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The following article is reprinted from the July 15th, 1996 edition of The Logger and Lumberman Magazine.
When you talk to Tony Pawlosky, it doesn't take long to discover that he is a man with a mission and a passion for using today's technology to improve the productivity of the sawmill industry.
After earning a BS degree from Edinboro University and a M.E.D. graduate degree from Washington and Jefferson College, he founded Pawlosky Lumber & Milling. The mill produces kiln-dried milled pattern stock. As Tony began to fine tune his operation, he started looking at sawing technology, or as he puts it, "The lack of technology being applied to basic sawing at the rough sawing level."
He explains, "The inserted saw shank and saw bit were invented over 130 years ago. That was state-of-the-art for the mid-1860’s, but amazingly, no real changes have been made to the inserted tooth circle saw since then."
In 1986, Tony Pawlosky took the plunge and founded Saw Paw Corporation in Hickory, PA. The goal was to improve sawmill technology by using the latest in computer-aided design. All of Tony’s products are designed using precision and computer technology. With the aid of computer software (finite element analysis) and modern manufacturing techniques, he believes that he is producing a state-of-the-art one-piece carbide saw bit and shank. Each Saw Claw is precision CNC sharpened to exact tolerances, exceeding all industry standards. It is totally recyclable and can be returned to the factory to be retipped over and over again.
The one-piece construction provides strength and stability over the two piece bit and shank design, and according to Tony, provides faster feed rates, smoother cuts, ands runs quieter. Although the initial cost is roughly the same as the traditional two-piece design, the over-all cost of owning a Saw Claw is usually less. The Saw Claw can be retipped at least 20 times and has a life expectancy of two years. Pawlosky estimates that a mill can expect savings of 25% in costs to maintain bits supplies and labor. In today’s competitive business environment, even one penny per board foot can make a big difference over the period of a full years operation.
The Saw Claw is only sold factory direct because of the retipping services offered from the factory. Quick turn-arounds (usually within 48 hours) are the norm. In addition, technical assistance is available by phone to any customer. Tony has extensive consulting experience both here in the U.S. and abroad. He has field experience in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, South America and Canada. The Saw Claw can not only be used in stationary circular saw operations but they have also been used successfully in remote areas (such as New Guinea) by portable sawmill operators. In those kinds of remote areas, servicing regular brazed-tungsten tipped saws can take days because of the transportation logistics. Frequently, helicopters are required to ferry parts.
The Saw Claw also works with all species of woods, from pine and oak, to difficult species like cypress and hickory. Tony Pawlosky hold three U.S. patents on his design and has more pending. Clearly, there’s more innovative technology to come as he continues to use computer-aided design to develop more efficient sawing products.
The accompanying photos show Tony (orange hard hat in first picture) consulting in Chile, where he sells and services over 400 sawmills.
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