Circ saw

[cubby]

As a follow-up to a recent thread (re replacing DW with Bosch) where a comment about left blade circular saws came up....

At the time it occurred to me that both my corded and cordless models were left blade (not that I remember ever considering it as a factor at the time). I have to replace the corded (finally died a death) and am only looking at left blades. I notice though that (1) there are far more right blade models available, and (2) in some lines the left blade model seems to carry a premium price.

What gives? Is there ever a time that a user would find right blade preferable? Why do they make more right than left?! I can't imagine there's a manufacturing reason why one would be cheaper than the other, so it must be that consumer preference is more towards right blade. Hmmmm.....confused....

Cub

[Mike Paulsen]

"When they made the first portable, electric circular saw they put the motor on the right, the blade on the left and the handle was above the blade. When you made a cut and got to the end, the weight of the then big and heavy motor would naturally make the saw fall off to the right and butcher the end of the cut. So, an individual came up with the bright idea of putting the motor on the left and the blade on the right, which left the main weight of the saw and the majority of the base on the stable member of the cut. They didn?t realize that with the blade on the right, a right-handed person had to lean over the top of the saw to see the line of the cut."

I think they fully realized the compromise they were making, and that it made sense at the time given the way circular saws were used. Now that saws are lighter and miter saws are used for many of the cuts that used to be done with the circular saw, there's less of a case to be made for the right-bladed saw.

[DerbyDad03]

re: "They didn=92t realize that with the blade on the right, a right- handed person had to lean over the top of the saw to see the line of the cut."

They didn't realize it?

OK, so maybe they didn't *think* about it during the design phase, but the very first time they used the saw they must have realized it...yet they ("they" being *all* manufacturers) kept making them and making them and making them.

As the OP said, right blades are much more common than left blades even to this day. I'm not buying the "they didn't realize it" part of that explanation.

[Joe]

Right or left, all the sidewinder saws suck. I finally had it with my DeWalt sidewinder and got classic Mag 77 Skillsaw worm drive. Unbelievable difference...it follows a chalk line without wandering, visible blade, loads of power. The same saw is sold by Bosch with twistlock plugs (helps prevent them wandering off the job) at a somewhat higher price. The $$ difference over the sidewinder is about

60 bucks or so, and worth it.

Joe