Bernie Hunt wrote:
I need to cut a wood floor between two rooms so I can replace the floor in
one room. Normally I would use a circular saw and stright edge, but what do
I do near the wall where the shoe of the circular saw will get in the way? I
need a nice straight cut because this will be in a very noticeable location.

Is there a special saw for this or any suggestions?

Yes to both.

The special saw in a Japanese version is called an Azebiki:
http://tinyurl.com/bnzju
Western version is simply called a floor or flooring saw:
http://tinyurl.com/8rr25

One tip is to weight down a piece of straight wood on the _good_ side
of the cut so that one edge is directly over the line to be cut. Use
this as a straightedge to guide the handsaw. Use a good bit of weight
so it doesn't move and pull slow and straight. Let the saw do the
work. You'll need to cut the extreme corners with a sharp chisel.

The biggest part of this job is avoiding the nails that are holding the
strips in place. Encountering one nail can make a simple cut into a
big chore. I use a rare earth magnet (very strong and salvaged from an
old hard drive) to locate the nails prior to cutting.

R