SKIL Power Tools is a brand of electric power tools and accessories located in Naperville, Illinois , United States. It is a subsidiary of Chervon (HK) Ltd, a company based in Nanjing , China .
31-460: The company now focuses more on the do-it-yourself consumer, but at one time made professional construction-grade power tools, which are now being sold under their subsidiary, SKILSAW. SKIL can trace its heritage to the invention of the circular saw by Edmond Michel in 1924, which led to the development of the SKILSAW circular saw Model 77 in 1937. Now referred to as “the saw that built America,”
62-403: A buzz saw , is a power- saw using a toothed or abrasive disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor . A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motion but are different from a circular saw. Circular saws may also be loosely used for the blade itself. Circular saws were invented in the late 18th century and were in common use in sawmills in
93-526: A distribution and service center in Toronto, CA, in 1946. After selling directly to customers for 25 years, since the company’s inception, Skil entered the wholesale business and began distributing its products through hardware distributors. In the 1950s, the company changed its name to the Skil Corporation . Skilsaw remained the brand name used for the company's products. European sales followed
124-699: A few years later, by which time Skil had entered the consumer market. By 1959 it had a full and successful range of DIY tools. Skil's European factory was built in 1961 in the Dutch town of Breda , followed soon after by an electric motor plant at Eindhoven , Netherlands . After successfully entering the European market, by the end of 1961 Skil had opened additional offices in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark and Germany. Skil broke into
155-431: A frame, blade, mandrel, cradle, and power source. The cradle is a tilting or sliding guide that holds logs during the cutting process. Certain cordwood saws are run from a belt from a farm tractor power takeoff pulley. Others, mounted on a tractor's three-point hitch, connect to the rear power takeoff shaft. Self-powered models are equipped with small gasoline engines or even large electric motors as power sources. The mandrel
186-568: A motor taken from a malted milk mixer – the first electric handsaw. After reading about Michel’s new invention, Joseph Sullivan, a Minneapolis land developer, set out to find the New Orleans inventor. After deciding to go into business together, Michel and Sullivan moved to Chicago and opened the Michel Electric Handsaw Co. in 1924. After forming the company, six production models were made at $ 1000 each. Michel went to
217-491: A sawmill rips (cuts with the grain) a cordwood saw crosscuts (cuts across the grain). Cordwood saws can have a blade from 20 inches (510 mm) to more than 36 inches (910 mm) diameter depending on the power source and intended purpose. Cordwood saws are used to cut logs and slabs (sawmill waste) into firewood . The cubic meter and Cord (unit) are common measurements of standing timber (by estimation) or rough logs. "Cordwood" means unsplit logs 4 feet (1.2 m) long. In
248-592: A worm drive. In 1937, Edward Sterba built the first Model 77 with a 7 + 1 ⁄ 4 -inch (180 mm) blade, considered the "workhorse on building sites". The 75th anniversary of the Model 77 was in 2012. During World War II, Skil developed the PS-12 circular saw for military applications by mounting an air-driven Thor motor on a 12-inch (300 mm) worm-driven saw for use in several types of construction. Manufactured in camouflage colors, with saw blade painted black and
279-673: Is a shaft and set of bearings that support and transfer power to the blade. The frame is a structure that supports the cradle and blade at a convenient working height. Cordwood saws were once very popular in rural America. They were used to cut smaller wood into firewood in an era when hand powered saws were the only other option. Logs too large for a cordwood saw were still cut by hand. Chainsaws have largely replaced cordwood saws for firewood preparation today. Still, some commercial firewood processors and others use cordwood saws to save wear and tear on their chainsaws. Most people consider cordwood saws unsafe and outdated technology. In woodworking
310-921: The Michel Electric Handsaw Company , with the sole purpose of manufacturing and marketing the saw invented by Michel. The company later renamed itself Skilsaw Inc. Portable circular saws are often still called Skilsaws or Skil saws. Its successor is still sold by Skil as the model 77. To get around the Skil patents, Art Emmons of Porter-Cable invented the direct-drive sidewinder saw in 1928. Recently smaller cordless circular saws with rechargeable batteries have become popular. Cold saw machines are circular saws that are used in many metal cutting operations. The saw blades used are quite large in diameter and operate at low rotational speeds, and linear feeds. There are three common types of blades used in circular saws; solid-tooth, segmental tooth, and
341-629: The Model 77 set the industry standard for handheld worm-drive circular saws which remains in production almost unchanged today. In an example of a genericized trademark , portable circular saws are often still called Skilsaws or Skil saws . Skil products include circular saws , cordless drill /drivers, cordless screw drivers, cordless tackers , cordless sealant guns, belt sanders , random orbital sanders , multi-sanders, angle grinders , hammers, drills , mixers, jig saws, lasers and measuring tools , reciprocating saws , routers , and planers. In
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#1732780042562372-467: The Australian market in the early 1960s, when they acquired the Australian company Sher Powertools, which was a good quality tool, and sold at a premium price intended to compete with the European brands of Wolf and Desoutter which were well established fine quality brands of tools at the time. In the 1970s onwards, Skil constructed a network of factories, service centers and sales offices all around
403-523: The United States by the middle of the 19th century. A circular saw is a tool for cutting many materials such as wood , masonry , plastic , or metal and may be hand-held or mounted to a machine. In woodworking the term "circular saw" refers specifically to the hand-held type and the table saw and chop saw are other common forms of circular saws. "Skilsaw" and "Skil saw" have become generic trademarks for conventional hand-held circular saws in
434-410: The United States of America. Circular saw blades are specially designed for each particular material they are intended to cut and in cutting wood are specifically designed for making rip-cuts , cross-cuts, or a combination of both. Circular saws are commonly powered by electricity, but may be powered by a gasoline engine or a hydraulic motor which allows it to be fastened to heavy equipment, eliminating
465-461: The blade strikes the material, it makes a small chip. The teeth guide the chip out of the workpiece, preventing it from binding the blade. In addition to hand-held circular saws (see below), different saws that use circular saw blades include: Originally, circular saws in mills had smaller blades and were used to resaw lumber after it passed through an "up and down" (muley or sash) saw leaving both vertical and circular saw marks on different sides of
496-442: The body a greenish color, the saw worked just about everywhere, including underwater to cut piles or timbers. The Navy had Skil put this tool into a special camouflage box coated and sealed with plastic. When they were unable to get into a landing area, the unit would be dumped overboard and floated or dragged in for use on aircraft landing areas. After the end of World War II, Skil began expanding into international markets by opening
527-447: The carbide inserted-tooth. The circular saw is typically fed into the workpiece horizontally, and as the saw advances into the material, it severs the material by producing narrow slots. The material is usually held in place during the cutting operation by means of a vise. The chips produced by cutting are carried away from the material by both the teeth of the blade as well as the coolant or other cutting fluid used. The rotary motion of
558-543: The company embarked on a program to become the most successful power tool company in America by investing heavily in new manufacturing and quality-control systems. In 1985, Skil's heavy duty and super duty tool lines were renamed "Skil/ Skilsaw Professional". In 1991, the Emerson Electric Company and Robert Bosch GmbH entered into a joint venture by combining their power tool subsidiaries. In 1992,
589-543: The design was invented, logs were sawn by hand using a pit saw or using powered saws in a sawmill using an up-and-down saw with a reciprocating motion . The rotary nature of the circular saw requires more power to operate but cuts faster because the teeth are in constant motion. The sound of the circular saw is different from the sound of an up-and-down saw and earned it the nickname buzz-saw . Sawmills first used smaller diameter circular saws to resaw dimension lumber such as lath and wall studs and for edging boards. As
620-563: The early 1920s, Edmond Michel , a French immigrant in New Orleans with a penchant for tinkering and inventing, watched a group of farmers hack away at sugar cane with large machetes. After observing the painstaking labor the workers went through, Michel began experimenting with how to mechanize the Machete . In 1923, Michel created a motorized machete, which had a 6-inch (150 mm) saw-blade mounted on carved wooden frame and powered with
651-421: The motor and the blade. In the type known colloquially as a sidewinder , the blade is mounted directly on the motor 's driveshaft . In a worm-drive saw, the blade is driven by a perpendicularly mounted motor using worm gears , which give higher torque. The worm-drive portable circular saw was invented in 1923 by Edmond Michel. In 1924 Michel formed a partnership with Joseph Sullivan, and together they started
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#1732780042562682-501: The need for a separate energy source. There is evidence for the prehistorical use of circular saws by people of Indus Valley Civilization during the Bronze Age. The same was excavated from the archeological site of Lothal , Gujarat . The modern-day circular saw was invented around the end of the 18th century as a rip-saw to convert logs into lumber in sawmills and various claims have been made as to who invented it. Before
713-540: The new Atlantic City's Million Dollar Boardwalk to demonstrate the new tools, where the first portable electric saw was purchased for $ 160 by the Piers’ developer. In 1926, the Skil brand name was born after Michel left the company to pursue other ventures, and Sullivan changed the company name to Skilsaw, Inc. After the Great Depression, In 1928, Skil released the Model E Skilsaw, the first generation saw with
744-633: The new venture came to fruition as S-B Power Tool Co. In 1996, after four years of the partnership, Robert Bosch GmbH took over complete ownership of Skil. On August 23, 2016, Chervon (HK) Ltd., a power tool manufacturer based in Nanjing, China, agreed to acquire the SKIL brand from the Bosch Power Tools division, which gave them control over the SKIL businesses in both North America and the European market. Circular saw A circular saw or
775-511: The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, farmers would supply householders in town with cordwood, which would then be re-sawn and split to a length and circumference suitable for woodburning heaters and ranges. Almost all these devices were designed to accept 16-inch (410 mm) sticks, conveniently a piece of cordwood cut into three equal lengths. Once a piece of cordwood had been re-sawn to three 16-inch pieces, it could easily be split to stovewood size with an ax. Most cordwood saws consist of
806-455: The same piece. These saws made it more efficient to cut small pieces such as lath. After 1813 or 1822 saw mills use large circular saws, up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter. Large saws demand more power than up-and-down saws and did not become practical for sawing timbers until they were powered by steam engines. They are either left or right-handed, depending on which side of the blade the plank falls away from. Benching determines which hand
837-455: The saw is. Saws of this size typically have a shear pin hole, off axis, that breaks if the saw is overloaded and allows the saw to spin free. The most common version is the ITCO (insert tooth cut-off) which has replaceable teeth. Sawmill blades are also used as an alternative to a radial arm saw. Cordwood saws, also called buzz saws in some locales, use blade of a similar size to sawmills. Where
868-419: The technology advanced large diameter saw blades began to be used for the head saws and to cut clapboards . Claims to the invention of the circular saw include: Typically, the material to be cut is securely clamped or held in a vise , and the saw is advanced slowly across it. In variants such as the table saw , the saw is fixed and the material to be cut is slowly moved into the saw blade. As each tooth in
899-416: The term circular saw is most commonly used to refer to a hand-held, electric circular saw designed for cutting wood, but may be used for cutting other materials with different blades. Circular saws can be either left or right-handed, depending on the side of the blade where the motor sits. A left-handed saw is typically easier to use if held in the right hand, and contrariwise for the right-handed saw, because
930-554: The user does not need to lean across the saw to see the cutting line. Blades for cutting wood are almost universally tungsten carbide tipped (TCT), but high-speed steel (HSS) blades are also available. The saw base can be adjusted for depth of cut and can tilt up to 45° and sometimes 50° in relation to the blade. Adjusting the depth of cut helps minimize kickback. Different diameter blades are matched to each saw and are available ranging from 14 to 61 centimetres (5.5–24.0 in). Saws can have two different types of linkages between
961-634: The world, its name becoming synonymous with power tools. Skil still has its European head office in Breda . All manufacturing of power tools for the European market is outsourced, mainly in China . Pre-development, Logisitics, Sales, Marketing and Finance are among the activities of the Dutch head office. Emerson Electric acquired Skil Corporation on March 23, 1979. Under new ownership, Skil continued to grow. In late 1979, Skil redesigned many of its tools to have heavy-duty plastic, double-insulated housings. In 1982,