Mains powered circular saw for a left-hander

My handwriting is appalling. It was never very good - one of my first school reports referred to the quality of my handwriting which was atrocious, except that my parents and I had great difficult reading what the English teacher had written on my report :-)

After a lot of practice, I got my writing reasonably OK, but at the expense of being slow: in exams under time pressures it reverted to atrocious.

Since I've used a computer for most of what I write - I rarely write letters to anyone when emails are easier and quicker to send and receive - my writing has deteriorated again, so I have to take great care to slow down when filling in a paper form or addressing an envelope.

I've still got my old cartridge pen. I found true fountain pens, filled from a bottle of Quink, just too messy, though the smell of that ink takes me straight back to the Lower Fourth at school, sitting in one of those desks which had the seat joined onto the desk, and could be slid across the floor on runners (*). But a cartridge is a good compromise. I prefer an ink pen to a biro. Water-based ink pens (Pentel, Rollerball etc) are easier because the ball moves more freely over the page than for a biro.

(*) One of the "masters" (teachers) at school had been a boy there 15 years earlier and he had a foot in both camps when it came to allegiance, so he told us how "when I were a lad" they used to all slide their desks-and-seats towards the front, in unison, whenever the teacher's back was turned. They did it so gradually that like the legendary "boiling frogs" experiment, the master didn't notice what was happening, The goal was to have the master penned into a corner by the end of the lesson :-)

Perhaps, like me, you taught yourself to write before anyone thought to show you the "proper" way to hold a pen?

I always thought that left-handers should write from right to left i.e. mirror writing, but I'm not aware of anyone who's actually learned to do it that way.

NY was thinking very hard :

:')

I downloaded the first episode, but never got around to watching it. I did sit through a whole episode of new Top Gear just in case it wasn't quite as terrible as it first seemed, but sadly it was.

In the IMDB entry for the series Victoria, people have criticised Jenna Coleman (how could anyone criticise someone so cute?) for holding her pen in a "monkey's fist grip" rather than as Victoria would have done. But I'm not sure exactly how Victoria *would* have held a pen and what was so bad about the way Jenna portrayed it. At least she didn't grip the pen between the first joint of her index and middle fingers, as a lot of today's school children seem to do. I think the gist of the criticism was that the fingers should be straight, with the pen aligned with the index finger, not with fingers slightly curved, and held only between index finger and thumb, not the three-fingered thumb-index grip with the pen resting on the middle finger underneath for extra support and control which is how I was taught.

No matter how you hold your pen, all that matters in the end is whether people can read your writing.

Gosh, what a lot of replies to my posting ... some almost on-topic! ;-)

In answer to a couple of questions raised:

- Yes, Poland's Syndrome like I understand Jeremy Beadle had. I have never seen a close-up of his hand so don't know how similar mine it - there is a lot of variation in the effect, and in fact the main diagnostic feature is not the 'dactyl' (claw-like) hand, but a loss of the pectoral muscle and change in the rib shape on the same side. However that is not so noticeable, at least with my clothes on ;-o

- would I have been right-handed otherwise? Who knows. My parents did not pressure me, thank Bob, which I think in part accounts for my general skill with my hands. I can type, drive, hang-glide, play the guitar and several other instruments, ect. ect. No-one else in my family is left-handed. I don't feel in any sense that I 'might have been' right handed, but I think it very possible.that without having the Syndrome that I would have been.

- I play the guitar right-handed, and use a mouse mat right handed.

As for the actual question ... Seems like I might have to go into a shop and have a go at man-handling a saw. I am sure I can use it by standing askance if necessary, I just wondered if there were some that were less 'handed' than others. It's a bit like cameras, which are getting incredibly ergonomic ... as long as your hands fit the makers' idea of what shape a hand should be...

Cheers J^n

... though they may spit the dust and chips away from a right-hander.

A hose connection for a vacuum/dust extractor helps.

Thomas Prufer

But you need a lot of space around your bench saw to handle 8 x 4s. And a big saw table with extensions, or lots of supports at the right height. And then try making accurate, straight angled cuts with respect to the edges.

Whereas with a circular saw, you just put two workmates out on the patio (or even indoors), plonk the board on them, clamp on the sawboard and away you go.

I agree that the bench saw comes into its own for rebates, also for ripping mitres or chamfers.

I thought it was just me. Because I was never proud of my handwriting, I took to using a computer perhaps earlier than many. As I also enjoyed producing a reasonable looking document. Not just a chore. And my handwriting has gone downhill ever since.

I was thinking more table saw rather than SCMS...

(oddly my SCMS is actually slightly biased for right hand use, because the lever which unlocks the blade guard is naturally lifted when a right hand grips the main handle, but less so when a left hand does (you need to remember to lift the tips of the fingers slightly) )

Depends on which side of it you are standing!

Yes you do.

I recall a thicknesser which blew chips out the back -- where I stood to take out the wood, occasionally as a helper. Anywhere in back was "not the right side" -- and anwhere in front meant less sting, but just the same airborne dust...

Here, like this -- the funnel and tube are a retrofit. Originally there was just a rectangular hole, with a good view of the spinning blades:

Good solid machine, but two straight blades that were removed, ground, and had to be reset to the correct height by hand, and then stoned.

Thomas Prufer

As a left hander I have to use a circular saw right handed. Unless you're ripping big things a jigsaw might be easier - they are more symmetric. (If you are ripping big things it won't be up to it)

Every one I've ever seen is right handed. Designed that you cut with your right, hold the work with your left, and it throws the dust away from you.

But google suggests they do exist.

Andy

The saw will be up to it, but it will be slower and the cut probably less accurate.

Not really sure what all the fuss is about... I use mine left and right handed. My cordless is what you might call "left handed" (i.e. blade on the left), and I use that with either hand as well.

Quite often the hand you use is dictated by the cut you are making, not your preference or the saw layout.

Buy one that is hinged at the bottom?

I use either hand depending on where the tea is.

Looking on amazon the mains ones have the handle and motor on the opposite side to the battery ones so maybe you should by a cordless one?

Or maybe a table saw for ripping stuff and a sliding mitre saw for cross cutting?