What kind of saw did I see?
The self-directed learner doesn’t require much in the way of stimulus. Throw out a question, leave some reference materials within range and step back. Too bad we couldn’t bottle it and provide the school system with a reliable source.
Somehow, (today) I picked up the idea that I need a new saw. Now I am a serial abuser of tools. If there is a non-standard way of doing a given job, there’s a chance I’ve tried it (or considered it and then got distracted by something else). Remember removing wood screws with the end of a handsaw? Or hammering with whatever happened to be at hand? Been there, done it.
After forcing a sizeable quantity of laminate floor material into a fixed space using a handheld jigsaw, I’m ready for an upgrade. Maybe I’ll even opt for the “right” tool, for a change of pace. Well, one of my well-intentioned coworkers suggested the purchase of, get this label, a “Double-Bevel Sliding Compound Mitre Saw”. And with that, the dream gates were open and the horse was away.
I didn’t have any idea what it might be. I’d heard the term “chop saw” after a friend of my son had done just that; two fingers less and a change of career. But, there are review articles out there, and there are stores that will let you touch (not use, not turn on) the product, in the hopes that you’ll get stuck to it like that Bre’r Rabbit fellow with an innocent petroleum based child.
I went to the box stores this evening. After the initial sticker shock, I realized that here was a tool that could be truly dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced. All I could think was that this might resemble piloting a helicopter, in some odd spinning disk kind of way.
No, I haven’t bought anything yet. But I will. I am, after all, a self-directed learner, and the best push to learn is the guilt that accompanies an ambitious purchase.
