Old Stuff Gone Bad

In a prior post I wrote about trying to resurrect an old wall switch (see: "Anatomy of a Switch").  I was successful for a while but inevitably the switch started to fail again and had to be replaced.  Ed Ross commented that it was unsafe to try to rebuild obsolete electrical switches, and he's right.  There are times when my efforts to conserve and my love for old things gets in the way of common sense.

You may also remember when I wrote about an old chainsaw (see: "Heavy Duty Wood").  This cranky old saw worked well when it worked but usually put up a fight every time I took it out of its case.  I got some pleasure tinkering with it and some pride in being able to keep it running but again, common sense finally got the better of it. Not without one last expression of craziness though.

The other day I needed to cut up some oversize logs for the wood stove.  The saw started and ran for about 15 seconds.  It took several minutes and a tired arm to get it re-started only to have it promptly conk out again.  To make matters worse, the pull cord wasn't retracting all the way.  I was just about ready to start taking the saw apart once more in an attempt to fix it (the original task now fading in face of this new problem) when I realized that the only way I was going to avoid having to fix this cranky old chainsaw was if I was convinced that it was beyond repair.

I took the saw into the barn and poured the fuel back into the gas can.  Then I took the saw out to the wood pile and proceeded to smash it to smithereens.  In this way I saved myself future trouble with the saw and was able to turn frustration into pure testosterone-based "joy of destruction."

I then went inside, fired up the computer and did some research before ordering a new chainsaw that should be arriving via UPS any day now.

Like the electrical switch before, trying to keep an old chainsaw running doesn't make a great deal of sense.  New chainsaws have more safety features built into them than the old ones and if you get a good one, it'll be weight-balanced to help prevent fatigue.  It should also start and keep running with little effort.

I'm sure my need to conserve and my love for old things will get the better of me again sometime, but for now I'm free of a couple of bad examples.

handyman

p.s. Click on the photos to enlarge them

Comments

[Jennifer]

Congratulations on the new chainsaw!

We are the same way with things... not necessarily because they are old, but because we are to CHEAP to go buy a new one. We've been hammering nails straight... and sometimes those just don't go in as nice as the new ones!