Sawboard?

[GMM]

I guess that's the difference: I always use the saw as shown in the sketch on the wiki, so the greater area of the base plate is on the sawboard. Cutting to the left would compromise a square cut as it would be balancing on the thin bit of base plate with the centre of gravity over the waste, which would tend to tilt the saw and compromise a square cut. From the 'waste' side, which is invariably the more accessible place to stand when cutting anything large like a door or worktop, that means cutting left to right and a right hander is in an awkward positon as your hand is across the back of the blade guard.

[The Medway Handyman]

9mm would lose me too much depth of cut. My AEG has 66mm DoC, less 3mm for the sawboard leaves me 63. 3mm ply does wobble about a bit, but clamps fine.

The saw is pressing down on it anyway.

[newshound]

Ah, I see what you mean. No, I cut from left to right too with most of the baseplate on the sawboard. The point I was making is that if you are behind the saw on the waste side your right hand is pushing the saw into the guide, with your left hand free to grip the workpiece or workmate for steadyness. That would be less the case if you were using your left hand on the saw (although you could then steady the offcut). I only have a relatively small saw which probably helps. I use a second workmate to support the offcut unless it is very small.

[GMM]

With you! Actually exactly the same thing. I guess my problem is the size of the waste and maybe the length of the cut: Trimming a few inches off a 2ft wide worktop is fine. It's when you're taking a foot or more off an 8x4 sheet that it starts to get a bit acobatic, and having a saw made the other way around would be a benefit, although some would say that's the entire purpose of B&Q warehouse...

[John Rumm]

I have yet to work out why cordless circular saws are "other handed" from the mains ones....

[The Medway Handyman]

I reckon that with mains circular saws, the motor was on the left because they turned clockwise. Maybe with DC motors on cordless its easier/different?

[stuart noble]

I use bits of 4x4 timber as supports (cheaper than sawhorses or workmates), which means I can use as many as I like to support the workpiece and the offcut. Also I can stand or kneel on the material. That said, for 8x4 sheets you need a flat surface to start with and my back yard isn't quite flat enough. As you say, the panel saw option is a no brainer usually

[GMM]

It seems you can get cordless ones 'either handed', which was what threw me into indecision when I was thinking of buying a new one: One of the Makita cordless ones looked like a good idea because it's what I think of as the right way round (ie t'other way to corded ones). At the same time it only has a small blade and I wondered whether it would have enough grunt/flexibility to be worthwhile.

[John Rumm]

I have a 14.4V DeWalt one which uses a thin kerf blade. Its ok but not spectacular. My main problem is that it and an angle drill are the only tools I have using that battery format, so I frequently don't have a fully charged battery ready when I want.

It will cut a sheet of 18mm MDF, but its not going to do more than a couple of lengths on a single battery IME. An 18V Makita one would have been a better bet.

[billyorange007]

I bought a B&Q one (Yellow coloured) some years back. Utterly useless. Stalled at the slightest provocation. Haven't thrown it away but haven't used it in a long time.

[GMM]

That was my thought: The 18V battery is in the drill anyway (most of these units are sold bare) and only takes 20mins to charge. So long as it had enough grunt for day to day use (say 12mm ply) I could also envisage a certain amount of use in car parks to get things to fit in the car.... On the other hand, yesterday in Sfx, they had an evolution mains saw half price at 50quid, which was tempting.