Left Handed

[Luke Sanders]

Sorry, couldn't resist. Here's the deal. In the middle of a workbench build that I'm planning to get into hand tools with. I'm a lefty. However, I've had some hip stuff going on and when planing left handed, my right hip hurts like crazy the next day. Since I'm just getting started with all this, I figured I could (at least try to) learn to plane right handed, but will still most likely do everything else with my left.

If I set this bench up with vises built for right-handed planing, would I run into trouble sawing, etc. left-handed? I was planning on going with a leg vise and a simple quick release vise on the end.

Just looking for opinions or potential gotchas before I get to building the base of this thing.

[Jim Matthews]

I have the same sort of pain, from the stance.
The front foot (in your case the right) is bracing, and bearing most of your weight.

I try to "rock" when planing, so that my hip doesn't set up, much as you've described.

Rather than re-orient your bench, have you considered pulling your planes for short periods?

I would look first to the height of your bench, and get that where you can be most comfortable.
I like my bench to be right at the height of my belt buckle, for planing.

How high is your bench?
How far off the ground is your belt buckle, when you're standing "at attention"?

[glenn bradley]

I don't have any advice for the pain but, the type of work I do has made me pretty non-committal as to left or right hand. I'm definitely right handed but, with the exception of handwriting, can do reasonably well with either.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I am ambidextrous in most things. Planing for me feels more natural right-handed, but I do it both ways. I am a lefty by design, but can write with either hand, as well as draw. I use my right more with things that require aim, like shooting a gun, using a chisel, or any time I need to sight down a line. Again, I can go with either hand for those tasks, and that really helps when I get fatigued.

Oh, I play guitar right-handed because lefty guitars are hard to come by, so I intentionally learned to play right-handed. I think otherwise I would have felt more natural playing lefty. I think ambidexterity actually helped me with guitar playing finger style and slide guitar.

Most leftys have adapted in certain ways to our right-handed world.

[Shawn Pixley]

Maybe you should approach it like you were trying to learn how to bat a baseball with your opposite hand. Stand and practice form and smoothness of movement before you focus on removing material. Focus on the form and smooth movements. When it starts to feel natural, transistion to actually making the cuts. You may want to have somebody coach / guide you as to form when starting out. You can compare form to things on you tube / books.

It strikes me as I write this, that I should do this myself (not the offhand thing).

[Judson Green]

I'm right handed and do everything that way, but sometimes I'll switch to left when my joints/muscles seem tired. I feel that I can saw equally well with ether hand, planing feels weird, but doable (usually only left hand plane when roughing) and almost always chisel as a right hander.

[David Weaver]

I'll plane both directions no problem, too. It takes very little time to get used to it. I don't joint boards going in the other direction nor smooth them (no reason), but in working an X on a large panel, I'll plane both sides of the X from the same side of the board.

[Luke Sanders]

As it is now, the bench will be about as high off the ground as my knuckles are, so about 33". Haven't thought about pulling, but will give that a shot.

It sounds like I can expect to work both right and left handed, so maybe not as big a deal as I thought.

Thank you for all the input, much appreciated.


I have the same sort of pain, from the stance.
The front foot (in your case the right) is bracing, and bearing most of your weight.

I try to "rock" when planing, so that my hip doesn't set up, much as you've described.

Rather than re-orient your bench, have you considered pulling your planes for short periods?

I would look first to the height of your bench, and get that where you can be most comfortable.
I like my bench to be right at the height of my belt buckle, for planing.

How high is your bench?
How far off the ground is your belt buckle, when you're standing "at attention"?

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Luke and welcome to the Creek. I see you have been here a little while.

At times I think about making a bench that is both lefty and righty. I am somewhat ambidextrous but the world is definitely set up for right handers.

Sometimes things are easier to do left handed or might even have to be done left handed:

290970

In this case the board was too wide to do this right handed.

jtk

[george wilson]

I have all sorts of pain. Taking Lyrica helps. BTW,I'm a lefty,too. Being a lefty actually helps you be creative.

Take the Lyrica at bed time. Taking it in the morning messes my head up all day. It really helps,though. Controlled substance,by the way.

[Kim Malmberg]

Luke
I am right handed but a lefty in sports. I can do most tasks around the household and in the workshop with both hands. I don't know how I became like this but even though I think this is a advantage I have also spent hours practising some skills. And my conclusion is that some things seem to be easier than others. I am almost as good at sawing with both hands, I prefer to hold the hammer and chisel in my left hand and hold the knife in my right hand. But I suck at planing with my right hand on the rear handle. And I have practiced. I actually felt this should have been an easy thing to do since a plane is held against a flat surface. But I cannot get the grasp of it. So what I think is that at least for me there are some tasks I can do better than others. Maybe the circuits in my brain are connected this way.
My point being. Do try right handed planing. And if it doesn't work for you maybe there are other tasks you can do right handed which would lessen the strain. And I think Jim is right about the need to check the bench height. Maybe you would do better if you tried another height.

[Judson Green]

And I think Jim is right about the need to check the bench height. Maybe you would do better if you tried another height.


+1

Bench height was one of the contributing factors for me to make new bench top a few months ago. Amazing the difference an 1" or so can make. Try it yourself, put a couple blocks under your bench legs, use it that way for a few weeks.

[John Vernier]

I'm left handed but since I learned woodworking at other peoples' benches I just learned to plane right-handed. So when I built my own bench it seemed natural to make it right-handed as I was used to. I saw left-handed off the left (vise) end of my bench, and it always seems quite convenient to me, I can hold a workpiece in the front vise to saw it, or just hold it on a bench hook and saw over the front end of the bench without having to worry about the tail vise getting in the way. I haven't found a downside to this arrangement.

[Zach Dillinger]

I'm left handed but since I learned woodworking at other peoples' benches I just learned to plane right-handed. So when I built my own bench it seemed natural to make it right-handed as I was used to. I saw left-handed off the left (vise) end of my bench, and it always seems quite convenient to me, I can hold a workpiece in the front vise to saw it, or just hold it on a bench hook and saw over the front end of the bench without having to worry about the tail vise getting in the way. I haven't found a downside to this arrangement.

+1 to John. I work exactly the same way, minus the tail vise (just have a leg vise). Lefty, but plane right handed on a right handed bench.

[Jim Koepke]

On the tail vise if its chop is as wide as the bench then it is both lefty and righty. A twin screw vise would be good there.

jtk

[paul cottingham]

Set it up for right hand work. There are many ways to saw that don't require a vise. I have a buddy with MS who is right handed and has terrible tremors in his right hand. So he set his bench up left handed, and it works very well for him. Planing off handed is easy, if you sort out your work holding issues.
For sawing, use a bench hook or a saw bench.

[Bill Houghton]

Random babbling:

There are actually some advantages for a left-handed person in working on a right handed bench, when it comes to sawing. Yes, you're leaning over the face vise if you're cutting a long board; but if it's so long that it has to overhang the bench, you'll have an easier time sawing without the tail vise in the way.

Edge planing a board held in the face vise works better if you plane toward the vise; planing away can induce vibration that will only get worse as you get away from the vise, but planing toward it dampens the vibration (actually, causes the vibration rate to increase until it disappears).

You will, sooner or later, be planing with a fenced plane - plow, rabbet, combination. Unless you stick exclusively with Lee Valley planes, which come in right- and left-handed versions, you'll need to learn to plane right-handed. Stanley fenced planes, for instance, come only in right-handed versions. So learning to do regular bench planing right-handed is certainly a possibility. And, as a left-handed person in a right-handed world, you're used to adapting to rightie stuff anyhow. I recently smoothed a board right-handed for some reason, and didn't think twice about "switching" from my usual direction.

Next time you're in dealing with the hip stuff, see if you can get a referral for some physical therapy, to get some exercises that will reduce the problem. Depending on the underlying causes, this may or may not make a difference, but it's always worth asking about. I'm learning mandolin, and was having some tendon trouble in my left hand. My doc resisted a referral, but it sure made a difference; I was about to have to stop playing, but now I can keep on learning. I may even be able to play it someday.

[Tony Wilkins]

I was born a lefty but 'switched' to right handed back when they did such things. As a result I'm not great with either hand - however planing and other two handed operations seem to be pretty easy for me to adapt to left handedness.

As far as setting up bench etc, as much as possible I'd 'prototype' and set up situations where you can try doing the operations both ways before investing time and tools into one direction or the other.

[Luke Sanders]

Yeah, been doing PT for it over the past couple months or so. It's been helping and my latest "homework" is to try and plane right handed and see if I'm pain free. If it stops, I'm guessing I'm going to set this up for more right handed work.



Next time you're in dealing with the hip stuff, see if you can get a referral for some physical therapy, to get some exercises that will reduce the problem. Depending on the underlying causes, this may or may not make a difference, but it's always worth asking about. I'm learning mandolin, and was having some tendon trouble in my left hand. My doc resisted a referral, but it sure made a difference; I was about to have to stop playing, but now I can keep on learning. I may even be able to play it someday.