if you've missed part 1 of this video series then take the time click the link and go watch
that video in that video or talk about the various parts of the circular saw and its basic uses but
now in this video we're cutting stuff thanks for joining me alright first things first which type
of saw blade to use I have two different types in front of you the first one right here is is
the normal blade that comes with a saw this is a 24 tooth 7 and quarter-inch saw blade now this
is good for for one thing and it's eating wood it's super fast it cuts very very fast the only
downside to this blade is it's cut quality now when the blade is is is new it cuts pretty clean
even on plywood but as it gets older man you got to look out the next on the list is a 60
tooth saw blade this blade is what I use to cut finished plywood amazing enough it produces a
very clean cut with little to no tear out so I don't want you to think that these are the
only two saw blades out there because there's not these are the the ends of the spectrum if
you will there's there's blades in between there but what I want you to learn from this is I want
you to learn to ask yourself two questions before you even plug this all in the first question is
what am i cutting and second how do I want that cut to turn out so putting those questions to
use I'm gonna go ahead and go with the 60 tooth blade here because I'm really more interested
for this demonstration for a clean cut they aim for a faster one so while I attach this blade I
want to talk just for a few seconds about safety now of course when you're working with these saws
changing out the blades or doing anything like that please remember to unplug them or
disconnect the battery and of course lastly I would wear some safety glasses at least to the
minimum while you're using these saws because they love to throw sawdust and I love to throw
bits of chunks of plywood around in the air all right they have it let's do some cutting all
right so we're all set up ready to go the first thing that we're gonna do is make a crosscut on
this dimensional or 2x4 right here one of the most invaluable tools that you'll have that goes
along with this circular saw is a speed square I'm to make another video on this specifically
about the details of this but it's just a square and it's a great way to take a pencil and make
a square line on a piece of board or anything else before we make a cut what we need to do
is set the blade depth so if I put the saw down on the piece of material the blade needs to be
set lower than the material itself by about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch so just about like that and
we lock it down with the lever so let me toss on pair of glasses here if you look also now at the
front of the saw blade you can see that there is a zero line and this zero line represents where
the blade is cutting exactly so we are going to line up the zero line with our pencil line for
our cross cutter and you're gonna squeeze the trigger to get the blade going first and then
slowly push the saw into the material making sure that your cutting on the side of the pencil line
that is the piece you don't want and as you can see the material falls right to the floor it's
unsupported so that the material won't get bound up what you don't want to do is ever cut in such a
fashion like this whether you're trying to cut the center and is supported on on either end
if you try to do this the board is going to bend in the middle and bind up on the saw let me show
you then a cross cut with the speed square we're going to put the speed square down on the board
and we're going to hold it and we're gonna allow the the shoe of the saw to ride against the nice
straight edge squeeze the trigger to get the blade fully up to speed before you go into the material
and push the sauce slowly through the material trying to keep the shoe tied up against the speed
square and there you have it alright so now that you got the cross cut down let's shift our gears
and talk about plywood and ripping plywood to length and width so there's a few ways that you
can actually do this with this circular saw the first way would be in no particular order would
be taking a straight edge like a level drawing a line with a pencil and then you can freehand
that just like we were doing cut in the cross cut in the two by fours another option is to use the
straight edge and a clamp and one on the other side and you clamp these down to your specific
distance and you take the edge of the shoe and you ride the saw against the edge of the
straight line or the level in this case that's an option another option would be to use they
sell these tools right here it's a guide and it's got clamps on either side and it's same
principle but these can go on here and then you clamp down and you use a circular saw again same
thing right in the shoe against the straight edge and yet there's one more option that you
can do and that option is to use this I don't know jig that comes with the saw it slides into
the front of the saw like this and you can adjust it accordingly and then this piece of
metal rides on the edge of the plywood and helps you to rip it all the way down works pretty good
I can't say I ever really used it much but so those are some of the options I wanted to make
you aware of those first but we're gonna snap some lines here or do some free cuts
and let's get right at it let's go alright so we're going to put down the line on this side
let's just call it an inch-and-a-half so I'm making a mark just and a half on the
other side and what I'll do is I'll actually use a straight edge to draw the line for me
you could use a chalk line as well this okay and so first things first take that out we'll
set our blade depth now my eyes going to stay in this case on that zero line so as
I'm pushing I'm following the pencil line and the zero line with my eye here we go
all right salt comes to a stop and you take a look and it's pretty wavy but that's it if
you're making some rough cuts this is perfectly acceptable through sheathing a house or doing
anything like that that things don't have to be perfect that's kind of the fast way to do
it and of course if you're looking for more of something perfect then I would use one of the
methods that I mentioned before something like this or a straightedge or even a track saw which
I didn't mention before and companies like Festool and I think Craig make these systems where it's
a track that you just set down on the plywood and the saw has grooves in the bottom and the
track has grooves and it just slides in it's very fast and and super nice but also very expensive
so that might be an option but if you're first getting started out it might be too much money
for you some of these systems again may be a little bit slower but they work just as well
all right so the last thing I'm gonna show you I drew another straight line on our plywood is
more of a technique as I said before I was using my eye to view the pencil line and to line up
the zero mark sometimes that doesn't work out well and your eye can get off and you can get
off your line especially when the material is very short because when the saws overtop
you lose your line it goes away and so what I normally do is as I'm cutting I'm actually
not looking at the zero line but I'm looking at the blade as it's cutting through and I'm using
the blade as the guide to guide me through that pencil line and it looks something like this so
as I'm pushing the saw through I am watching the blade away at the pencil line well there
you have it that's the basics of this circular saw I hope this video has been helpful for you
guys just getting started and just getting to know the circular saw I will be of course making
more advanced one where we're talking more about plunge cuts and bevels and all the other things
that this saw can do so look for that coming out here soon on my website thank you guys so
much for hanging out with me today in the shop and I look forward to seeing you guys again soon