Miter Saws for the Dummy Carpenter

Hitachi C8FSE Sliding Power Miter Saw

In a world where hyperbole apparently rules, overstatement and exaggeration are acceptable and only bald-faced lies are not allowed [NOTE: this was written pre-Trump]. Of course, politics is the exception to even that lack of rules – but we digress. As far as the money-grubbers among freelancers are concerned, anything you want to say that might pull in eyeballs is fair game, even if the statement is demonstrably stupid or untrue. That's why we've singled out today's DotD, a gent who chose the name PowerToolExpert (real name Dustin Fredrickson) at InfoBarrel.com¹ and dashed off boatloads of nearly identical "reviews" of tools for a few weeks back in 2009 (not content with the bucks he was making there, Dustin bought his own domain (now defunct) where he publishes his half-assed content to this day). As for the reviews (and Dustin's claimed "expertise"), we took a look at an example he called "Hitachi Miter Saw": not a very... SEO-y title, eh?

Although the content is ostensibly a review of some Hitachi Miter Saw or other (it's probably the C8FSE), Dustin actually does very little in the way of "reviewing": there is nothing in the way of personal experience, there are no no tips and no comparison to other tools of the same category; all of which seem odd given his claimed expertise. All Fredrickson's here done is reiterate the specifications and advertising content of one rather small (8½" blade) Hitachi sliding compound miter saw. All that bogus "reviewing" was part and parcel of the freelancer boom of 2009-2011, before Google Panda put a stop to such bull. There must be a million "top 5" and "top 10" lists out there, all probably culled from Amazon's "most popular" pages on some day in the distant past. Few of them, frankly, are worth the pixels they're printed on... but we'd hoped that a self-proclaimed "expert" would have something important to say. Not so with Dustin, who wrote some truly stupid shit along the way:

• "Carpenters need a power tool that will work day after day. They need a durable machine. From reciprocating saws..." Do carpenters really use reciprocating saws? We think not.
• "...the most important tool for the carpenter is a miter saw..." Debatable: important, sure, especially for framing carpenters - but most important? Nahhh...
• "...a miter saw is basically a circular saw on steroids. It is the essential power tool for finish carpentry..." Finish carpentry? We think not: and we aren't the only ones who disagree.
• "Hitachi's line of power saws are among the finest on the market today." Give us a break, Dustin! Ever heard of DeWalt? Makita? Bosch? even Craftsman? Yeah, they're better than Ryobi, but "finest"?
• "The best part of the this [sic] saw is the ability to cut large base or crown molding. Hitachi C8FSE has the capacity to cut up to a 2-9/16 inches high and 12 inches deep piece of baseboard." We have no idea what a "12 inches deep piece of baseboard" might be, but we're curious about whether an 8½" miter saw can cut "large... crown molding"!

Although he did little more than reword the saw's specifications from Amazon, Fredrickson still gets the weight of the saw wrong (it's 31 pounds, not 45 – that's the shipping weight) and alludes to cordless saws without mentioning that this saw is corded (oh, and Dustin? we think a 9-amp motor isn't all that "powerful"). What kind of review is this, anyway?!

We think any self-proclaimed power tool expert should be able to state that the saw he (or she) is reviewing is capable of cutting stock 2-9/16" thick and 12" wide, which is apparently the "baseboard" Dustin cited. He blew that one, along with many other aspects of his "review"; not least of which is actually reviewing the saw. As far as we're concerned, that's plenty of reason to call this yutz the Dumbass of the Day.

¹ InfoBarrel has deleted all user-generated content and become a "green" website, but this post can still be reead by using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   /www.infobarrel.com/Hitachi_Miter_Saw

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