The History of the Thin-Cutting Frame: The First Thin-Cutting Wood Saw for Ski Production

In 1970, Hans Wintersteiger developed the world’s first frame saw for thin-cutting wood. This sawing machine was used at Fischer Ski for ski production: laminates—the “ski wedges” inside the skis—were cut from ash wood.

The thin-cutting frame saw was a true innovation: Until then, only large frame saws had been used in sawmills. Hans Wintersteiger based his small thin-cutting frame saw on these large sawing machines. The thin-cutting frame saw was one of the special machines that WINTERSTEIGER built for Fischer Ski during this period. At its peak, Fischer Ski had more than 10 thin-cutting frame saws in use for ski production. In the 1980s, WINTERSTEIGER produced 3 to 4 frame saws per year. Aside from Fischer Ski, they were produced only upon customer request for specific needs and were not actively involved in sales at first.