Reciprocal Saws for Dummies

Using a reciprocating saw

We've learned over the years of browsing through the dreck published by greedy freelancers that some of them will say anything to earn a few pennies, regardless of whether they have any real knowledge to begin with. We'll admit that some spend the necessary time to become familiar with their topic, but many just pound out a few words and slap on a fake reference or two and call it a day. In that latter category, we offer today's nominee: returning DotD Beverlee Brick and her attempt to explain "Cutting Straight With a Sawzall" at the mother lode of misinformation, eHow.com.

Brick, here making her third appearance, immediately explained that,

"The cheap, portable and adaptable Sawzall is a reciprocating saw that can cut through almost anything. But it's a great tool with one major disadvantage: it's hard to cut straight with it if you don't know how."

Ummm, yeah: and Beverlee thinks she's gonna tell us how. But first, let's talk about the Sawzall®. That's right, Sawzall® is a brand name for a reciprocating saw. Most of the time when you're using one of these babies, you are doing rough work (a point made by one of the references Brick claimed to have used), so "straight lines" aren't usually the point. But if you want to cut a long, straight line through a wall or something like that, there's nothing to prevent you from clamping or even nailing up a board to use as a guide for the shoe. That's probably better info than what Beverlee had to say, which is to make a very dark line and cut freehand with the saw.

We won't argue with what we suspect is Brick's reword job of authoritative material she found somewhere, perhaps an owner's manual. What we will  argue with is her "warning":

"The Sawzall is not an ideal tool for cutting a straight line. If a straight line is essential to your project, it's best to remove the surface you're cutting and use a table or skill saw [sic]."

We'd be highly remiss if we didn't point out to Brick that, if it were possible to cut the workpiece on a table saw and/or if the worker had a Skilsaw® (also a brand name, this time for a circular saw) equal to the task handy, the worker would not be trying to make a cut with a reciprocating saw. Our Dumbass of the Day apparently thinks that all those saw thingies are interchangeable... that, or she has absolutely no idea why someone would use a reciprocating saw.

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