Many years ago sawmills ran saws that are made from thick steel plate so that the saws which were held in place by a collar could remain right while they were sawing lumber. The circular saw spacing was achieved in many ways including the use of spacers on the arbors that turned the saws or to tighten the saw collar to the arbor at a predictable distance.
This worked very well but as the circular saws became larger in diameter and thicker, in order to cut larger diameter lumber, this made them heavier and harder to handle. These thicker circular saw blades made poor recover since they produced less lumber and more chips due to the thicker plate and wider kerf. The use of saw guides changed this.
Saw guides were designed to increase the rigidity of thinner large diameter circular saw blades while cutting lumber and provide the spacing between saws that generated the dimensional aspect of lumber. The saws turn between the lubricated pads of two saw guides using a slight amount of clearance which enables them to run freely. Saw guides therefore provide the means for increasing recover through the use of thinner saw blades.
Author: Udo Jahn
