for the storage drawer

Here is a little more info on it.. https://www.woodmagazine.com/review/saws/scrollsaws/harbor-freight-26-scrollsaw-65406

Interesting to see what is important to others.. and how many are just happy with the saw they have etc. I think something else that would be interesting is if everyone could "try" each brand of saw just to hear their comparisons on them.. Many folks have only had one saw or maybe two.. and have not had the luxury to try other saws.. I see lots of folks on the FB groups that love their Harbor Freight or other very low end entry level saw.. I'm not knocking those saws as they do serve some folks very well for their expectations. After using the Hawks for several years now, I'd have a hard time going back to a DeWalt, not that the DW is a bad saw it's the luxuries of the Hawk that make one realize how nice it is to have a saws upper arm just go up on it's own.. Even the Excalibur is a bit of a pain in the behind to have to "lift" the upper arm up to change to different holes etc.. The small luxuries you get used to and then go back to a saw where the arm has to be lifted up OR like the DW where you have to lift it and either hold it or prop it up or buy a lifter / jim dandy easy lift etc.. Guess I'm spoiled but I'd have a hard time going back to one of the old saws I've had in the past.. and to think now about how the DW was such an upgrade to the saw before it, LOL They're all good saws.. just some are the difference from a Ford Pinto vrs a Crown Victoria LOL

I don't know where Les got those.. they're all the same and some cans have different style nozzles.. I just googled "spray can nozzles.. and came up with this mix of styles.. There are others that are just of one style etc. on etsy too. I'm sure doing the same search on Amazon or Ebay will result in many options as well. https://www.etsy.com/listing/679310878/lot-of-spray-paint-can-caps-mixed-male?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spray+can+nozzles&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1&frs=1

I'm not worried about colors.. functionality is where its at for me, LOL. That said.. Pegas saws look pretty sharp with the two tone paint.. Excalibur made a black and gold anniversary edition a few years ago that looked pretty cool. That new WEN looks pretty sharp with the orange and black so maybe a two tone paint scheme...

I'm not sure what my "dream saw" would be and I like each of my saws for different reasons, so I doubt you could make the perfect saw for me, LOL Such as.. I like the short arms of the EX and that the blade aggression can be fine tuned.. even on the straightest up down movement it still a little more aggressive than the Hawk is.. so in cutting thicker materials I like using the EX.. I like the larger throat of the Hawk.. and it's a great all around saw.. I think a little more robust than the EX type saws. Something to think about in designing a saw in my mind is.. what is already out there.. is there something people look for in particular.. what mods do people do to improve the saws they have.. Saw size and weight come to mind.. Lots of options in the 18 - 22 inch size.. not much out there for small compact lightweight "travel" saws.. Hegner makes the small 14" saw but it's single speed.. Hawk used to make 12, 14, 16, inch saws.. which was mostly single speed too.. a few VS not many though. Hawk and EX seem to be the only ones making anything larger than 22". A lot of folks are disconnecting the air blower and making a dust collection for both top and bottom of saw collection.. seems to be a smarter way to collect it and control it at the source rather than blowing it into the air and having it land all over the other tools, cars, etc.. But that would be a costly saw to have a onboard vacuum system.. not everyone would want that. I like the tilting saw head over the tilting table.. even though I rarely tilt my saws.. having a knob and is geared to make the fine tuned adjustments is a nice feature.. sure beats tapping the table to get it just in the right spot.. I have no experience with the Jet saw but that upper clamp that tensions and clamps the blade in one simple lever is pretty intriguing and the only one of it's kind. I'm sure it could be really nice for a lot of fretwork type cutting. I've tossed the idea of buying one just to see how I'd like it.. I always say my saw of choice if I were to buy a new one is a Pegas.. But that Jet clamp makes me thing hard about going that route too.. Pegas clamps are awesome.. but I'm fascinated by those Jet upper clamps. Years ago old equipment used to have little oil ports on them.. not sure you've ever seen them.. Just a little tube like thing above a bearing and it had a spring loaded flapper top on it.. it allowed you to push the cap up to open it and place a couple drops of oil to a bearing.. Hawk and Hegner saws are not enclosed in covers etc but most other saws are.. and not any easy way to lube them.. though having them enclosed helps keep dust and dirt out of the bearings too. Having an hour meter on a saw is nice for doing scheduled maintenance, and maybe a nice feature for a warranty. But then.. there are not too many folks putting 800 hours on a saw per year either so maybe not a big deal to most.. could be to you though if you're supplying a hefty warranty. Also a dead giveaway on how much value a used saw is if one is shopping used saws.

I'd love to see another USA made saw come to the market. I do think it'd be quite tough to get enough business to make a living on just scroll saws which is why I believe the folks at Bushton do farming and have their hands into a few other things.. Scroll saws are not super popular to begin with.. and 98% of folks look at the "cheap price" and not the "poor quality" when saw shopping.

Pegas would be my choice for a new saw as well.. I've been thinking about taking that plunge now for a couple years.. I want the larger table they offer though and I guess I can't get past the idea of having to buy both tables.. Even though.. I could use the smaller table on my Excalibur..

There is a member here that has one in Florida but it does need some work.. It's listed down in the Deals section of this site.. Why only the G4 that you're after if you don't mind my asking? A BM series saw is basically a G4 with a couple upgrades... It's my understanding that Bushton no longer stocks saws.. They make them as they're ordered.. Used to stock a few.. but no more.. however they are better at keeping parts in stock now, LOL.. and I've heard it takes a little time to get one.. Yeah I'm sure they're working the farm right now..

Quite a few of these older saws has oil light brass bushings.. what is oil light? It's lubricant impregnated into the brass material so they are basically self lubricating. I do not know if your saw is that way but most all saws that have a brass bushing / bearing have the oil-light brass. If it has actual ball / needle type bearings then they need oil or grease. .. I'm betting this saw is brass bushing / bearing. These saws generally run fairly smooth unless the bushing / bearing is worn.. and if really worn you usually see a blade that looks blurred when the saw is running especially at higher speeds. These brass bushings do wear out and need replacing from time to time. That is typically the only maintenance the arms require.

Now I figured one of you all would do one up on this video and do the same thing with a large floor model... When you do please make sure you tag me or quote me etc as I really want to see that one..