In 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 over a VHS tape with a prototype of the new saw, called the SC-1, and, that Fall, Kip and Steve took it to the Phoenix BCMC. When Kenny Cloyd, then principal of California Truss Company (now unfortunately deceased), saw the video, he was awestruck. And when he found out Joe Hikel at Shelter Systems Limited was looking for a saw, he encouraged him to further investigate the Hundegger.
After BCMC, Kip picked up Joe and (the late) Dwight Hikel, Kenny Cloyd, and Mike Ruede (current SBCA President) in Germany and brought them to see a truss plant, several homebuilders, and the Hundegger factory. Though the Hundegger saws they viewed that day did much more extensive cutting than they needed, they both soon placed orders for the new SC-1 design. Cal Truss and Shelter subsequently received the second and third SC-1s in the U.S., and quickly put them into action.
Shelter Systems used the Hundegger to complement their Omni component saws and to cut LVLs up to 40 foot long. Because they could stack multiple boards at a time, they were soon able to cut 100% of the pieces that supplied a combined 170 feet of Auto 8 and Auto 14 truss lines. Not long after Joe’s purchase, a nearby Trus Joist-affiliate, Structural Systems, installed a Hundegger saw to produce floor panels framed with TJIs. The SC-1 was capable of routing holes for duct runs that would improve TJ’s competitiveness with open web trusses. Soon after, another plant in the area, Annandale Millwork & Allied Systems, owned by Gene Frogale (incoming SBCA President), installed one in his plant. Since then, they’ve been installed in I-Joist plants across the country.
It seems that our industry had to get past its “dark ages,” when even small CMs had to split jobs among multiple saws. For example, before they installed their Hundegger, Berry Home Center in rural Virginia had a Timbermill, Clary Short Cutter, PF90, and a Metra-Cut saw. Afterwards, they cut everything on that one machine. And on one of my visits there, I observed truckloads of 8x12 timbers in Berry’s yard that had been cut by their Hundegger SC-1. Berry’s owner, Tom Bishop, continues to swear by his Hundegger.
Today’s emphasis on “off-site construction” increases the advantage of a saw that will “cut anything.” For CMs, that may mean more beveling of valley bottom chords, mitering jacks or hip rafters, cutting bird’s mouths, and ripping rafter tails (overhangs). In spite of increasing competition, Hans Hundegger still owns the franchise for the safest, most versatile wood cutting machine in the world. Yet, Jim Urmson’s more focused approach created the biggest initial splash in U.S. truss plants. But, as both Jim and Hans continued to add capabilities to their saws, their separate visions began to merge.
Next Month:
Linear Saw Wave
Since 1970, Joe Kannapell has worked as programmer, Chief Engineer, Marketing Manager, and Sales VP for MiTek, plus 7 years at truss plants, retiring at the end of 2020.