lefty rant

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saminmn
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lefty rant

Post by saminmn »

Fortunately I can do a lot of things as good or better with my right hand. Unfortunately, I need to use left hand for small motor coordination items, like eating, writing, etc. So I can operate, for instance, a circular saw right handed. Yesterday I needed to use a saber saw (or whatever its called now - jig saw?). I got a new one this last winter before getting into the SS world. I have yet to be happy with its results.

Yesterday I tried to use my saber saw to get the shape I needed. I really cannot use it left handed due to the way it blows dust. You just cannot stand on the right side of the tool. I pretty much butchered it using a combination of standing on the left and operating left handed and just trying to do it right handed.

Sure made me wish I had gotten into setting up and learning to use my SS Band Saw before now. I got the piece done using course sand paper to get to the lines and to smooth out saw mark edges. Too many things to learn to get anything done:(

Back to the rant. I learned in high school why I could not get my scissors to work all though grade school. There are only a few toosl that are made for lefties (many tools are not left/right specific). I think many lefties just look for other avenues.
Sam in Northfield, MN
A day without beer......could have been better :p :D :p
Mark V 500 - S/N 100990, Mark V 510 - S/N missing, SS Band Saw, SS 6" Belt Sander, SS 4" Jointer, SS Scroll Saw, SS DC3300
judaspre1982
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Post by judaspre1982 »

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Last edited by judaspre1982 on Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
saminmn
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Post by saminmn »

Hi Dave, I enjoyed the thread. It kind of confirmed what I said about lefties just not getting into woodworking (or getting into/ activities that need specialized equipment even if available).

Most of the lefties in that thread were not total lefties. Most of my left handed friends pretty much have trouble doing anything right handed. In the thread, most claimed some righty capability. Others were outright ambidextrous.

Myself, I cannot throw a ball, golf, or do anything left handed that needs large muscle motor skills. My second grade teacher noticed that at my desk I was writing left handed, but at the blackboard I was writing right handed. There have been many theories on the indistinctly left handed...some very odd/unusual personalities. An area well beyond my rant.

Thanks again for the link.
Sam in Northfield, MN
A day without beer......could have been better :p :D :p
Mark V 500 - S/N 100990, Mark V 510 - S/N missing, SS Band Saw, SS 6" Belt Sander, SS 4" Jointer, SS Scroll Saw, SS DC3300
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Nick
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Post by Nick »

Just a word to encourage you lefties: Jim McCann, the last remaining engineer at Shopsmith and the power behind the PowerPro (his idea, his design, his execution) is a lefty. Besides being an accomplished engineer/tool designer, he is also the most masterful master craftsman I know or know of. -- Nick
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Post by dforeman »

I'm not a lefty. Well, at least not anymore anyway. In grade school when I was learning to write, I started out left handed. However back in the day (I'm sure this attitude has changed) all Catholic Schools required that you use your right hand when writting. And, the Nuns were very none forgiving in this matter. So, needless to say since my grade school days I have been right handed.

I know Porter Cable used to make a line of tools for lefties. But, I'm not sure that is still the case since the Porter Cable Brand is now owned by Black & Decker.

I'm surprised a sport as prestigeous as Golfing does not have a sporting line for lefties. You can get left handed baseball gloves, why not golf clubs?
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wrmnfzy
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golf

Post by wrmnfzy »

they do and you can
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aloibl
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Post by aloibl »

Most of us lefties just learn to cope in a right-handed world. Most of us just become ambidextrous without even realizing it. I can't throw with my right arm but I am better with my right hand then with my left on fine motor skills. But everybody knows that left-handed people are smarter than right handed people. So a lefty can always learn how to do stuff with their right hand but right handed people can't get any smarter!!! Ha! Ha!
Alan - Austin, Texas

Shopsmith Mark V (1984), Bandsaw, Joiner, Belt sander, jig saw, planer, router table, biscuit jointer, Porter jig,
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JPG
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Post by JPG »

aloibl wrote:Most of us lefties just learn to cope in a right-handed world. Most of us just become ambidextrous without even realizing it. I can't throw with my right arm but I am better with my right hand then with my left on fine motor skills. But everybody knows that left-handed people are smarter than right handed people. So a lefty can always learn how to do stuff with their right hand but right handed people can't get any smarter!!! Ha! Ha!
This being a predominately right handed world, there is little need for a right handed person to 'adapt'.

Practice is the key here. Finer control etc. comes with time and repetition regardless of l/r or r/l 'history'.



If lh folks were smarter, they would have known to be born rh!:D
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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beeg
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Post by beeg »

JPG40504 wrote: If lh folks were smarter, they would have known to be born rh!:D

But lefties are the only ones in their right mind.:D
SS 500(09/1980), DC3300, jointer, bandsaw, belt sander, Strip Sander, drum sanders,molder, dado, biscuit joiner, universal lathe tool rest, Oneway talon chuck, router bits & chucks and a De Walt 735 planer,a #5,#6, block planes. ALL in a 100 square foot shop.
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fjimp
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Post by fjimp »

saminmn wrote: Yesterday I tried to use my saber saw to get the shape I needed. I really cannot use it left handed due to the way it blows dust.

Okay this lefty has fought the battles with right handed tools for a lifetime. I even out maneuvered the first grade teacher who when I broke the left hand demanded I learn to write with the right hand. I broke the right arm after the cast came off the left one. Whoops sorry about the tangent. What I really wanted to say is dust has long been a curse for me. My last sabre saw came with a dust port. I connect it to the hose on my Fein shop vac and am able to see perfectly. I also have several jigs and clamps around my shop so I can provide dust removal and still have my hands free. Okay that is only partially true. Due to injuries my right arm/hand is fast becoming useless. Jim
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Lakewood, Colorado:)

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