Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “How To Use a Circular Saw”.
Today, we’re going to be going over the basics of one of the most versatile power tools around the circular saw if you want to get started with woodworking you’re on a budget you’re patient. You can build just about anything with one of these incredibly useful tools. A circular saw is capable of making just about any straight cut into wood, rip cuts, cross cuts, miters, bevels and even dados are possible. With the circular saw. All you need is the patients to set up the saw properly.
They are a great way to break down sheet goods like plywood, without having to wrangle a huge sheet through a table saw plus they are incredibly portable, so you can easily do any of these cuts at a job site. Let’S take a look at the parts of the tool a circular saw should have two handles at the front and rear of the saw the rear handle has both the safety switch and the trigger and the front handles for added stability when cutting the shoe or base Plate will rest on top of the lumber. You are cutting and is also used to set the depth and angle of your cut, surrounding the blade is the blade guard. This will protect the blade if you leave the tool sitting on the ground and it will protect.
You from the blade when it’s spinning the blade guard will automatically retract. When making a cut. You can manually retract the guard using this lever, that’s useful when making plunge cuts. The shoe has a number of markings on it.
The most important one is this notch, which indicates the location of the blade. This additional notch shows the blade location when the shoe is set up for making bevel cuts, use this lever to set the cut depth. You only want your blade to be extending a tiny amount below the depth of your material.
Cutting too far through is not only dangerous, but it makes harder work for the saw use this lever to set the angle of the blade on most saws. There are positive stops for 90 degree and 45 degree cuts. If your shoe has markings stamped into the metal like mine, you can paint over the markings of white paint and then wipe away the excess leaving the paint in the recessed areas.
This will make them easily readable, even when things start getting dusty like with any power tool, you should be wearing safety glasses for every single cut if you’re making a lot of cuts. Protecting your ears is a really good idea and, while the sawdust from a circular saw isn’t as fine as other tools, it’s still a good idea to wear a dust mask to make a cut. Just rest. The shoe of the saw flat on the lumber you want to cut with the blade clear of the wood pull the trigger and let the blade spin up to full speed push the blade smoothly through the material using the notch to guide your saw along your cut Line don’t push the saw too quickly, just let the blade do the work when your cut is complete, push the blade, completely clear the material release the trigger and wait for the blade to come to a complete. Stop. It’S important that you let your offcut fall freely.
You don’t want your wood to be supported on both sides. If it is the wood can pinch your blade as you make your cut, and the saw will start to climb its way out. I got lucky with this cut, but it could easily resulted in a kickback if that happens, release the trigger and lift the saw clear and reposition your wood before continuing there’s. A few extra tools that will help you get more out of your circular saw a speed square is invaluable. In helping you make cross cuts, you can clamp the square to your material and press the shoe against the square to help guide the saw a long beam level clamp to your material can also help guide the saw for straighter more accurate rip cuts. You can also use a circular saw to make notch cuts mark out the area you want to clear, set your blade depth and then make a series of cuts to clear away the wood.
You can then knock out any remaining material with a chisel. It’S good to have a few different blades, for your saw. This 18 tooth blade will make short work of any rip cut, but it leaves a really rough finish on any cross cuts or plywood.
This 40 tooth cross cutting blade, leaves a nicer edge to your cut, but it will bog down on longer rip cuts. Making accurate cuts with a circular saw takes time and practice, but for all its portability and versatility, it’s an invaluable tool and a great way to get started with woodworking. You .