A guy posted that he got a good price on this at an estate sale.   Said it had good power but cut poorly and the wood smoked.  Any idea what's going on???   He determined the blade was on backwards.

 

4-1/2”?   I can beat that.  4-3/8” and 11,000 rpm.  Works great for plywood, but you have to cut straight or it binds the blade.  Has this for 20 yrs.  
 

2 hours ago, Ed-H said:

4-1/2”?   I can beat that.  4-3/8” and 11,000 rpm.  Works great for plywood, but you have to cut straight or it binds the blade.  Has this for 20 yrs.  
 

That's a cute "Hey, this is a left hand thread" label.

 

 

I've got one left hand blade circular saw and one right hand blade saw.

Not sure about the validity of this tip, but I was once told that you could cut plastic sheets pretty cleanly if you put the blade on backwards.  Heard this from a co-worker who had at one time worked for the KS museum making displays for artifacts.  He was the resident expert among the faculty when questions about cutting/banding/polishing plastic/acrylic came up.  

4D

3 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

Not sure about the validity of this tip, but I was once told that you could cut plastic sheets pretty cleanly if you put the blade on backwards

Can't speak to plastic but works great for vinyl siding, both vinyl and aluminum soffit and even rigid copper pipe. YMMV. 

20 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

Not sure about the validity of this tip, but I was once told that you could cut plastic sheets pretty cleanly if you put the blade on backwards.  Heard this from a co-worker who had at one time worked for the KS museum making displays for artifacts.  He was the resident expert among the faculty when questions about cutting/banding/polishing plastic/acrylic came up.  

4D

I can verify that trick. Did it all the time cutting plexi, FRP, and any other plastic sheeting products. Worked in the carpenter maintenance shop at Sea World of San Diego along time ago, and we worked with plastic alot!