Cross dominant and handsaws
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7 August 2017 at 5:03 pm #314357
Paul, I saw in your blog about how you test your students and you mention if you are cross dominant that you would have to adjust stance for it. For the life of me I can’t seem to find any answers as to what that adjustment would be. Can you please elaborate on the “adjustment” that you mentioned. I am a righty with left eye dominant. I am a career Navy sailor and have been qualified on several different types of rifles and hand guns. It makes sense as to the fact that had to work a little harder and adjust my sight picture of target. I did see how it was suggested to close the dominant eye however, I wouldn’t want sacrifice depth perception. Thank you and I look forward to the assistance.
V/R,
JohnnyTake a look at the attached sketch. It shows a layout line that you want to saw that is squared around an edge. Draw that onto a piece of wood, clamp it in the vise, and stand as if you were going to cut. Maybe put the saw on the wood for a moment to make sure your body is where you would normally have it, but then move the saw out of the way, down towards your leg, without moving your head. Move your head slowly to the left until your layout line looks like what is shown in (A) in the sketch: The two halves of the layout line will meet at the edge, but will make a kink there. Now move your head to the right until the line kinks in the other direction. Fool around with this until you really see the kink forming and changing from right to left. Now, find the place for your head where there’s no kink. That’s where you want your head. Don’t close your eyes or worry about dominant eye, just put your head where you perceive an unkinked line. Without moving your head, bring the saw up, place it on the work, and start your cut. Where should the rest of your body be? It should be anywhere you want it to be that allows your head to be as just described and that allows your shoulder, elbow, and arm to line up and move smoothly. At first, you will likely have your body in the way and make your elbow move in an arc. Fool around to make that go away. Get your head in the right place, then adjust your body while keeping your head in that special position.
Don’t be a slave to this, but it is a starting point. You are going to find that you cut on one side of the line more easily than the other and that you need different positions for the two. Start with whichever is easer. Start with pencil lines for practice, not knife walls. If you are cutting on the left edge of your vise, also try cutting on the right side of the vise. One side is likely to work better (much better!) for you than the other. Start there, then build to being able to cut both sides of the line on both sides of the vise, although that may be more of an aspiration than an absolute necessity. That said, now and then I must cut some weird angle on some odd shaped thing clamped at a weird angle in the vise (rocking chair posts come to mind), and then I’m glad I can do all of those.
Hope this helps. I must say, I’m not sure I always use the same eye. I’m really not sure. It feels funny on some cuts, as if I’m being guided by something that I’m not looking at directly, or maybe it’s that the saw plate blocks an eye and I’m not really using stereoscopic vision, or maybe I’ve switched to the other eye for this cut. I’m really not sure. But, the cut comes out. So, if it feels odd, don’t be put off.
I don’t do all this rigamarole on every cut, although I do feel my body position on every cut and usually do this weird head placement thing for tricky cuts.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.7 August 2017 at 10:15 pm #314376Ed,
Thank you, i will certianly give this a go. Appreciate it.Johnny
Let us know if it helps.
You can take this one step further. Suppose you need to make a cut that is not square but angles across the top face and angles down the edge…a completely arbitrary, non-square, but straight cut. Put your head where the layout lines look kink-free, plop your saw on it and cut. As long as the starting angle isn’t so extreme that the saw skates, you’ll probably find that you get exactly the cut you want, although you may be in an uncomfortable body position. Works for me!
Cut from there like any other cut…if you like, start the top line and then drop the heel. Ignore that you’re at an odd position. Tell yourself it’s just any other “square” cut. Here’s the result (photos). Both angles are as intended. This was quick and dirty- no knife wall, a big check through the wood, and the saw is dull- but it’s still a good cut.
Anyway, I thought it might help to see the “kink disappear” via a photo.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.Sorry for all the posts. I know you asked about eye dominance, not about angled cuts. The bottom line, at least for me, is to not think about dominant eye but just to place your head as needed to get a useful visual cue, then arrange your body around that head position to get free arm movement. This method works for me for all cuts.
8 August 2017 at 11:32 am #314404Ed, really appreciate it and I do find it that the angle cut for dovetail pinstriped much easier for me Then a straight 90° cut. It also seems if I just drop my heel that I end up going left with the cut so normally I just get straight down the line without dropping the heel. I really appreciate all the tips and I certainly will try them out. I’ll let you know if it helps. Thank you very much. Johnny
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