Circular Saw
The circular saw is a hand-held saw with a circular blade. There are two different distinct models of circular saws. The more common of which is the sidewinder. The sidewinder has the blade on the right or left of the motor. The other is the worm drive. In the worm drive style circular saw, the motor is directly behind the blade. The sidewinder is usually a lighter and less expensive saw. Personally, I like the weight behind worm drives to help pull itself through cuts and keep it from kicking.
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These saws can bevel. Most hand held circular saws bevel up to 45 degrees some over 50 degrees. The other setting on these saws is the depth. You want to line your depth setting so the blade is just protruding out of the bottom of whatever you are cutting. The best way to do this is by lifting the guard and, with the blade running parallel to the edge of you material, raise/lower the depth until just the tip of the tooth is below your piece. This will ensure you have the least chance of kickback. Never adjust your saw bevel or blade depth while plugged in!!!
Circular saws go by a lot of different names. The obvious being: circular saw, worm drive, and sidewinder, since they describe the blade and styles of the saw. You'll find a lot of people refer to it as a skill saw. In 1937 Skil introduced the Model 77, known as "the saw that built America," setting the new standard for worm drive saws to this day. I personally use a Skilsaw and call circular saws that out of habit, but hey, it's an amazing saw. I have used a similar Skilsaw model as shown in the left picture (1st below) for 3 yrs and it still works like new.
The "regular" or most common size for a circular saw is a 7 1/4 in. blade. There are compact circular saws at 4 1/2 in. and larger, up to 16 5/16 in. blade! The four examples below are all 7 1/4 in. blades. On the top is the Skilsaw sidewinder and the Bosch below is a worm drive, for examples of each type. All photos are links to Amazon.
Circular Saw Recommendation
Tool Basics
Circular saws go by a lot of different names. The obvious being: circular saw, worm drive, and sidewinder, since they describe the blade and styles of the saw. You'll find a lot of people refer to it as a skill saw. In 1937 Skil introduced the Model 77, known as "the saw that built America," setting the new standard for worm drive saws to this day. I personally use a Skilsaw and call circular saws that out of habit, but hey, it's an amazing saw. I have used a similar Skilsaw model as shown in the left picture (1st below) for 3 yrs and it still works like new.
The "regular" or most common size for a circular saw is a 7 1/4 in. blade. There are compact circular saws at 4 1/2 in. and larger, up to 16 5/16 in. blade! The four examples below are all 7 1/4 in. blades. On the top is the Skilsaw sidewinder and the Bosch below is a worm drive, for examples of each type. All photos are links to Amazon.
Circular Saw Recommendation
Tool Basics