Left Blade Track Saw?

[EMWLou]

I've been thinking about something for some time now.........why are all track saws right-hand blade?  Why not make a left-blade design so us "rightys" can have our dominate hand on the trigger grip and have a clear view of the blade?  Thoughts?

"Clear view of the blade"? On a plunging rail saw?  [eek]

That was my first reaction as well...the whole reason i use a track saw is so that I do NOT have to stare at cut line and know it will be straight.

I use my left hand doing long rips on a table. However, most of right handed people I see do it with their right hand, which looks really uncomfortable:
View attachment 1
Besides, left blade saw would work better mounted into CMS unit, namely, tilting away from the sliding table.

It looks uncomfortable because the person in the photo is standing on the wrong side of the track. He is looking at the cut and there is no reason to.

 

[Svar]

It looks uncomfortable because the person in the photo is standing on the wrong side of the track. He is looking at the cut and there is no reason to.

If you are trimming a large piece this is the only option.

 

[Job and Knock]

It looks uncomfortable because the person in the photo is standing on the wrong side of the track. He is looking at the cut and there is no reason to.

If you are trimming a large piece this is the only option.

I don't know - at times I have been seen to climb on top of the sheet material and work on my knees. But I do use DW heavy duty trestles!

 

[sheperd80]

Ive used and greatly prefered blade-left circ saws for years and wondered the same thing about tracksaws. But after using a ts55 for awhile, i get it. A blade left tracksaw would be extremely awkward to use. If you were clamping the track with every cut then blade-left might work, but i usually just throw the track down and hold it with my left hand at the start of the cut because it can move a little as you first enter the cut. If it was blade-left youd be crossing your arms up all the time, and you would have to do bevel cuts left handed. I know it seems counter intuitive, believe me i felt the same way. But ive come to realize that they kind of have to be blade-right for right-handed users. If i could swap it i wouldn't, but still only use blade-left regular circular saws.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[Svar]

If you were clamping the track with every cut then blade-left might work, but i usually just throw the track down and hold it with my left hand at the start of the cut because it can move a little as you first enter the cut. If it was blade-left youd be crossing your arms up all the time, and you would have to do bevel cuts left handed.

All good points there.

 

[MisterMephisto]

Let me get this out of the way, Festool finally gave up in their explanations, and simply told me "Never." on my most recent query of "Will a left blade track saw ever exist?"

Now  as a former Lefty, and now a full-time Righty, I have spent 4 years trying to get a (good) left blade track saw.

As a lefty, the Right blade track saws were great. They were always used to my left, and ripping or beveled rips were a breeze. But upon losing use of my left arm/leg to a viral reaction, I lost the ability to use a lot of tools. And with it, the nightmare of having a 1 day task, now take 2 weeks to do.

So ripping lumber and panels straight became impossible without a table saw, bandsaw, and a track saw.

Now, as a righty, when you rip sheet goods, which side of your body is the saw and your lumber on?  If it's a 4x8 or 5x5, odds are, it's on your left side. It does work (if you have 2 hands) but has a great number of drawbacks that righties don't seem to realize while using one of the dozens of right blades track saws out there.

First off... it's on your left. You're now using your secondary hand, and for many, twisting, crossing arms, etc.

Now try doing a beveled rip at 45° (like making a wall length French cleat.

I could go on for days showing, and giving details, but the truth of the matter is that a left blade would be more beneficial for righties. And it would lose nothing in return. In fact, it could gain strength and durability being worm driven.

But at the end of the day, Festool refuses. Personally I think it's because they can't make one. I mean, why would you NOT want to sell more saws?

I mean, are people buying the (absolutely horrible) Kreg, because they think "Power tool quality, must be a Kreg"? Lol. I mean how many power tools does Kreg have? I can count on one nose how many.

So, while righties might claim "a left blade is not ____!" or whatnot, the truth is, they don't know because their only chance is using a knock-off Triton, with WEN quality, at a Makita price.

As a former lefty, I wish you all could try a left blade track saw for a while. It's completely different than the things a normal circ saw might have pro/con with.

So until then, after spending, and wasting thousands of dollars on jig, and gimmicks, the best option is still the Makita XSH03Z with adapter and Makita guide rail. (Think of all those adapters sold for $50? That's snother saw Festool didn't sell.). And even though the XSH03Z snd track adapter are the best, they're far from good, and far from an actual track saw... I have to replace the blade strip several times a year, and I reuse each strip 3 time before tossing it.

Festool... I assume you can't make one. Not making one just "because" is either a cop-out, or a bad business strategy. I know I'd happily slap down $1500 for a left blade TS 75 (even thought it's still 2x what the price should be).

So hopefully, as a long time lurker here, maybe Festool can consider being actually innovative, and make something no one else does... a GOOD left blade track saw. That's thousands of sales you're just choosing not to bank on. Weird.

And to righty track saw users. Imagine ripping with the saw and board to your right side.

It may not mean a lot for many... but for myself... it would be life-changing!

 

[Jim_in_PA]

It's true that nearly all current track saws have the blade on the right rather than the left. The "normal/common" configuration generally puts the off-cut to the right. The one exception I know about it Kreg, but it's not compelling enough for me to consider it over my Festool track saw and middle of sheet cuts still require stretching. I do know a lot of building trades folks like the left-side blade configuration so they can use their (usually dominate) right hand on the tool and catch the off0cut with their left hand, however.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

SUFFER YOU PATHETIC RIGHT HANDED PEOPLE!!! [mad] [mad] [mad] [big grin]

Hope you're miserable as all heck.

Not often us lefties score a beneficial win. The number of times I've heard some idiot say "... why don't you just use your right hand?" [huh]

Funny how left handed people tend to be more ambidextrous and right handed people can border on "spare limb" with their left hands.

This is one of the very few times though.
We lefties have to stick together, there seem to be fewer of us all the time?
Left handers learn to use both because the whole world is right handed and everything is geared toward them, so we adapt. The few things that are engineered for us are usually hard to find, cost more or both.
Can you even imagine a right handed person trying to start a car with the ignition switch on the left side of the column? or shifting a manual transmission with their left? (You Brits can ignore and/or laugh at that one)

 

[morts10n]

I am partially ambidextrous...I am left hand dominant for almost everything, except for writing. I prefer a left blade saw and use my right hand on it comfortably. I cannot operate a right bladed saw off of a track, and feel comfortable at all.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I am partially ambidextrous...I am left hand dominant for almost everything, except for writing. I prefer a left blade saw and use my right hand on it comfortably. I cannot operate a right bladed saw off of a track, and feel comfortable at all.

I’m exactly the opposite, write and draw left. Hammer and throw right. Ambi at the dinner table.

It does seem to me that the track saws are suited to lefties, at least when trimming an edge, but when cutting through a wide field I use my right hand to push the saw.

 

[RussellS]

Funny how left handed people tend to be more ambidextrous and right handed people can border on "spare limb" with their left hands.

Us right handed folks use our left hand to catch baseballs.  That takes a lot of coordination to reach in all different positions with the glove to catch baseballs.  You lefties get to use the good right hand for that difficult task.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Funny how left handed people tend to be more ambidextrous and right handed people can border on "spare limb" with their left hands.

Us right handed folks use our left hand to catch baseballs.  That takes a lot of coordination to reach in all different positions with the glove to catch baseballs.  You lefties get to use the good right hand for that difficult task.

Is throwing more difficult? Requiring the “good hand”?

I like CRG’s comment about GB drivers having to shift gears with the left hand. I wonder how driving on the left side came about? It proves we’re all ambidextrous to some extent.

 

[Mark37]

I'm right-handed, but the "lefty" Kreg track saw works really well for my shop layout.  I haven't really used it for full sheet goods breakdown yet, so I may change my tune when I do.

No experience with other track saws, but my only beef is they don't offer an adapter for vac hose connection.  I use the Rockler Dust Rite fittings and hose, and it's OK for the way I've been using it, but I would much rather have a dust hose hookup adapter that uses the bayonet mount of the stock dust bag.  (Any 3D printer folks out there?)

One of the posts above said the Kreg is "absolutely terrible."  I'm pleased with the results I'm geetting....what am I missing?

I own a couple Festool sanders, but I'm not a full-on Festool Kool-aid drinker.
 

 

[TSO_Products]

[member=78604]MisterMephisto[/member] - sorry about your unfortunate experience with your left side.

At TSO, we realize there are different preferences and for that reason purchased a Kreg Plunge Saw as part of our development process for our TSO GRS-16 PE K Guide Rail Square. We were pleasantly surprised  when working with this new saw and wonder what we missed that you find "horrible" about this new plunge saw from Kreg?


"Let me get this out of the way, Festool finally gave up in their explanations, and simply told me "Never." on my most recent query of "Will a left blade track saw ever exist?"

I mean, are people buying the (absolutely horrible) Kreg, because they think "Power tool quality, must be a Kreg"? Lol. I mean how many power tools does Kreg have? I can count on one nose how many.

So, while righties might claim "a left blade is not ____!" or whatnot, the truth is, they don't know because their only chance is using a knock-off Triton, with WEN quality, at a Makita price".

We think offering choices is a good thing and "new", especially coming from a reputable company with a long history of positive experience behind them should be welcomed.

Hans

 

[RussellS]

Funny how left handed people tend to be more ambidextrous and right handed people can border on "spare limb" with their left hands.

Us right handed folks use our left hand to catch baseballs.  That takes a lot of coordination to reach in all different positions with the glove to catch baseballs.  You lefties get to use the good right hand for that difficult task.

Is throwing more difficult? Requiring the “good hand”?

I like CRG’s comment about GB drivers having to shift gears with the left hand. I wonder how driving on the left side came about? It proves we’re all ambidextrous to some extent.

But the Great Britain drivers using their left hand for shifting, have to use their right hand to steer and stay on the road.  Is shifting more difficult?  Shifting or staying on the road steering and not running into the ditch or a telephone pole?

I'm going to argue catching is the harder, more important task.  If you catch every ball hit off the bat, for an out.  Then you don't have to throw at all.  You could walk the ball back to the pitcher's mound after catching every ball for an out.  No need to ever throw to first base for an out.  Kind of like the SawStop is not needed either.  If you always use straight grained wood that never pinches on the blade, and always use hold downs and miter sleds, and use power feeders, and never ever get your hands anywhere near the blade, then you don't have to worry about cutting your fingers.  Simple.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Funny how left handed people tend to be more ambidextrous and right handed people can border on "spare limb" with their left hands.

Us right handed folks use our left hand to catch baseballs.  That takes a lot of coordination to reach in all different positions with the glove to catch baseballs.  You lefties get to use the good right hand for that difficult task.

Is throwing more difficult? Requiring the “good hand”?

I like CRG’s comment about GB drivers having to shift gears with the left hand. I wonder how driving on the left side came about? It proves we’re all ambidextrous to some extent.

But the Great Britain drivers using their left hand for shifting, have to use their right hand to steer and stay on the road.  Is shifting more difficult?  Shifting or staying on the road steering and not running into the ditch or a telephone pole?

I'm going to argue catching is the harder, more important task.  If you catch every ball hit off the bat, for an out.  Then you don't have to throw at all.  You could walk the ball back to the pitcher's mound after catching every ball for an out.  No need to ever throw to first base for an out.  Kind of like the SawStop is not needed either.  If you always use straight grained wood that never pinches on the blade, and always use hold downs and miter sleds, and use power feeders, and never ever get your hands anywhere near the blade, then you don't have to worry about cutting your fingers.  Simple.

Apparently the prevailing opinion does not agree here. Right handed players have always preferred to keep the dominant hand as the "open one".
"Good hand" is also subjective. They are identical, just mirror image, unlike lobsters. I wonder which they consider most important? the bigger/stronger or smaller/more nimble?
For us, they are identical mirror images, the dominant is in the mind of the person.

Ambidextrous? right-handed people? hardly. Sure, there are some, but they are far more right dominant than lefties. This is evident it the way they use the track saw as mentioned here. They just can't help themselves. Even though it is awkward, they still insist on using that right hand, even when the track makes it totally unnecessary. You don't have to see the cut-line, it's going to cut there anyway.

By that thinking, pretty much all safety equipment is not needed. You don't need a hard hat if nothing ever falls from above, or steel-toed shoes if you never drop anything, safety glasses for flying debris, etc. It's only there for that "one time"

 

[tomktest]

A mentioned above Kreg makes a blade left track saw. I had it and it was fine. Now that I have a tsc55k I actually prefer blade on the right. Either way there will be times that you are on the wrong side when cutting panels. I think that Festool is blade right because of the mft. You are in a more natural position as a right handed person the track is on the right side of the mft.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

I wonder how driving on the left side came about?

A very simple answer [member=297]Michael Kellough[/member] = the UK, Australia and New Zealand are right - the rest of the world is wrong  [big grin]

 

[Job and Knock]

I'm right handed and have always measured sheet material cuts from the left side of the material, meaning that the waste material is on the right, where you also want the saw kerf going. On a rail you don't need to see the blade - the rail means it the saw will always cut straight, so just why do you need to see the cut line so much?  (Yes, I know about plunge cut-ours) So it seems to me that a right hand blade is correct...

 

[smorgasbord]

I've been on/off about finally getting a track saw. Watched a recent Sedge video and saw that he always rips with his left hand:

[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]

And cross-cuts with his right:
[attachimg=3]
[attachimg=4]

Watching him, it appears he wants to use his right when he can. For cross-cuts, he's reaching over the work, but since those cuts are not as long, it's OK.

My use case desires for the track saw are:
1) Ripping one edge on long rough hardwood instead of using hand planes and then the jointer.
2) Angled cross-cuts of largish pieces of plywood.
3) Initial cuts of plywood instead of always using the tablesaw.

So, I'd be doing both rips and cross-cuts. Now, hardwoods typically aren't very wide, so I could set-up in the opposite direction as Sedge to use my right hand. For initial plywood cuts, the off-cut may be as large as the main piece, so hard to know which handed-ness is best. For angled cross-cuts, I'd rather not reach across, but that looks OK.

Thoughts today?