Are Skillsaw designed for left handed people?

[Stevekane]

Whenever I use a skillsaw I find myself standing on what feels like the wrong side of it, Im right handed and feel comfortable holding the main handle/trigger in my right hand, but this then leaves me standing on the other side of the material if I want to keep the larger part of the soleplate on the supported bit of material, or cutting from right to left balenceing the saw on the narrow part of the sole,,,,not so easy to explain but I think you will get my drift,,,it occurred to me that maybe left handers get on really well with Skillsaws?
Steve.

 

[TRITON]

Work left to right.

 

[RobinBHM]

Whenever I use a skillsaw I find myself standing on what feels like the wrong side of it, Im right handed and feel comfortable holding the main handle/trigger in my right hand, but this then leaves me standing on the other side of the material if I want to keep the larger part of the soleplate on the supported bit of material, or cutting from right to left balenceing the saw on the narrow part of the sole,,,,not so easy to explain but I think you will get my drift,,,it occurred to me that maybe left handers get on really well with Skillsaws?
Steve.

yes they are.

as a left hander I always find the Festool tracksaw awkward

 

[Stevekane]

Indeed Triton, but it feels less under control to be using my left hand to hold the saw,,

 

[Inspector]

I am right handed and stand or kneel over the work pushing the saw ahead of me, the waste falling off to the right. It is the way I started doing it following the examples of the other framers I worked with 50ish years ago. Why don't you buy a saw with the blade on the left side?

Pete

 

[Sideways]

The argument I read somewhere = right hander + worm drive skilsaw, blade is towards you for best view of the cut line, body and sole of the saw is away from you, further to the R.
That must mean that you are standing / walking along the left hand side of the stock being cut and the piece being cut off is nearest to you.
If you are ripping strips off a board this is "left to right" as Triton says. The opposite of how I'd use e.g. a tracksaw because the blades are on opposite sides of the saws.

I always wanted to try one of these saws

 

[Doug71]

yes they are.

as a left hander I always find the Festool tracksaw awkward

Ha ha, we are all different, I'm right handed but often find myself using my tracksaw left handed!

This explains some of it

https://www.protoolreviews.com/left-side-vs-right-side-circular-saw-blade/

 

[Lard]

Bl**dy hell! I’m left handed and if this is the case it’ll be the first time ever that a world designed for right-handers has helped me out

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Most of us are a little mixed up, handed wise. I find circular saws to have the blade on the wrong side. I am right handed, right footed and left eyed (which makes shooting difficult, and is also the weaker eye). I deal cards left handed, I paddled a kayak using a left handed paddle. I can play darts with both hands, but can't use a snooker cue or write left handed. I open cans and jars left handed. Woodturning tools I use whichever hand is necessary. My boy was the only left handed person in my family, and he was the only one to deal cards right handed.

 

[throbscottle]

Sure you weren't born left but forced to be right?
Lefty here - I do most things left, some things right. I feel like a handedness-traitor. Really....

 

[Stevekane]

Goodness, quite a few posts, and to be honest I was completely unaware that Skillsaw type saws came in left and right configurations,,all mine are with the blade on the right and as Im usually cutting off the edges of say boards, I have the board up on the bench and cut off the overhang, so feeling more in control holding the saw in my right hand Im cutting right to left,,with the main bulk of the saw hanging off the waste…on my desert island a left handed saw will be my luxury item!
Btw the worm or bevel drive skillsaws took terrific,like a 50s American car!
Steve.

 

[Cooper]

on my desert island a left handed saw will be my luxury item!

As I read comments on this site I've often wondered what hand tool people would take to the proverbial desert island. I can't make up my mind would it be a bow (pruning) saw or an axe. Presuming of course that the island had trees on it.

 

[Stevekane]

Put me down for an axe,,,I think I might surprise myself just how usfull one could be, and its probably the tool that got us to where we are today (I think),,and the big American wormdrive skillsaw,,,
Steve.