On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:17:06 -0500, "bent" wrote:

[some snippage]

Why the heck are cheap circ saw built for left-handers? Is it because it's
the only motors readily available?

You're probably leaping to a conclusion that because many (and for
many years, virtually all) circular saws have the blade on the right
hand side that they're built for left handers.

However, it's only in recent years that using circular saws for other
purposes than cutting framing lumber came into much more of a vogue
than rarely. Consider a job site with a couple of sawhorses and a pile
of 2x awaiting trimming. Assume you're right handed. You step up to
the pile with the waste side of the mark to the right, you put your
left knee up on the board, and/or put your left hand on the board, and
holding the saw in your right hand, with the body of the saw sitting
on the keep side of the line, you whack off the waste. All is right in
the universe. It's the safest, most practical way to make that cut
with that saw. Consequently, that right side bladed saw is designed
for right handers.

Yes, the cut line is on the opposite side of the saw from your body.
That, however, is a small price to pay to be able to have the keep
side of the work support the weight of the saw, while at the same time
being positioned and restrained by your free hand.

Now, consider the new fangled left side blade. In the scenario above,
you can still use your knee and/or free hand to support the keep side
of the wood, but the saw is resting on the waste side of the (readily
visible, admittedly) cut line, necessitating some weight/balance
gymnastics as the saw completes the cut.

No, that saw is designed for a left hander, although since left
handers customarily get short shrift in tool design (I'm a righty,
pandering to the left handed audience here) no one ever built a "left
handed" saw until sometime in the last ten or so years.

Nowadays, people are using circular saws for much more than cutting
framing material, such as dimensioning sheet goods, for example, and
the setup therein provides ample support for the body of the saw, and
tips the balance in favor of having the cut line on the visible side
of the saw body. Thus, the blade on the left saw oxymoronically built
for right handers.

So, there's why your "left handed saw" hypothesis is faulty and why we
came to have blades on the right on right handed saws.

--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997

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