Where the rotation of a shaft would cause a conventional right-handed nut to loosen rather than to tighten due to fretting induced precession. Examples include: The left hand pedal on a bicycle.[3]
The left-hand grinding wheel on a bench grinder.
The lug nuts on the left side of some automobiles.
The securing nut on some circular saw blades - the large torque at startup should tend to tighten the nut.
In combination with right-handed threads in turnbuckles and clamping studs.[4]
In some gas supply connections to prevent dangerous misconnections, for example in gas welding the flammable gas supply uses left-handed threads.
In a situation where neither threaded pipe end can be rotated to tighten/loosen the joint, e.g. in traditional heating pipes running through multiple rooms in a building. In such a case, the coupling will have one right-handed and one left-handed thread
In some instances, for example early ballpoint pens, to provide a "secret" method of disassembly.
In mechanisms to give a more intuitive action as: The leadscrew of the cross slide of a lathe to cause the cross slide to move away from the operator when the leadscrew is turned clockwise.
The depth of cut screw of a “Stanley” type metal plane (tool) for the blade to move in the direction of a regulating right hand finger.
Some Edison base lamps and fittings (such as formerly on the New York City Subway) have a left-hand thread to deter theft, since they cannot be used in other light fixtures.