Left blades, right blades

[gwyneth]

I've got the Ryobi 18v circular saw. Its blade is on the left.

Last month, Cummins had a deal on little blades; they were the correct size and even the correct arbor size (10 mm). At four carbide tipped blades (16T, 24T, 30T, 60T) for about six bucks, I bit.

The other night I went to use one of them and noticed they are all right blades. Since then I've searched here and spent a couple of hours trying to phrase the right query on Google, and couldn't find an answer.

My question is: can I just turn one of the righthand blades over and use it that way?

Thanks.

[sweensdv]

The only difference from one side of a blade to the other is that one side usually has writing on it and the other side doesn't. There is no such thing, AFAIK, as a right or left hand blade. Just turn the blade over and saw away.

[LCHIEN]

yep. Just depends on which side they put the writing.

[HarmsWay]

Yes, it still has to be symetrical. I'd recommend labeling it with a right and wrong side out though, so it doesn't get put on backwards.

Bob

[gwyneth]

Thanks, it looked as if it should work but it's usually not a good idea to experiment with saw blades.

Here's the link for the blades (I know getting them for the Ryobi 18v has been a problem for some people.) Although I could have sworn this is what I ordered (at $6 instead of the $10 now showing) the picture of these shows the blades facing right instead of left--i.e., correct for the Ryobi instead of the reverse, which I received.


http://www.cumminstools.com/browse.cfm/4,1566.htm
4pc 5-3/8" Saw Blades

[ironhat]

Place the blade one arbor so that the cutting edge of the teeth is facing forward. The saw cuts on the up-swing. On a saw with the blade on the right side (the way most are) the blade will be rotating counter-clockwise (if the blade is on the left side of your saw the rotation will be clockwise). Forget about right and left and reason it out. You're letting the lettering confuse you. Oh yea, the side of the saw usually shows the direction of rotation. Keep us posted.

[gwyneth]

Place the blade one arbor so that the cutting edge of the teeth is facing forward. The saw cuts on the up-swing. On a saw with the blade on the right side (the way most are) the blade will be rotating counter-clockwise (if the blade is on the left side of your saw the rotation will be clockwise). Forget about right and left and reason it out. You're letting the lettering confuse you. Oh yea, the side of the saw usually shows the direction of rotation. Keep us posted.

Actually, the question could be rephrased as, 'is there any reason the lettering side has to be up'...as high-tech as saw blade and tooth design is, I thought it was a possibility that the sides were not mirror-images, and thus not invertable.