One of the perks of being a woodworking writer is playing with new toys. And when they’re toys I don’t play with very often, it’s doubly fun.

I’m about to begin an article on reciprocating saws, and in the process I’ll soon receive some of these tools from various manufacturers and I can’t wait. This isn’t the first time I’ve tested tools I don’t use on a regular basis, but usually that’s because the tools are new or unusual in some way. The recent article I did on track saws is a good example, because there are only a handful of those out there.

Recip saws have been around for decades, though. They’re classified as woodworking tools, but because they don’t have a lot of use for the kinds of things I do in my shop I just don’t use one often. I have one – a cheap cordless – and although it comes in handy from time to time, I use it so infrequently the battery is always dead when I reach for it. And each time I have used it, a single charge is usually enough to finish whatever task I needed it for. The reason is that I build things, and recip saws aren’t really used for building things; they’re used for taking things apart: cutting holes, taking down walls, removing tree limbs, reducing lumber in a quick-and-dirty-manner, dismantling plumbing, leveling an entire house to the ground, things like that.

In short, they’re tools of destruction. If you want to create something, you use a host of other tools; when you want to destroy something, a recip saw is about the only thing you need in your toolbox. As such, testing these babies is going to be a lot of fun. All I need now is something I can level to the ground, like a house.

I wonder when my annoying neighbor goes on vacation?

Till next time,

A.J.