Thread: Hand Sawing & Mono Vision

Hi Chris

You do not also have crossed laterality, do you?

My logic says that mono vision is not the issue, but it is more likely to do with your stance. This is likely to shift your balance. Probably also with where you focus your attention - for example, are you watching the saw teeth and their adjacent position to the line (good), or are you looking at the saw plate and the line that is to be cut (bad)?

Regards from Perth

Derek

What about making yourself a magnetic guide to hold the blade square?
90° Magnetic Hand Saw Guide — Adam Gabbert

Once you get the muscle memory for cutting square, you might be fine without it.

I just recalled that I was told I am left eyed but I am dominant right handed and I became aware of this when I was in the army and had to sight in my rifle. I just read a PDF on crossed laterally and I wonder if I am.

Chris,
My initial thoughts were has the saw been over set,ie set to one side more than the other.

Or does the saw wandering to the right happen for my than just one saw.

Cheers Matt

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Chris,
My initial thoughts were has the saw been over set,ie set to one side more than the other.

Or does the saw wandering to the right happen for my than just one saw.

Cheers Matt

No Matt, it is with all saws, the one I was using today is hot off the saw file from Ian W.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

No Matt, it is with all saws, the one I was using today is hot off the saw file from Ian W.

Well, there's the problem!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Chris

As I understand the term, monovision means normal sighted in one eye and short sighted in the other. My wife chose to have it when she had her cataracts done to avoid needing reading glasses and it works very well for her, right eye distance, left eye reading. Not everybody can adapt so she wore contact lenses to simulate it for a few weeks beforehand to be sure.

I chose to remain short sighted so I could do fine work without reading glasses but still wear glasses otherwise. It has its downside but saves having to worry about carrying reading glasses and sun glasses, and when I’m making models I take my glasses off and my vision is perfect.

Is yours through choice or a natural condition? If natural are you of the age when you could justify cataract surgery. Have you talked to a friendly optician, perhaps glasses with different lenses to balance the eyes.

Hope that isn’t off topic, but I figured a lot of woodworkers are getting to the cataract operation stage and it’s worth considering the options, surgeons generally assume you want good long range vision, but it isn’t the only choice. My wife was a few years away from needing the operation but when I had mine done she saw the opportunity to throw away her glasses and talked the surgeon into it, maybe you need the reverse.

Regards

Glen

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I have issues using a hand saw and cutting in a straight line and I have tried to rectify this problem over the last 12 months when I get the bug to see if I can get rid of the problem. I have had mono vision for at least ten years with my right eye being dominant and I wonder if anyone here has mono vision and hand saw with or without problems. I am very conscious of my standing position ans a straight through movement with my right arm but the cuts all seem to veer right and I wonder if I see 90 degrees like other people do. Mono vision impairs depth of field as a side effect by the way. All comments and suggestions appreciated.

Chris, I know the feeling. After having 10 eye operations over a period of five years I have gone from one eye to the other being dominant on several occasions. This creates much difficulty for the fine wood worker, as the non working eye becomes a law unto itself and wonders around in the socket like a lost child. Mono vision, double vision and no vision means the laying down of tools until such time the problem is corrected.
Now here is the tricky bit.....there are optometrists and there are Optometrists. If I go to the former, they just shake their heads and shrug their shoulders. The capital O jobbies have the skills. May I suggest you have a chat with the Head of School (Optometry) at the NSW University. She is brilliant and it costs you nothing. All in the name of research.

Originally Posted by rustynail

Chris, I know the feeling. After having 10 eye operations over a period of five years I have gone from one eye to the other being dominant on several occasions. This creates much difficulty for the fine wood worker, as the non working eye becomes a law unto itself and wonders around in the socket like a lost child. Mono vision, double vision and no vision means the laying down of tools until such time the problem is corrected.
Now here is the tricky bit.....there are optometrists and there are Optometrists. If I go to the former, they just shake their heads and shrug their shoulders. The capital O jobbies have the skills. May I suggest you have a chat with the Head of School (Optometry) at the NSW University. She is brilliant and it costs you nothing. All in the name of research.

Funny you should say that, I spent four hours in the chair at the Uni for another problem associated with Mono Vision about 12 months ago. Mine is self elected, when I had my cataracts removed the surgeon gave me the option and I experimented over a few years between ops so when the time came to do the remaining eye I elected to have a Mono Vision lens implanted. I love it, no reading glasses needed at all but I have been told not a lot of people can tolerate it.

I've had what I call "peripheral" vision in one eye all my life (oncee measured as 6/60). I am bad at sawing accurately but suspect it is not all to do with the eyesight. One thing that has helped is switching to Japanese saws. I find them much easier to control and believe this is partly to do with cutting on the draw stroke and partly because less effort is needed.

Hi,

It should be possible to saw straight. I tried a few times with a eye patch on to simulate what you are going through. I used a technique as described here (has subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eROfvd-Uqoo
But i used a western saw.

Dimithri.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I just recalled that I was told I am left eyed but I am dominant right handed and I became aware of this when I was in the army and had to sight in my rifle. I just read a PDF on crossed laterally and I wonder if I am.

Many years ago we had a Corporal who quite literally could not hit the side of a barn when standing next to it...

Advanced shooting day came around. We did the exercise that defines dominance and found in the whole battalion he was the only weird one.

Like me he was terminally right handed, so they got him to place his head over the rifle (SLR) and use his left eye...and from then on we were hard pressed to match or beat him on the range...

Hi Chris

The reason early on I enquired about crossed laterality is now obvious.

I am luckily right handed and right eye dominant. (I am left foot dominant, but fortunately, it is not needed for sawing).

If I planned to saw with my left hand, it would be a problem - as you have been finding, one is looking across the saw at an angle.

There are two fixes: either learn to saw with the non-dominant hand (using the dominant eye), or close (patch) the dominant eye so that it does not interfere when sawing with the dominant hand (i.e. making it easier to use the non-dominant eye).

Regards from Perth

Derek

I’ve always worn glasses for long distance eg. driving but had great close vision. When it was found I had cataracts, I opted for long distance/ no glasses one eye and close up/ no glasses the other eye but my ophthalmologist refused saying a high percentage of people had problems with that option. What he would do is give me long distance vision in one eye and medium range vision in the other (60cm) so I could read my computer and vehicle speedo etc. I can read what i’m typing on my iPad screen without glasses. What I lost was my great close vision so I have to wear glasses for close up work.
I’ve got used to it and I love not having to wear glasses when driving. BTW he also refused to fit multi focal as 85% of people who had them have lrobkrns with halos when night driving.