# Hammond Glider Saw



## Kevin (Jan 10, 2012)

Until yesterday I'd never even heard of a Hammond Glider Saw. They were manufactured to cut lead spacer between type-setting letters for the printing industry, and are extremely accurate. Mine is a BGR 78 table top model, and from what I've been able to gather was one of the last models built, and perhaps the most accurate. Although accuracy in all their saws was universally known to be unerring.

I can't believe how smooth this table slides, and there ZERO sideways play in it. They have been popular among woodworkers for decades, especially those who build high-end picture frames. They can be easily converted to woodworking use. 

They aren't a replacement for a table saw, but an excellent addition to your shop for smaller projects where exact 90° & miters are critical. It does not cut on a bevel unfortunately, but there's many tasks that this little slider excels at, and has no equal in the woodworking industry as far as precision. 

It's a little dirty but it runs great, and the sliding table just reeks of precision. The whole thing does - you just have to inspect one and move things around yourself to appreciate the incredible precision of these machines. 

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I'm posting this mainly to see if anyone knew about these, or better yet even has one. I'm surprised I never stumbled across them before. 

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## wade (Jan 10, 2012)

Kevin, I"m glad you got your hands on one of those. You are going to love it. I bought one in August for $50, but when my shipping company went to get it, they had issues because they didn't realize how heavy it was. So they couldn't load it, and the owner just threw hauled it off a few weeks later. I hired a shipping company to take care of it, and they did not come through. I got my money back though. But I wanted the saw. Those are quality, and precision. I've attached a Fine Woodworking article on converting them to Woodworking saws. You will enjoy this article. I've also attached a picture of the one I bought, then got thrown away...... Ouch!! But they are handy little saws for small precision work. You have a jewell of a saw there Kevin. You really do. Enjoy the article. Attached below...

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## wade (Jan 10, 2012)

[attachment=994]The one that "Got AWAY"......


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## Daren (Jan 10, 2012)

I could see how that would be very handy like you said to picture framers... as well as small box makers. It looks like it can be dialed in to make very precise cuts on small parts where it matters, good find. 

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## Kevin (Jan 10, 2012)

Wade, I printed the FWW article off this a.m. - it's definitely a good read. I'm not going to modify mine the way that article describes though, because I found some other discussions about the conversions that point out why that particular mod isn't the best route. It still has good info though. 

There's actually communities dedicated to these things. I'll share a few links that I've found so far in case you run across another one. What I really liked about this one is all the essential components were still with it; it runs; all the moving parts move with such precision that it can't be described - it has to be felt to understand why woodworkers go nuts about these things once they discover them. but yes they are HEAVY. It took 3 of us to load it, and I had to unload it myself. Ouch.

I've seen alot of them that have been bought in older links of the past years and the machines were in terrible shape and the owners had to piece them together over months and years in some cases, so I kept getting more & more psyched about mine as I realized what a jewel I had. 

Here's a site with an entire forum dedicated to HGS's. I've even been to that forum in the past, but the HGS forum just never meant anything to me I guess because I don't remember it being on the site. 

Old Vintage Machinery article. The first few paragraphs are relevant to modding the saw then devolves into discussion about some woodworking machinery companies that went belly up due to frivolous lawsuits. 

HGS teardown blog entry.

A really good article.


Carbide blade source but Forrest will bore cut their blades to fit any HGS for a reasonable machining charge. 

I hope you can find another one. I think you will be able to, but not fr $50 unless it's in real bad shape or the seller doesn't really know what they have. 






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## wade (Jan 10, 2012)

Kevin, You left out one important portion of the story....... WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR HAMMOND GLIDER??? Oh, and I was looking up the one I had.....the Hill-Curtis Trimosaw, and in 1925 Hill-Curtis sold to the Hammond Company, hence the Hammond "Trimosaw".


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## Kevin (Jan 11, 2012)

wade said:


> Kevin, You left out one important portion of the story....... WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR HAMMOND GLIDER??? Oh, and I was looking up the one I had.....the Hill-Curtis Trimosaw, and in 1925 Hill-Curtis sold to the Hammond Company, hence the Hammond "Trimosaw".



Yeah I had read pretty much the entire history of the company & its roots yesterday & the previous night after I'd bought the saw. 

Where I got it: a contractor buddy of mine had stopped by and we were just out in the shop shooting the bull when he mentioned one of his customers had "... bought an industrial paper cutter, but he had to buy a bunch of other older junk with the lot. He's got something that has a sliding table that he says woodworkers really like to have and he's selling it cheap."

I asked what it was and he said he didn't really know. But it had piqued my interest so I asked him to call and find out. He did and put me on the phone with his customer, who by chance I just happened to already know. He described the saw and told me to get online and look at some & said "you won't have a problem finding info on them. " 

So I did, and within 10 minutes of looking at them my buddy & me drove the 15 minutes to his customers place and I bought it.


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