I know they are hard to come by. I would appreciate any info on how to obtain one. Thank you.

Hello,
The best and most enjoyable way to get a 13" Makita is to take a trip to Japan and buy one. It would also be the only way. Makita USA and Makita Japan, as far as I know and hear, have actually had court battles over some Japanese companies importing Makita Japan tools into the US. Makita Japan was not trying to stop it and the poor Makita stores in the US were being hurt by us timber framers buying the 13" saw. With that said, I bought mine 2 years ago (and now realized should have bought 20) from Aqua Stone. When I called Aqua Stone last fall to buy 20 they told me they were no longer able to import Makita tools, Makita had stopped them.

But they can get Hitachi Japan tools and they also have a 13" saw, while more expensive I have heard that it is also a good saw.

I have called both Makita Japan and US and neither said they could help me. If you or anyone has a good contact in Japan we should all pool our money and buy a crate of them...best saw I have ever used.
Would have to dig around to get the number for Aqua Stone. Let me know if you want it.

Brice

The 13" is definitly the most useful saw from my perspective. Has anyone used/owned a 13" Hitachi? Brice - I would definitly like to have the Aqua Stone number. I will also keep thinking about a good contact in Japan. It is silly that the US doesn't import the saw. I wonder what the reasoning is.

I have a friend who owns a 13" Hitachi. I've used it many times and would definitely buy one if I could find a source. I'll keep my eyes on this thread!
Dan

Just curious, but why the 13" over the more readily available 16 inch?

Easier to handle, will do most of the joinery cuts, more power (15 amp motor driving a 13" blade rather than a 15 amp motor drivin a 16" blade).

Hello,
Sorry for the delay in posting agian. I wanted to call the lady at Aqua-Stone before I sent so many calls to her. She said that last month Hitachi found out what she was doing and told her she had to stop. Sorry.
So we are back to square one.
Brice

Trip to Japan might have to wait a bit. Can anyone provide a link to Makita and/or Hitachi tools that are available only in Japan?

Hello,
Makita is www.makita.co.jp
I got to Hitachi site by just going to hitachi.com
I do have the hard copy of the Makita Japan catalog. If anyone need pages out of it.
Brice

Try ebay. I've had good luck there with hard to find tools. If you can't find the Makita today, enter a search on the favorite search feature and you'll get e-mail when a saw shows up. I use Paypal with no problems.

Has anyone tried either of the Bigfoot saws?
Amazon is pre-ordering the 14" Big Boys @ $790- shipped which is significantly more than the 16-5/16" Makita and presumably more than a grey market 13"

We have both a 10" bigfoot, and a 16" makita. We love the Makita, but the bigfoot is just OK. It's a great concept, but poorly executed. It's just a skill 77 worm drive with an aftermarket base and blade guard to accomodate a 10" blade. The blade guard never retracts corectly, and always has to be done manually. The castings are rough. It's great to have a 4" depth of cut in a saw smaller than the big makita, which is pretty heavy. BTW, our makita is the older model with the aftermarket base from GNWW.

currently in the shop i work at shop there are three 10" bigfeet and one 14" and a 16" makita with the thick aluminum aftermarket base.
the older bigfoot is heavier and probably rougher(casting and baseplate). both of the new 10"(acquired via ebay)bigfeet arrived with baseplates broken through at the slot for the rip fence. they were quickly replaced at no cost, no questions asked. i generally feel it's kinda fragile and try to treat it gently. i ground the guard down a little to improve the retraction. i think the new ones bevel to 50 degrees.
the 14" bigfoot seemed pretty good right out of the box, it's the new bosch 15 amp vs the mag 77 13 amp on the smaller ones(the 10" bigfoot is available with the 15 amp bosch).
to maximize cutting depth and bevel capacity there are very large cutouts in the baseplate, which is only a problem when you are cutting near the end of a timber and the saw wants to fall off.
but, apparently the saw has developed a speed wobble when cutting anthing other than 90 degrees and is inaccurate, perhaps due to the thin kerf blade, which is about the only one available to fit the diamond arbour. the whole thing seems like it's just really good for gang cutting stick frames and that's about it, not that that's bad. doing long rips makes it stink like burning electrical bits and pieces.
i may be wrong but i don't think either of the 10" bigfeet cuts less than an inch.
all in all the 10" bigfoot seems a pretty good and easily available option. ya still have to roll an 8x8 and cut twice with a 16" saw.