Left handers..?

[Brice Burrell]

Left handed Goofy foot. Almost never use the TS with right hand. I like to walk along the edge of the rail when I'm cutting. Not sure how you'd do that right handed with this saw.

Yeah, I think most people do the same for long rip cuts, but, which hand do you use to cross cut?  I almost always use the right.  I bet most everyone else does too.

 

[Brice Burrell]

When i was learning the building trades, i work for three brothers who did everything.  I worked at everything, but eventually ended up as a mason.  When framing, i would use either hand with hammer and even with the saws.  No power tools at that time.  I would switch hands according to what position i had to work from.  The youngest brother, 12 years my senior, would go crazy and yelling at me to learn to work with one hand or the other.  The older brother, a very good friend as years went on, would just tell the youngest that i used my left hand mostly because i could not do anything right. when i used my right, I was just proving it. he and i got along great.

i have many tories about my "adventures" with that crew, but for this time, i'll spare you.
Besides, i have to go to work.
BTW: work today means riding around on my big lever operated riding mower.  There are two levers.  I operate one with my left hand and the other with my right.  [big grin]
Tinker

I love all of your stories, those involving the brothers are great. [thumbs up]

 

[woodwrights_corner]

What a great thread.  It's nice to hear all the points of views from fellow lefties.  I bat righty, I snowboarded goofy at first, but now I like going either goofy or regular stance equally.  I too can't use lefty scissors worth a darn. Metal snips I use the left and right cutting snips with either hand.   My handwriting is so terrible it's embarrassing unless I put 100% effort into every letter.  Smudging the ink while writing has always been a pain.  I too find my right hand does the heavy work, I lifted a lot of weights playing football and basketball in college, and always wondered why my right and was stronger.  I always wondered to if my right handed brother taught me to bat righty, or was it meant to be.  I wonder if I batted lefty if I would have hit more home runs in high school baseball, and men's league softball.  Who knows but it's always been on my mind.

Even when I concentrate on every letter I'm still embarrassed at the outcome. [tongue]

I am very left handed in a family of right handed folks.  My first grade teacher really hounded me about sloppy handwriting
to little avail (but I'm not bitter ).  One note though, all important forms I've ever completed have started out with "PLEASE PRINT [tongue].

 

[sancho57]

My hand writing sucks to. it looks more like chicken scratch.

I didnt get good grades in penmanship in school

 

[Paul G]

What a great thread.  It's nice to hear all the points of views from fellow lefties.  I bat righty, I snowboarded goofy at first, but now I like going either goofy or regular stance equally.  I too can't use lefty scissors worth a darn. Metal snips I use the left and right cutting snips with either hand.   My handwriting is so terrible it's embarrassing unless I put 100% effort into every letter.  Smudging the ink while writing has always been a pain.  I too find my right hand does the heavy work, I lifted a lot of weights playing football and basketball in college, and always wondered why my right and was stronger.  I always wondered to if my right handed brother taught me to bat righty, or was it meant to be.  I wonder if I batted lefty if I would have hit more home runs in high school baseball, and men's league softball.  Who knows but it's always been on my mind.

Try writing mirror image right to left, it provides a LH person the proper penmanship ergonomics and mechanics. I got pretty good at it and once turned in an essay that way in a HS philosophy class, topic was about being LH in a RH world, the teacher thought it hilarious.

 

[stevewestern]

Thanks for all the replies !
I was one of those who had his hand tied to the chair to prevent me writing with my left hand at school - the end result is that my writing is illegible with both hands..!

I guess I need to go and have another play with a T55 and give it a second chance - I have never been a big fan of circular saws as they always seemed so dangerous and unwieldy especially in my wrong hand, so am keen not to go spending loads on something unless it feels right.

As for smudging ink - I once wrote a poem that the teacher liked, so was told to write it out in ink, using a dip pen (just in case you don't know what a dip pen is, it is like a quill)
I had to stay behind after school doing it again and again until I got it smudge-free. I never wrote another poem. However, I did write all sorts of nasty stuff about that teacher in my rough book !

 

[tjbnwi]

My hand writing sucks to. it looks more like chicken scratch.

I didnt get good grades in penmanship in school

I worked very hard to get my penmanship right when I was in school. Mostly because I was told I could never do it. Now it is hit or miss (more miss lately), depends on my mood and how much of a hurry I'm in.

Our oldest daughter is left handed, she has exquisite penmanship. She always has.

Steve must have attend a catholic grammar school.

Tom

 

[Tinker]

I hated school right from the first get-go.  I think the biggest reason was that my handwriting was so terrible. By the time i got into my senior year, I was tired of trying to make any piece of paper look anything other than a two year old's scribbling.  My senior English teacher kept insisting I should be a writer, but the computer had not yet been invented and i had other ideas for my life. I still have no aspirations to spend my life as a writer.  The computer at least makes it possible for me to make you guys suffer, even if i don't show my handwriting.

I remember a distant cousin who had very bad handwriting. About once or twice a year, she would send a letter to my aunt & uncle.  I was living with them and the extended family was quite large.  I don't think anybody in the family was capable to decipher her letters alone, so the letter would be opened on the large kitchen table and we would all gather around to decode.  It was almost never deciphered with one sitting, so would end up spread out on the table for a few days as any body who might find time could add a few more notes of understanding.  i don't remember that we ever totally figured completely every word, but we could, with repeat efforts, finally get a good idea of what she had written about.

My cousin has kidded me for years that i have taken over in that lady's absence.  (I accept with pride. [cool])

Note: I am not the only southpaw in my close family.  My wife and daughter are both lefties.  My son is the odd ball.  My wife was, at first, a lefty at writing; but, as others have mentioned, she was forced to write right handed.  When i was in school, a couple of my teachers tried to get me to write right handed.  they had to give up.  No matter how they tried, there was no improvement.  Does anybody here remember the old Palmer Method for improving handwriting?  Oh how I suffered thru that torture.  [eek]

My father was very skilled with both hands.  when he first got out of college, he went to work for an art studio (advertising) in NYC.  He used to drive his art director crazy when he would sketch an idea facing the boss across his desk as he would draw his idea.  My father would be facing the other man with the drawing between the two.  My father would be behind the drawing and looking down.  he would actually be drawing the mirror image from his point of view so it would look right to the other person.  He was actually right handed, but because he was drawing a mirror image, he would do that with his left hand. 
Tinker

 

[Eli]

Left handed Goofy foot. Almost never use the TS with right hand. I like to walk along the edge of the rail when I'm cutting. Not sure how you'd do that right handed with this saw.

Yeah, I think most people do the same for long rip cuts, but, which hand do you use to cross cut?  I almost always use the right.  I bet most everyone else does too.

Yeah, correct, I do cross-cut right. I'd rather use the Kapex though, I do that with both  [big grin]

 

[tjbnwi]

We lefties do have the advantage when bowling.

Tom

 

[Tinker]

I have learned how to use most tools in my shop right handed.  When i was in the mason biz, i used most of the trowels and hammers left handed.  When laying brick or blocks, it came in handy.  i would work at one end of wall and work towards my other mason who was working from the opposite end.  There was no problem of adjustment of working style for either one of us.  we just meet up at center of the "line", go back to our corners and head towards the middle again.  I always did pointing up type work left handed.

When doing stone work, I sometimes would use a trowel in each hand when doing retaining walls or such where I would throw in large amounts of mortar in some situations. When using hammers, if it required one hand to swing, it was always with my left hand, especially if i had to use chisels of any kind.  When it came to swinging the heavier hammers (from 8# to 20#) I always swung from the right side.  (I swung baseball bat righty as well)

When troweling concrete floors, i sometimes used a trowel in each hand for short periods of time.  Other times, it was left hand to reach to left side and right hand to reach to the right side.  With stucco and plaster, when applying material, I always used the trowel in my left and held the "hawk" in my right.  I could do the finish troweling with either hand, but usually lefty preferred.
Tinker

 

[peter halle]

The first year working for myself I was replacing a lot of siding.  The constant striking a nail puller with a hammer aggravated my right elbow and wrist (primary).  It got to the point where I could not pick up a coffee cup or a can of coke without pain or at all.  Doing what many stubborn self employed would do, I adapted.  I started using my left hand as the hammering hand.  The result - money kept flowing.  After a month I had a problem using either or both hands to pick up a coffee cup.

When painting I often use either hand to cut in depending on the situation at hand..

I type with both hands.  [big grin]  I bowl terribly with either - or both.

Peter

 

[Tinker]

I type with both hands.  [big grin]  I bowl terribly with either - or both.

Peter

Me, I type with both fingers.
Bowling: forget it [eek]

 

[Paul G]

We lefties do have the advantage when bowling.

Tom

You'll have to explain this one. I rarely bowl and always use the rental equipment. All those balls have hole patterns for RH people.

 

[fastbike]

Left handed here. Growing up in a right handed world taught me to be ambidexterous. Plus, the TS55 is often easier to cut using your left hand. I've actually heard some complaints that the designers of the TS55 must be left handed.

I know that both my right handed sons are somewhat irked that I can easily shift from hand to hand to suit the task / position / space.

I have a friend that commented that I can shoot his pistol offhanded (right hand for me) better than he can shoot it with both hands. Most of the left handers I know are similarly ambi.

That said, I have found the Festools to be generally neutral with the exception of the D handle jigsaw.

 

[sancho57]

We also think differently. We lefties can look at something figure out how to do what we want and its more of a instinctive quality where righties are more methodical in their thinking we both reach the same conclusion just different ways to get there.

Drove the guys in the end user class nuts figureing things out

 

[bullieblue]

Lefty here too and being in this right handed world has made me pretty much ambidextrous so I have never had any issue with the TS55 either at least I haven't noticed. It seems that most of the Festools are as close to being gender neutral as any could be.