Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Requiem for a circular saw

Don has been working on a complicated project on the back porch (which will be a future blog post) for the last several weeks. As such, he has a large selection of both hand and power tools in constant use. He came into the house the other day with an expression both sad and frustrated. "My circular saw just died," he announced.

This Craftsman tool is something he's had for decades, literally. He tried to figure out when he purchased it, and concluded it was shortly after we were married, which would put it somewhere in the early 90s. "Older than the internet," he observed. You can't ask for more than that when it comes to the lifespan of a power tool, especially one he used as heavily as this circular saw.

Without much option, Don took himself into town to purchase another circular saw.

The new circular seems to be working fine, but it's not his old tool, y'know?

There's a certain nostalgic sadness at losing a trusty tool, especially since this new one is unlikely to last through a quarter-century of hard use.

So this is a requiem for Don's faithful old circular saw. May it rest in peace.

15 comments:

  1. Too bad Sears has died. He could have turned it in for a new one. They do not make them like they used to!!

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    1. ACE Hardware in my area deals in Craftsman now and you can take in broken tools and they will give you replacements on the spot for free. We've gotten replacements on numerous hand tools, even within the past months, many originally from the 1960s-1980s.

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    2. Lowes has Craftsman tools also. I've seen them several places. They're just mixed in with other brands, not together like in a Sears store. I miss Sears.

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  2. I'm old enough to still have some Craftsman tools. And they're still chugging along.
    SJ now in California.

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  3. I used the Internet in the 80s.

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    1. Per Google: "The World Wide Web (WWW) was introduced to the public on April 30, 1993." Not in the 80's

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    2. You used a computer in the 80's but not the internet. Big difference.

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    3. In defense of Krab. The World Wide Web came much later than the internet. In the mid to late 80’s Universities were using file transfers and text based communications commonly.

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2015/01/02/a-very-short-history-of-the-internet-and-the-web-2/#:~:text=Forty%2Dfive%20years%20ago%20(October,to%20his%20management%20at%20CERN.

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    4. Universities but not the average household

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    5. I used "the internet" in the early '90s. It was DARPAnet then.

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  4. It always makes me sad to get something new knowing it will not last as long as the old one that died.

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  5. Convey my condolences.
    I understand that the loss of a trusted tool, is only slightly below the loss of a trusted friend on the list of sorrow.

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  6. To be fair to Bosch, they're a pretty good brand.

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  7. Did you do an autopsy? Possibly brushes at $8-9/set.

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  8. Just replaced my submersible well pump after 31years. Old one was actually mostly cast iron. New one stainless steel. $2471.00. Old one didn’t cost a fraction of this and I guarantee new one won’t last nearly as long.

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