Objects, Part 1: Greg Puett

At first, thinking of things in my house that I love and hate was a daunting task. I’m pretty good with my money, so I don’t tend to buy things that I hate. Additionally, I have a lot of things that I love, so picking just one was another challenge. As I started to think about it more and more though, one object in particular became completely clear. My trashcan’s lid.

Lid for a trashcan.
Trashcan Lid

I understand its general purpose, to keep my house looking nice and smelling nicer, but its not built well at all. It has physical constraints, but they are negative and unhelpful rather than useful or even necessary. If my trashcan is pushed up against the wall completely, the lid doesn’t open all the way, and when my hands are full and I need to throw something away, it just completely stops me from doing so. Additionally, as you throw things away, the lid gets dirty, and unless you clean it regularly, it just sits in your house or apartment showing the world (quite literally) your personal garbage. Its built to reduce visibility, but instead it increases it. I understand the need for it, but this thing causes too much irritation consistently to be something that I could not hate.

 

On the other hand, there is a lot of items that I love in my home, my computer, my desk, my bed. I decided on discussing one that most people are probably not totally familiar with. Its my Gyokucho Double Edge Pull Saw.  I absolutely love this thing. When I first started my woodworking hobby, getting straight saw cuts was nearly impossible. As you might know, when cutting some wood, even getting started is hard. Most beginning woodworkers pull the blade back towards themselves along their drawn line to start cutting, then once they get a small cut in the wood, they then begin to make full strokes using a forward and backward motion. What many people may not know however, is that traditional “western” saws, like this one from home depot only actually cut wood when pushed forward, so beginners don’t actually make any cuts on the wood when they’re trying to establish that line in the wood, they actually just mash the wood on the line. This is a physical constraint of western style saws. This constraint is part of this Japanese saw as well, since it cuts on the pull stroke, but those first few pulls to get lined up actually cut into the wood, and make progress much faster and easier for beginners. Second, as you cut the wood, your arm tends to twist to one side, and causes your cut to drift from a perfect straight line into something that is either wavy or just not where you want it. This pull saw has a handle that is long and straight, forcing the woodworker to hold it very particularly, which actually encourages straight cuts. Also when the saw is placed against the wood, the position of the handle affords pulling, which like I said, is the cutting half of the saw motion. Additionally, its easy to keep it vertical due to the shape of the wooden handle. Its an oval that when held naturally puts the blade perpendicular to the hand. Its very easy to establish and maintain proper form as a habit. Finally the thing I like most about this saw is that it has 2 separate edges, one for doing rip cuts, and the other for doing cross cuts. The difference between the two cuts is actually very important, and using the wrong side can possibly ruin a piece. Thankfully the teeth are fairly distinct, which increases the visibility of the saw’s operations.  Its a little hard to see with the photo, but you can see how the teeth on the bottom are much closer together than the teeth on the top. What you can’t see due to the photo is the actual design of the saw teeth, and if you’re interested in learning more about the differences between the teeth, this website has a pretty good write up. Look at the first image to get the easiest understanding of the differences.

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