This is a blurry circular saw. Don’t worry, it still cuts in focus. The blade spins counter clockwise, thus pushing the wood chips up into the dust guide. Take a close look and you’ll see a hole just to the left of the number 2.
In this shot you see my thumb pushing up on the blade guard handle. Occasionally, you might need to pull the guard to start a cut. You must use extreme caution while doing this. This blade wants to act just like a car tire. If you let it, it will drive itself backwards; towards YOU!!!
The quarter inch slot in the front of the base plate is your cutting guide. On e side is used for standard 90 deg cuts. The other is for 45 deg cutting. To the right of the photo is a wing nut. This adjusts the bevel.
This is a better shot of the cutting guide. You can see how the blade lines up with the edge of the guide; thus taking into account the kerf.
This lever adjusts the depth of the cut. As with the table saw, you want to set the blade to the correct cutting depth.
Most of the weight is to one side of the blade. When you set up your cut, be sure that the bulk of the weight is supported by the table under your lumber.
Personally, I dislike circular saws. I have a couple of them, but I don’t use them much for freehand work. Perhaps my dislike goes back to the Red Cross first aid training tape showing a construction worker being injured (fake for the tape) while using one. These things can buck back at you if the wood pinches. I’ve seen this happen a few times.