I'm not a lefty, but...

[rst]

I mostly use mine left handed with the hose and cord over my left shoulder.  I worked for years in a production setting and that was always the best way to see the cut except when using a My Skil wormsaw.

 

[Mr Heavy]

I had to think about this.  When I got my TS55 I moaned to W Wizzard about it being left handed and he didn't get my point.

At that time I was running the track parallel to the front edge of my bench, and it seemed so obviously made as a mirror image of what it should be that I thought Festool must be a bunch of perverse idiots.

THEN I got the mft/3, and suddenly it all made sense - at least for shortish, reach-over cuts for typical cabinet-sized panels. Standing on the "good" side, clear of the cutting line like traditional TS work.

Of course anything longer that needs running along the front edge of the bench and I'm baffled by the leftiness of it all again.

 

[Tinker]

My reply was not argumentative.  The question was about how the rest of us use. or handle, the track saw.  I am using it more and more with my left hand.  I am showing my grandson how to use it with either hand. His dad has a couple of circular saws (One of my old Milwaukees that is only about 40 years old, maybe more)  and using that saw free hand, i still feel it much safer to use with the blade on the far side from the operator.  The track saws, i just find it hard to be totally comfortable working from the same side as the saw blade.  I am getting better tho.  Especially when making long rip cuts.

My old ATF was getting worn so it just would not work with my left hand.  Something was not allowing me to push the switch with my left thumb.  I did figure the problem, but it meant an un-natural twist of my thumb some how.  The TS 55 is no trouble with either hand other than mental.  My wife thinks I am a mental case anyhow, so i don't worry.  I just go with the flow. :
Tinker

 

[rst]

I'm reasonably sure after 36 years that it is in the wife operating manual that it is rule number one to think the husband is deranged.

 

[Paul G]

As a lefty I often use the saw like that also but I'm thinking in the event of a bad kick back I would prefer I was using it right handed with the blade away from me. Nice to see the cut line but bad to be downrange of a kick. So it's my guess that it's set up that way for the safety of the majority of right handed users.

 

[Tinker]

As a lefty I often use the saw like that also but I'm thinking in the event of a bad kick back I would prefer I was using it right handed with the blade away from me. Nice to see the cut line but bad to be downrange of a kick. So it's my guess that it's set up that way for the safety of the majority of right handed users.

That is sort of what I have been saying.  I think the saw is perfectly safe to use left handed, but with the long habit of being sude the blade is on the far sid, it is a tough habit to break.

With the way the blade disappears into the frame as soon as the saw is airborne, I don't think there is any danger.  That is what I tell myself.  Mention has been made about using sidewinders with the blade on the left side.  Some of those who have mentioned that like the arrangement as they can see the line as the saw.  I can only remember using a sidewinder one time in my life.  I think used it with my left hand (That was over 50 years ago and I can't remember a day longer than 39 years  :).  I was trying it out when I was looking for a circular saw that would stand up to the rigors of cutting stone, brick, concrete and iron impregnated lumber.  The SW was very uncomfortable for me to use.  I finally picked a Milwaukee 8-1/4 and it only held up for about 30 years.  ???  I never tried any saw using with my left hand until I tried with my ATF 55. 
Tinker

 

[grbmds]

It doesn't seem as if it matters too much how you use it; with which hand. However, I had a TS75 for awhile and that saw seemed to be a little more likely to kick back if not stopped before pulling the blade up or plunging it before the blade was fully up to speed. in that case, standing on the non-blade side of the saw seemed safer. I've never had that kick-back problem with the TS55 so I do tend to use it with my left hand and stand on the right side of the saw when on the MFT (which is where I use it most). Does Festool give guidance on which side the saw is designed to stand on?

 

[leakyroof]

The TS sure makes me one every time, it seems...

[attachimg=1]

  You WILL assimilate Herr Burt,  und you will LIKE it.... [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]

 

[Acrobat]

Hmm, I'm a lefty, and have always found circular saws a bit of a struggle but over-time and use have gotten used to using my right hand and standing to the left, then looking at the blade and the offcut on the right. Annoying for a lefty but a fact of life with circular saws.
People are wrong in thinking the Festool saw is for a lefty because if it was a true lefty saw then the blade would be on the left side not the right  with the motor swapped accordingly, and you'd need to go from the right side of the mft to the left to rip long cuts, opposite direction of the way the track works currently.
I find it a tad disconcerting running along the offset side with the blade showing, even though I have no problem using my left hand to push the saw along.

 

[stevefitzgerald]

I thought the df 500 was also a lefty
i struggle to get a comfortable grip right handed as the extraction port is in my way

Steve