: Which do you guys find to be a cleaner, straighter cut, a circular saw or a
: worm drive skil saw???

Hi Will, I guess I'm not that clear what a worm drive skil saw is. According to Google it's this picture below. In my experience, the best way to use this type of tool is to clamp a fence (piece of wood) to the workpiece and let the baseplate ride along the fence; you can get a pretty straight cut that way. The blade would dictate how clean the cut is. I usually use a Japanese pull saw for this type of application. I guess the last time I used my circular saw was building my strongback. I'd suggest picking up a used one and getting a nice new blade for it.

I hope this was helpful.
- Chip
http://www.nwlink.com/~chips