I’m teaching a friend some basic woodworking—joinery, power tool use etc. for furniture making. Problem is that he’s left handed and I’m right handed. In particular I’m wondering how to show him how to use a table saw. Should he use the fence to the left of the blade? Or should he just get using a fence that’s set up to the right of the blade? My blade only tilts to the left so what do we do when it comes time to make an angled cut?
Honestly this has given me an appreciation of just how much right handed bias there is in tool world.
Replies
I am a righty and regularly use my rip fence on both sides of the blade. Fence position for cuts with the blade tilted is dictated by safety. Make those cuts so you can control the workpiece with no danger of an offcut falling between the fence and the blade. The blade always tilts away from the fence.
I'm a southpaw. Right- and left-handedness are on a spectrum: unless you're friend is so left-handed his right is almost non-functional, teach him to use the tools the way you use them. It's better to teach the way you work and are confident in than it is for you to work in an alien way to accommodate your friends' handedness.
Once your friend has a solid grounding in using the tool safely and has some confidence, he can start figuring out how to adjust what he's learned for comfort or efficiency.
That said: if he just can't or won't work right-handed, even to learn, you're probably better off finding him a left-handed teacher who can guide him from their own practice.
Good luck, and welcome to your friend!
As a southpaw, it's a non-issue and best not to make it one. The fence is accurate on either side of the blade. In commercial aviation pilots can sit in either seat and manipulate throttles and flight controls with either hand regardless of their ambidexterity. NASCAR drivers compete regardless of what hand is on the wheel or stick. But if you build a shooting board, make sure to get it right :)
I agree with all the above, and in particular the advice to show how you work. Trying to change it is a good way to get injured.
@ben_strano - You may recall I suggested a resource for those with disabilities? Whilst left-handedness is not a disability it does cause difficulty and it would be useful to add it to the list of things to do.
You know.
When you get half a second...
Huh? Are you asking to search all of your forum posts or something. Cause, no.
:-) Nope.
This came up before with a couple of posts from wheelchair users. I think it would be very useful, albeit to a minority, to consider accessible woodworking, and specifically to have a section in the website or magazine dedicated to this.
There must be a fair few people with mobility issues, missing bits, poor eyesight, arthritis and such and it would be good to see any articles collated in a special section. It would also be good to see reviews of modified tools, or comment on how tools might be better or less well suited to people with accessibility issues.
That makes a lot more sense! If you have a list of links and resources shoot me an email and let's get to work! [email protected]
"What Hath Thou Wrought, Strano?" Are you saying some of your fervent fans have actually taken your advice literally to: "Go forth, be fruitful and multiply!"?
Never had any ‘difficulty’ whilst woodworking. As mentioned earlier, not an issue ..
Don’t try to describe the ocean if you’ve never seen it
— Jimmy Buffett
As a left-hander, I've found that is often simpler to adapt to the right-handed way of things as much as possible and accept the inconveniences that sometimes arise. Pragmatically, this allows one to operate most tools, etc in other spaces. For example, I learned to the play the guitar and bass right-handed, so that I could play other people's instruments, should the opportunity present itself. This approach has translated well when I've had to work in other woodshops as the majority of the time, in my experience, have been oriented for right-handed use. That said, my shooting boards and such are built for left-handers. To each their own, of course.
Very good. Playing right handed guitars left handed worked out pretty well for Hendrix. One of the luthiers I worked with at Stars Guitars in San Francisco, James Verhoff, was left handed and built beautiful instruments of either "Handedness". I have one he and I collaborated on in late'79/early '80. (Maple top and back with a Mahogany core, Maple, Koa and Bubinga, two octave, 24 fret, three piece Maple and Koa neck through the body, Stars electronics, brass bridge, tailpiece, Clarostat pots, & etc.)
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. My main concern is his safety so I agree that it doesn’t make sense for me, a righty, to try to show someone how to do something left-handed. I can see how this could result in confusion and then, a kickback incident or worse. He’s an art teacher and adept with hand skills so I suspect he’s already ambidextrous.
Learning something from scratch, it's easier to be ambidextrous. I can carve or turn just as well with either hand. But something easier, like hitting a nail with a hammer, is far more difficult with the "wrong" hand, because I had already spent years doing it only one way.
I think if he starts off doing some new things as a right, it will become second nature for him.
As a guy who was born left handed, but forced to be a righty, I've adapted just fine and am now ambidextrous in most things.
I am of the mind that the fence side is driven by blade tilt, much more than handedness of the operator. The only time it really matters to me is on a circular saw. I've used worm drive saws since I first discovered the joy of them.
A lot of good advice in this discussion, especially the safety point about the table saw fence position on the side that the blade tilts away.
As a aging right hander who has a nagging rotator cuff injury in my left shoulder and occasional pain in my right forearm I've decided the best way to continue my woodworking and daily activities is to train myself to be ambidextorous thus avoiding or minimizing repetitive stress injuries.
As I've recently started incorporating more handtools into my work I decided to switch the repetitive motion of planing, sawing and using a chisel between both hands. It takes a while to develop muscle memory, especially in your non-dominant hand but over time it becomes more natural.
maybe a right tilt blade table saw is something to consider?
I'm a lefty and I have no trouble using a table saw with the rip fence to the right and blade tilt to the right. The best evidence is that there is only a gene for right-handedness; those without it become left or right handed by circumstance. Like most lefties, I'm somewhat ambi and I bet your friend is, too. It is sometimes hard to learn from righties because of the mirror image, but it's not hard to do once you've learned. In short: neither of you should worry too much. He should do what's comfortable and safe.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled