I see Bosch and Milwaukee seem to be the only 2 makers of non worm drive left bladed saws. Are there any other options out there?
I assume you’re talking about corded?
Bosch and Milwaukee are the only ones I know of, sorry.
In case anyone needs a visual:
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Yes corded, sorta thought that was implied lol.
Not sure why you wouldnt want worm drive since they are heavier duty. but if it was me id bite the bullet on a skilsaw magnesium and call it done.
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Already have a Bosch worm in the tool trailer, and a left battery powered one. Frankly that’s why I want a “regular” left blade(sorta enjoying the whole line of sight thing). Battery saw is kinda weak, worms are awesome but big and only have so much room in my truck box.
Porter-Cable used to be the King of the Sinister Sidewinders, before Stanley B&D decided to downgrade the brand. Keep an eye out for a Model 743 on the used market.
Also, most of the cordless circular saws are lefties.
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Don’t know if it is worm drive but Ryobi cordless is left hand blade.
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I guess that the 743K did not sell well enough.
It got pretty good reviews:
But as you say B&D seems to have decided that they did not want Porter Cable to cannibalize Dewalt sales - so they downgraded the brand - what a pity!
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My father has that PC saw… I doubt I’ll ever get to even touch it… I might get it in his will at best lol.
The 743K sold quite well. It was in production for 10+ years IIRC. I bought mine about 15 years ago, based in part on a Fine Woodworking review that was a couple years old that referred to the 743.
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I have a little story to tell…
Some years (15?) ago I bought a Porter Cable 423MAG, a cousin of the 743K(?) Being right handed, the left handed blade took some getting used to, but once I did, I loved the saw. Lightweight, powerful…
A weekend DIYer, after years of good service, I dropped the saw and the blade guard quit auto-closing. Took it apart and saw that the saw case where guard attached was cracked. Some gorilla glue kept it functioning…until I caught the cord with my foot and it dropped off a sawhorse again. This time I decided to look into getting the part replaced and found there was a safety recall involving the blade guard not closing. Contacted the local factory repair shop, and learned there are no parts available for this saw.
Really?!?!
Sure enough, I looked online at a few replacement parts sites and could not find the part available. So I Gorilla glued it again and will [try to] handle it gingerly.
All this to say, I thought a Porter Cable tool would be a lifetime tool. I was surprised to learn otherwise. Our throw away society is pervasive.
Oh, and Gorilla Glue rocks! lol
- djb
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Funny how that works, I have a Rockwell-Porter-Cable 9314 (aka 314 trim saw) worm gear saw that dates back to the late 1970’s or early '80’s. Last year I needed new brushes for it - found them easily online (several sources) and many of the replacement part places seemingly had many (different ones at different sources) of the parts still in stock. I guess its kind of a crap shoot about who has new or new-old stock for what.
More of a surprise - there seems to be one of the saws on sale at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-9314-4-1-Trim-Case/dp/B0000222WZ
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Guy on the job had one today… soooooo jealous, ran it for half the day and loved it.
Not everything about “the good old days” was good - and I recall a real lemon Buick that I bought during that era - but that trim saw is a keeper. And its tools like that made by Porter Cable that saddens me about what Stanley-B&D has done with the brand. But they did it earlier with the B&D brand with orange plastic-bodies tools - some that were not even recommended for homeowner use. Not withstanding that, I have a B&D Super Sawcat with electronic brake from the same era - that is testament that B&D once made professional stuff under their brandname.