LUNT CARPENTRY

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For straight cuts, first make sure the blade is set just 1/8" deeper than your board (it works more efficiently and tears the wood less). Then hold the saw so the power cord and your body are out of the way, start the motor and let it reach full speed before the blade enters the wood. Unfortunately, the guide sights at the front of a circular saw often don't work well as guides (don't ask me why), so you have to look around the side and watch the blade itself moving along your cutting line. That means you'll need to wear safety goggles to keep flying sawdust out of your eyes. (Earplugs are good, too, for muffling the noise.)

The first inch of a cut is all-important. Get that straight and the saw'll pretty much steer itself. If it's off your line, though, pull the saw out and start again. If necessary, hold the blade guard handle back with one hand, and evenly push the saw all the way through the wood with the other, letting it rest flush on the supported board (Fig. 7). Don't push it too hard—forcing the tool increases the risk of accident and can damage the motor. Don't try to back a circular saw out of a cut while it's running—it may kick back instead. Turn the motor off as soon as the cut is finished, but don't put the saw down until the safety guard has snapped back into place and completely covered the blade.

Leave the line . This carpenter's axiom means you want to cut just along the waste side of your penciled line, so you can still see the line on the wood piece you use. Why? Because the width of a saw cut (the kerf) can be substantial (1/8" or more), so if you cut on the line, you'll remove wood from your measured side, as well. (For the same reason, don't mark a series of cuts all at once on a board: The kerf waste will throw them off. Mark one, cut one. Then mark the next, cut the next.) So don't forget: Cut so the line stays on the piece you want, not on the waste piece.

Are you having trouble making the saw run straight across the cut? Then once you've got it lined up to start your cut, set a speed (or other) square flush against the saw's other side, and hold it there while you cut. That'll help keep your saw on course and give you a beautiful finished cut. A speed square's 45°-angled side makes an especially useful guide when you need to make 45° cuts.

Nailing

Finally, the soul (and sometimes frustration) of carpentry: driving nails. Real carpenters can wham a nail home in two or three hits, but that skill comes with practice, lots of practice. (I still can't do it.) These tricks will help, though.

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