The Lesson of the Handsaw

My dad was a craftsman. Sears may have named their Craftsman line of tools after him. When he worked at the Magnolia Refinery, later the Mobil Refinery and now the Exxon Mobil Refinery, he was a journeyman machinist (a union man, but we will deal with that later). He was a stickler for taking care of tools.

I must have been 8 or 9 when I decided to build something from some scrap lumber. I worked in the back yard with the lumber on saw horses. I have no memory of what I was building, but I know that I used dad’s handsaw, his Craftsman handsaw, in the process. I know this because I did not put it away when my ADD kicked in and I rocketed off to a different activity.

I committed a cardinal sin, leaving the handsaw lying in the grass overnight. That particular night the dew was in fine form and the steel of the handsaw was particularly susceptible to producing iron oxide - RUST.