In article . com, wrote:

Pat Barber wrote:
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.


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?

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.

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)?

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.

And I'm not left handed.

Then you should probably use a blade-right saw.

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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?