Right Blade, Left Blade

[luv2cmwork]

I finally bought a new circular saw. After a lot of research, I decided on the 423 Porter Cable. It's a Blade Left saw, which means the blade is on the left and the motor is on the right.

In the store, it was difficult to imagine using it. It wasn't until I got it home, that I realized how much of a change this was. In some instances, I could see where being able to see the blade would make a difference. In particular, Edge cutting long sheet stock, would be much easier, to not have to "cross over" yourself, while holding the saw.

However, cross cutting 2 by stock was a PITA. I just could NOT get used to the weight of the saw, resting on the waste peice. After the cut, the board AND the saw fell.

The happy ending? I took the Blade Left back and traded it in for the PC 324MAG (Blade Right). A great saw, so far.

I've read LOT'S of newsgroups and see that generally, people get used to the left blade. Without regard for safety, I'm curious, just how many of you have switched from Right Blade to Left Blade and if you would be willing to comment on your experience/acceptance of the change.

Thanks!

[Never Enough Money]

I am left handed so I like the blade on the right. I wished they made a worm drive with the blade on the right (not just that little bitty worm drive from Porter-Cable)

[Doug Miller]

[snip]

That's because you were doing it wrong.

*Always* rest the saw on the good piece. With a blade-left saw, this means making your cut at the left end of the board instead of the right end as you would with a blade-right saw.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Leon]

You hit the nail righ square on the head. WITH OUT reguard for safety. The left blade model is made for lefties. The right side blade is for right handers.

If you see the blade when sawing you are typically going to get or have the potential of getting a spray of dust in your face.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You are using it backwards. If you were to use the saw in your left hand it would be fine. Being a lefty, I curse the saw I have but just don't use it enough to justify a new one.

[Max]

I have a left blade saw just for cutting panels. I made a cutting guide just for the left blade saw. For other circular saw jobs I use a right blade saw.

Max D.

[mac davis]

Not a problem for me... I just start on the left-handed end of the board and the saw is never resting on the waste piece.. *g*

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[luv2cmwork]

OK..maybe I'm not getting it. I admit, I don't have the saw to try this, but thinking it through with my little brain.....

If I cut on the left end of the board, I'll likely be cutting with my Left Hand. Since I'm not left handed, this would not be comfortable at all for me. Furthermore, cutting that way, the blade is on the opposing side and I'm back where I started!

Are you funnin' with me? Or am I missing something?

[Roger]

That's why most sidewinder saws are blade right. Blade left only makes sense if you're left handed or don't care one way or the other.

Could lefties using right handed saws explain their lowered longevity?

[Pat Barber]

You were doing it wrong. The motor side is always on the finished side not the waste side. Using the blade left saw requires changing your methods.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Teamcasa]

I've used the arguably best cicular saw made, the Skill MAG 77 for many years. It has the blade on the left side and I'm right handed. This worm drive is at home eating framing wood without difficulty all day, day after day and is the choice of quality framers here in So. Calif. Guys that show up with the sidewinders are looked upon as rookies.

It is a mystery why anyone would bother with one on the sidewinders unless they can not lift a Skill MAG77.

I don't really mean to come off as araogant as my statements above read but I have tried to use the right or left blade sidewinders and have always gone back to the solid, accurate MAG77. Bosch now owns Skil and make a Bosch version that is identical except for the guard.

Dave

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[Teamcasa]

"Pat Barber"

Is that some kind of rule? All of the circular saws I've ever seen had a shoe for saw support on both sides of the blade.

Dave

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[Leon]

The left hand blade saw is intended to be used with the left hand of a left handed person. Using it with you right hand is dead wrong. You bought the wrong saw if you are right handed.

[Leon]

If the blade is between both of your hands you typically get more dust in your face. Te left sided blade was built so that a lefty could hold the saw with his left hand and not have the blade between his left and right hand.

[luv2cmwork]

Pat (or someone),

I value your advice tremendously, so please be patient with me.

The question I have now is, two people have said, "You are doing it wrong" and that I have to switch methods. Are you saying that I need to become left handed?

Because, if I understand you, you are saying that I need to have the motor over the "good" peice (not the waste). If so, I'd have to have the saw in my left hand right (cutting on the left end of the board)? And I'm not left handed.

Honestly....is this some kind of ongoing joke that I'm just not getting? Or am I missing something?

I've read lots of forums where people seem to "get used" to it (blade left saws - specifically, PC 423MAG). But I have a hard time believing that the wood doesn't bind up, or that you don't have trouble controlling the end of the cut, when the weight of the saw begins drop the waste peice. And using the saw in my left hand, cutting on the left side of the board feels akward. But I don't believe I could ever get used to being left handed...can I?

Again, I value your opinion....thanks!

[Roger]

Worm drive saws are a completely different matter as the balance points are such that it works fine in the right hand. THis thread was about sidewinders.

Would lefties prefer a mirror image Skil 77? Or does it work ambidextrously? My right hand is so dominant I can't even think about using a saw with my left.

Roger

Teamcasa wrote:

[Doug Miller]

Yes, that is the right way to use a circular saw. The heavy side of the saw (that is, the side with the motor) should be on the side of the board that is supported. Normally, this is the finished side, supported by sawhorses, boards, or whatever, so that it doesn't fall when the cut is complete. If you have the waste piece supported *also*, then it doesn't matter which side of the cut the motor is on.

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[eganders]

About 5 years ago I did the EXACT same thing as your post above. I wonder how many "factory referb" blade left saws are out there?

[Doug Miller]

Not necessarily. If you're going to use a blade-left saw, then you need to make cuts at the left end of the board. You can do this holding the saw right-handed, but it is probably more convenient, and *definitely* more safe, to do with the left hand. Your call.

Well, you *could* hold it in your right hand, cutting at the left end of the board. But it's awkward, you'll get chips in your face, and you're at a *much* higher risk of a leg injury if the saw slips or kicks back.

Then you should probably use a blade-right saw.

No jokes. If you're right-handed, you're better off with a blade-right saw; vice versa if you're a lefty.

You *do* have problems like that when the weight of the saw begins to drop the waste piece. That's why you should *never* use a circular saw with its weight on the waste piece.

Maybe. Some folks can, some can't. I played table tennis competitively when I was in high school, and I knew this older, left-handed guy who was a superb player, with a USTTA Class "A" rating (you can look it up - that's *really* good). That is, I always *assumed* he was left-handed, because that's the way he played, until one day I saw him sign his name on something -

*right*-handed. So of course I asked for the story... seems he'd had severe bursitis in his right shoulder ten years earlier, and his doctor told him he'd have to stop playing table tennis if he didn't want to lose the use of his arm. He decided that wasn't acceptable. So he learned to play left-handed. Starting at the age of forty.

As far as hand-held circular saws go, though, I'd have to say it's a lot easier to just get a blade-right saw if you're right-handed.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Swingman]

Unfortunately there are some panel saw setups, and jigs that use saw guides, that don't follow this convention with sidewinder circular saws, which can be confusing as hell, particularly to those of us who spent the preponderance of our circular saw lives with a left bladed, worm drive 77 in our right hands.

AAMOF, I have a commercial panel saw setup that if the motor on my Makita right bladed sidewinder was on the finished side, you couldn't use the guide to cut anything over 1/2" thick with it.

I bought the Makita because that damned 77 just kept getting heavier and heavier with each passing year. Now, besides being forced to use that sissy sidewinder, I have to scratch my head a time or two when it comes to using it in panel mode ... "Life gets teejus , don't It?"

... apologies to Carson Robison.