I am putting together my first shop. I was wondering if good used 13 inch circular saws ever come up for sale or not? What would the price range be for one in USA dollars? I live on the West Coast of Canada. What is the best saw Protool or Mafell to get in a 13 inch size? Can a guy get these saws serviced anywhere? Or would I be better off to think about a new saw
when I get more cash? I have a new 16 inch Makita and will be putting the after market base on it. Also I have a new 81/4 inch Makita circular saw. So I thought a good used 13 inch saw would be a good midstep between the two. I appreciate any advice.
Thx-Eric

Eric, I have seen a few 13" Makita saw for sale in the past 3 years but the go really quickly, usually by the time I call they are already sold.
That being said, I have a shop with 5 employees, I have 16" Makitas, a 14" Protool, and 4 10" Saws- 2 newer makitas, 1 older Makita with after market base, and an old B&D.
I would have to say that in 8 years of timberframing, the 10" saws are the most used and most needed saws. In fact, our company had only 10" saws for 3 years and we do a lot of stuff with fairly big wood.

The newest Makita 10" saw is an awesome saw.

Colton Allen

Colton,, wonder how many of your 10" saws are worm drive,, and if you have any sidewinders,, and are they scary? We have a bigfoot 10:.. I find it a bit of a dog. But it plows threw fine!
d

All of my saws are sidewinder type, I don't have any worm drives.
i haven't ever used one but it seems to me that a Bigfoot would be scarier to use than a Makita 10" saw.

I have followed the advice of Randy Churchill and Colton to get a 10 inch makita saw. I just got one from my supplier this afternoon. It looks well designed and feels good to handle. I have the sidewinders mentioned in my first post and the new 10inch model. I have thought about getting a milwaukee worm drive. However I do not know if they give the accurate cuts needed for timber framing work.

Hi Cedar,

Worm drives cut just as well, if not better, than sidewinders. Accuracy lay in the hands of the operator.

I like the bigfoot conversions. 3 7/8" depth is a handy number. Whack!

We own three 10" saws: The Makita, the Bigfoot, and one from Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee is junk - hard to set depth and angle, and both will slip. Milwaukee's still my first choice for a big 1/2" drill or sawzall, but their 10" circ saw is just awful.

In our experience, the Makita is superior to the Bigfoot. The bigfoot is an aftermarket adaptation to a saw motor designed for 7" blades. It seems underpowered. And the base is not as big as the Makita. So when we need a 10" saw, everyone in my shop would reach for the Makita first.

It is nice to have a 10" saw that tilts the opposite direction, though. When doing compound joinery, the need arises to make a bevel cut that does not go all the way through, and there are usually two timbers that are mirror images, one requiring a left bevel, and the other a right. So we keep the bigfoot around for that. CB.

Daiku brings up good points.

I just find it easier to saw from behind when I can instead of over the saw.

What is the depth of cut at 90 for the thirteen inch saw? The reason I ask is that the 10" saws can cut just shy of 4". Good for almost all shoulder cuts and drop cutting tenons 4" tenons.
The only time I could see the thirteen being needed is for tenons longer than 4". Maybe the depth of the thirteen can pass through nominal 6X (don't know). It just seems that the sixteen would be a better purchase for saving money.

What are the advantages of the 13 (besides being lighter)?

MO-The 13 inch saw at 90degrees cuts 5-3/16s,at 45degrees cuts 3-9/16s and at 60degrees cuts 2-3/8s. It is a good saw for being in between the 10 inch saw and 16 inch saw. It does the cutting jobs required between the other two saws. Plus the Protool saw has some nice accessories for it.
Cedar

Is this what we're talking about for a decent 10" saw?
http://www.makita.ca/index.php?event=tool&id=633&catid=24

I have the 8 1/4,, and apart from having to grind the motor housing to not lay deeper than the deepest cut (3"), it is a very nice saw to have.