and here it is one of if not my favorite tool in my arsenal of power tools my trusty old circular saw love it now don't get me wrong the circular saw can be an intimidating tool for those out there who are not used to using one and for good reason they're noisy they've got this razor sharp blade thingy that spins quite quickly and if you're not careful they can do a lot of damage in the blink of an eyelid [Applause] [Music] case in point meet exhibit a that is the photo of a good friend of mine's hand who recently just had a close encounter with a circular saw i think it's fair to say that he won't be hitchhiking anytime soon that was nasty and with that image still fresh in your mind in today's video i just want to brush up on the basics so that your experience when using a circular saw is going to be more efficient enjoyable and a safe one and after you've nailed all that that's going to give you the confidence to go out and build something just like an outdoor sofa or even a little step stool like this one here to building your own house what could be more satisfying now to get this show on the road i think tip number one is pretty self-explanatory and that is do yourself a favor and before you do anything go out and buy yourself some eye and hearing protection because trust me from an old dog who's been doing this for many years it's better to be safe than sorry now this snazzy looking tool is called a speed square and it's a great thing to have for doing beautiful square cross cuts with this circular saw and i'll leave a link to one of these down below if you're keen to check them out and to use it just place the base of it that edge hard up against the piece you're working on now also ensure that this piece is clamped down so everything is nice and secure then all you need to do is to run the base or the shoe of your circular saw hard up against that edge and bob's your uncle now you can hold this with one hand but if you aren't confident grab yourself a clamp and you can simply clamp that in place too easy [Music] and as you can see there that is a beautiful square cut now this next one's going to be a two-tip combo and that is to get a really nice straight cut all i do is use a level or a straight piece of wood and clamp it down on either end of the piece that we're trying to cut and then simply with your saw use the edge of the saw base and run that hard up against the level and you'll finish up with a beautiful straight cut now one thing to remember say this is the line that we're trying to cut nice and straight we need to set the level back from that line the distance from the edge of the saw base to the edge of the saw blade and then once you do that clamp the level in place and you're good to go and the other tip is whenever you're cutting plywood because the saw blade spins in an upward motion it tends to bur that surface so what you can do is with your level place it on our line just like that and then with a stanley knife or a utility knife give that a really good score which will break that grain and hopefully prevent some of that burning [Music] and as you can see there that's a really nice finish i like it and if you want to get a bit more serious you can actually buy a straight edge that has a clamp integrated on either end they're absolutely fantastic and make crosscuts like this an absolute breeze so i'll link to those down below if you want to check them out now today's video is brought to you by today's sponsor me you've probably heard me banging on about how i've been working on creating a circular saw master class well i'm pleased to announce that it is here it is live and ready to download so who's this course for i'm glad you asked it's for anyone who uses a circular saw from the nervous beginner just starting out to even the more experienced user who may just need a bit of a refresher course to gain their confidence back the master class is jam-packed full of useful information including video tutorials valuable time saving resources project builds complete with plans and a whole host of other bonuses and let's face it who doesn't love a good bonus and they're all designed to help build up your confidence when using the circular saw so why waste your time and learn the hard way it's not necessary do yourself a favor and click on the link over there or down beneath this video in the description box to get you started on your journey to using your saw safely and more effectively you'll be glad you did i look forward to seeing you over in the master class and now let's crack on with tip number five now if you need to do an angled cut you might realize that the saw guard can actually cause a few problems the reason being is that when you hit that cut on a funny angle the guard hits first and tends to make the saw want to wander or even bind and you don't want that to happen so to prevent that prior to the cut retract that guard line the blade up with the mark start the motor enter the cut by about an inch and then release the guard and continue cutting now this next tip is really important in regards to safety and that is never ever cut a piece of wood that's only supported on either end the reason being is that as you're cutting through that wood the wood's getting lower and lower which will only bind against that saw blade which will force the saw to kick back potentially causing serious injury now just before we go on i'd like to share a quick story with you a couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine let's call him troy was doing some house framing and he was cutting a whole heap of two befores with a handsaw and it was taking forever so he thought he'd go to the hardware store ask the guys there what they could recommend so he went down there and they said mate try one of these circular saw things they're fantastic anyway troy buys it goes home uses it for a day and he's bitterly disappointed so he goes back to the shop the next day and he goes to the guy hey mate that circular saw thing you sold me yesterday it's absolutely useless i can do it quick with my handsaw so the guy says give it here so he takes it plugs it in starts it up and troy goes what it makes a noise the idiot didn't even have it plugged in so stupid so i'll sew myself out now this next one is a great tip if you find yourself having to do a cross cut on a sheet of plywood which is normally when you're cutting plywood to length and that is if you don't support the plywood over the entire width as you're cutting it with your circular saw it's a big chance of this binding and kicking back which is what you don't want and also it's a big chance of the plywood veneer splintering or tearing off as the offcut falls to the ground so if you're using saw horses just simply span them with a couple of pieces of timber and you're good to go [Music] beautiful now for rougher type cuts like cutting studs for a house frame make sure that the off cut the piece you don't want can fall aw
