Tool Essay

Several
weeks ago, a married couple I knew came to visit. They moved from Milo to the Portland area, so
I don’t see them that often. As we were
visiting, Bill, told us that he was working at Home Depot part time. I exclaimed what a dream job it must be. He said he gave a class on installing bathroom
vanities. I then said that if I could
only have a compound sliding miter saw, I could rule the world. He laughed, but I was serious. Maybe not the whole world, but I could rule
my own little piece of it.
I started
with a miter box and saw. In the
beginning, I thought it was great. I
would place my piece of wood in the main niche and position my saw in the
correct slot and away I would go. Some
of my cuts were a little jagged, but it seemed alright to me. Soon, it seemed
that something was missing. Maybe that
plug in the outlet. I began to dream of
having a power miter saw one day.
Later on, I
saw that the Home Depot was having a sale on compound miter saws. With great excitement, I showed the ad to my
husband. I described all the uses I
would have for such a saw, such as angling molding and cutting baseboards and
he agreed it would be a worthwhile investment.
I bought that baby and proudly lugged it home. I immediately started cutting molding,
although I didn’t have an idea how to miter it so it fit correctly. I began to haul out my issues of “Family Handyman”
and studied the articles on miter saws. I got on line and read about mitering crown
molding. I was happy with my little saw,
but something in me said that I wanted more.
I thought
when I bought that saw, I was at the pinnacle of my construction career. How wrong I was. I was remodeling my upstairs bathroom and one
wall is sloped. So I decided that it
might be worth my while to rent a sliding miter saw. Ooo, baby!
What a difference! I angled the
molding just so and it sliced like a knife through hot buttah! It accommodated larger pieces of molding and
baseboard and was sweet. I also cut
baseboard molding at the time and my little ten inch just couldn’t adapt to the
wide molding. But the sliding miter
could. It did everything I wanted. My crown molding fit snuggly at the
corners. The miter didn’t splinter the
edges. It was smooth and sleek and
cutting with it was no effort.
I am in love
with the sliding miter saw. It is too
expensive for me to own, but every once in a while, when I have enough projects
to make it cost efficient I will rent it and bring it home. Unfortunately, the miter box has outlived its
usefulness and has no purpose anymore. I
still use my little ten inch for small jobs and it has been good to me. But I lust for the sliding miter and hope
someday to make it mine.