Power saws are a type of cutting tool, which are useful for quickly and easily cutting material, such as construction lumber and other building products. A common type of power saw is a portable circular saw, which includes a foot, a circular saw blade that extends below the foot, and a blade guard. Typically, a user cuts a workpiece with a circular saw by resting the foot on the workpiece, aligning the saw blade with a desired cut path, and then manually guiding the circular saw in the direction of the cut path, often following a marked line on the workpiece. The blade guard is positioned to cover at least a portion of the circular saw blade and serves to prevent objects from inadvertently contacting the blade.
Some circular saws are configured to function with multiple types of cutting wheels. When switching between these multiple cutting wheels, the user typically positions or aligns the blade guard to operate properly with the selected cutting wheel. Accordingly, known blade guards function effectively to cover at least a portion of the blade; however, it is time consuming to adjust and position the blade guard.
Additionally, the blade guard of some circular saws may be positioned to obstruct viewing of the blade and the workpiece during the cutting operation. In particular, the blade guard may obstruct the user's view of the leading point of contact between the saw blade and the workpiece, thereby making it difficult to accurately guide the saw blade along the desired cut path.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a circular saw having a blade guard that operates effectively with each type of cutting wheel and/or saw blade that may be connected to the circular saw and that also does not obstruct the user's view of the blade and the desired cut path during cutting operations.