hypothetical

[Shufflex]

If (and a big if at that) we put our blades in with the teeth facing the rear, would we still need to have the teeth facing down or would they need to face up? If the cutting is on the upstroke when back to front we could use both ends of the blade.

Very bored today by the way.

[scrappile]

I don't know the answer to your very complicated question, but yesterday I found out it you put the blade in backwards, it doesn't cut at all when you feed from the front!!

[Wooddawg]

Me Too, after I stopped laughing at myself.

[eburk]

LOL, I can tell you are all in the same after Christmas, procrastination doldrums as I am. I am enjoying the humor immensely however. 

[Rapid Roger]

Actually, I have had an occasion where I needed to turn the blade around and cut from the back of the saw toward the front.
I won't go into great detail but, I put the blade in with the teeth facing down and it worked just fine......It is a bit weird cutting that way however.

[Jim Finn]

I have twisted a blade 90° to make a cut that the throat of my saw wold not allow.  I twisted it , before tensioning, using two pairs of pliers at the same time.  I have also cut off the bottom 3/4" of a dull blade and then used the unused teeth closer to the middle of the blade.

[spirithorse]

Hi, Shufflex,
In your hypothesis, if the teeth are facing the rear you are cutting on the up-stroke.
I do not think turning the blade toward the front or the rear changes the cutting motion.
I believe the blade is still cutting on the down-stroke.

If, however, you turn the blade up-side down, THEN I think the cutting action would be
on the up-stroke but, I think most scrollers here would concede that it is harder to control the
wood because it would continually want to pull away from the table rather than being pulled into
the table as it is cutting.

God Bless! Spirithorse