Stupid, stupid

This will be the second time I’ve used the word stupid as not only the title of this blog, but as the subject. But stupid is as stupid does, said Mr. Gump, and I did stupid.

Again.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times here that I’ve been working on a roundup review of cordless circular saws for an article. There are seven saws in the review and I’ve really been “putting them through their paces” (that’s a standard phrase we tool reviewers use a lot). My shop is such a huge pile of sawdust and offcuts from test cutting that I’m thinking of buying a woodstove for my house just to find some use for all this stuff next winter.

As part of my testing, I’ve been crosscutting, ripping, trimming and generally doing all kinds of cuts. I’ve also been fiddling with saw controls and adjustments, testing blade-change procedures, battery charging, and anything I could think of. As a result, my workbench is a mess of saws, sawdust, wrenches, and what the heck have you.

So I suppose it’s really understandable that after removing and replacing the blade on one of the saws for the fifth time that it was only natural that I’d get just a bit lax and put the %#*&@% thing on backward. There are big, fat arrows on the blade indicating blade direction, and another on the saw itself – meaning that all the arrow-challenged woodworker has to do is just match the arrows – but the key is that you have to be paying attention. That is, you have to not be stupid.

So with the blade back on I’m cutting away through a mess of 2x4s and I’m getting nowhere with the dumb saw, and I’m thinking, man, what a piece of junk this saw is. I take it and put it back in the lineup – I keep all tools I’m testing in a straight line on a worktable whenever possible as I test them – and as I scan the row of saws I say to myself, “Self, how come the teeth on that one really crummy saw are going the wrong way?”

And you’re thinking, yikes, what an idiot. Oh no. Wait, it gets better. So I get out the manual and start looking for something in it that describes why those teeth are wrong. Didn’t do this long, mind you – only for about 30 seconds until the light bulb went off – but I still did it.

Look up “stupid, stupid” in the dictionary, and you’ll see my picture.

Till next time,

A.J.